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Forty-five years ago this week: “I know that my name has been placed before the Secretary of Education, and I know that I’m one of three or four being considered for the Department of Education’s Region 8,” said state Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Arvada. “But that’s all I know for sure.”
Tancredo, a former manager of Elitch Gardens, said he had spoken to an administrator at the Secretary of Education about the status of his appointment and he was told the appointment would be announced “within a month.”
“I will gladly accept the appointment if offered,” Tancredo told The Colorado Statesman. “But I’m not sure who I will have join me if appointed. I was talking to Steve Durham and he said he was having trouble finding a secretary.”
If Tancredo were to take the region 8 position at the DOE, his state house seat would be vacated and Tancredo said he knew of three people who were interested but said it would be better if he didn’t make any announcements on their behalf.
The replacement would be chosen by Ann O’Brian, Bill Swapp and Bob Groke who make up the vacancy committee for HD 27.
“Sure I will tell somebody who I think should take my seat, but I don’t think now is the time or the place. I don’t know that I’m leaving it vacant,” Tancredo said. “It depends on if the Secretary of Education wants a career person from within the department or a political appointment. My selection would be political.”
Twenty-Five Years Ago: “Colorado needs to have a workable and effective legal framework to address the challenges of growth,” said the state’s Attorney General Ken Salazar. “A part of that legal framework is providing monetary incentives to protect Colorado farms, ranches and open spaces. The scenic beauty and open vistas … are precious and irreplaceable legacies that should be preserved by Colorado citizens for current and future generations.”
In cooperation with Our Land, Our Future, a coalition that included the Conservation Fund, Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts and Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land, Salazar drafted a new proposal to preserve Colorado’s open spaces, farms and ranches.
The proposal sought to establish a new article to the Colorado Constitution under which the Colorado Crown Jewels Legacy Program would be established within Great Outdoors Colorado. Program funds would be disbursed to create incentives for private entities, nonprofits and public agencies to develop cooperative efforts for the protection of Colorado’s “crown jewels.”
Under the program the legacy would provide funds for acquiring lands or interests in land and water that would result in the permanent preservation of; land used as working ranches or farms, open space and natural areas of statewide significance, wildlife habitats and lands along river corridors and lakes, urban open lands and water rights and agreements.
Salazar said that up to $50 million per year would be made available to the Crown Jewels Legacy Program from state surplus revenues but only to the extent such surpluses exist. There would be no tax increase to fund the proposal.
The GOCO board would identify desirable acquisitions and would give preference to grant applications sponsored and financially supported by multiple publishers, agencies, nonprofits and private interests to foster and promote intergovernmental and private sector preservation efforts.
Salazar said that the proposal had been distributed to Gov. Bill Owens, Senate President Stan Matsunaka, D-Loveland and House Speaker Doug Dean, R-Colorado Springs, and would be introduced in the September legislative special session as a ballot-referred measure for November 2002.
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 columnist to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Gazette.
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