1 week Ago By [email protected] (Rachael Wright)
Thirty Years Ago This Week: Contacted repeatedly by reporters, U.S. Sen.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell attempted to clear up misunderstandings surrounding embattled candidate for Colorado secretary of state Sherrie Wolff. Wolff, a longtime staffer for Campbell, had lost endorsements from several newspapers during the election after stories appeared detailing financial problems incurred by Wolff’s husband. The financial woes had led to lax lien issues as well as an alleged threat Wolff had made to Campbell to file a harassment charge against the senator unless he agreed to keep her in her same position on staff.
“Although the story made it sound like he’d dumped on Wolff, Ben didn’t call [the press],” Carol Knight, Campbell’s press secretary said, “they called him, baiting him with questions. You know him, he just answered honestly.” According to Knight, it was Campbell’s decision to pay Wolff compensation during her leave of absence to campaign through November 8.
The pay included both severance and accrued vacation days. “Implications that Wolff might have falsified the number of vacation days was twisted. We’re adults,” Knight said.
“He’s the boss. Sherrie and Ben go way back.” Knight reminded The Colorado Statesman that Campbell campaigned for Wolff and appeared at fundraisers.
“He certainly didn’t want her to lose this election,” Knight said. “Ben appreciates all Sherrie has done for him.” Ten Years Ago: The lights were on and Denver area politicos were gathered at the governor’s executive residence on E.
8th Avenue to celebrate and bid farewell to one of the most powerful figures in state government. Although she’d never held elected office, Roxanne White had for years been the steadying influence behind John Hickenlooper, first as a key aide in the Denver mayor’s office and then as his chief of staff during his service as governor. White was now pivoting to the private sector to take a position as president and CEO of Nurse-Family Partnership.
Friends and colleagues lauded White for not only serving as the conscience of those in power but also her dedication to those without any means of achieve the political clout she had. Alan Salazar, chief political strategist, echoed what many had said of White, applauding her “incredible work ethic”, her incomparable knowledge of state government and her “high moral courage.” Hickenlooper, who’d known White since she was the head of Urban Peak, an organization that provided services to help youth exit homelessness and build fulfilling lives, told the packed house that White “has had a remarkable impact on my life and those of our colleagues.
” Hickenlooper called her a “transforming force” with a “North Star capacity to lead and an ability to help people.” “Rox has always been able to create in people around her a sense of mission,” Hickenlooper said. “With an ability to take the most ordinary task and expand it for more meaning .
.. the ability to also care about the outside .
.. with a remarkable empathy and the ability to feel an emotional connection to someone you just met.
She’s had it at the highest level of anyone I’ve ever met.” Hickenlooper ended his remarks remembering the natural disasters that had plagued Colorado for the last four years; drought, wild fires, floods and shootings and how White had always provided courage and “helped us be braver and stronger.” “This state is so much better through her participation,” Hickenlooper said.
“She selflessly committed herself to not just all of us but to people most of us never see: the notion that we can make the world a better place.” Rachael Wright is the author of several novels including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Colorado Springs Gazette..
