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An astrologer or numerologist might be able to explain why 3/3, as in March 3, figures so significantly in the political career of our Sen. Ben Campbell. It was on March 3 of this year that Campbell announced that he would not seek a third term, and it was on March 3, 1995, that Campbell announced that he was changing parties from Democrat to Republican.
It's an event I remember well, because we were eating dinner that night with a couple of local Democratic activists. One of them was Curtis Imrie, who has since twice run for congress, and he had just returned from some state party meeting in Denver.
All was glum there on account of the announcement, he
reported, and he was hopping mad at Ben Nightmare
Campbell.
I suggested another name, Benedict
Campbell,
and Tom Noel, who writes a history column for
the other Denver daily, once referred to Ben Switchhorse
Campbell.
About a year after that, I happened to be at the La Plata County Democrats' annual dinner in Durango. They, of course, were quite upset at Campbell, because they had worked hard over to years to get a Democrat elected in a Republican area, starting with Campbell's 1982 campaign for the state legislature, and continuing with his successful campaigns for U.S. Congress and then the U.S. Senate in 1992.
So there was a little skit, featuring someone with a bolo tie and a pony tail, who had just undergone a sex-change operation, riding in on a motorcycle. The ensuing dialog between this biker and the emcee was hilarious, but I later heard that it enraged Campbell, who was not known for having a thick skin.
In 1995, Campbell explained that he had switched parties because the Democrats in the U.S. Senate would not support a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Republicans would.
Standing for principle against party is often an
admirable trait. Sen. Henry M. Teller, the Grand Old Man
of Colorado,
changed from Republican to Democrat in
1896 after he walked out of the Republican national
convention.
That revolt came about because the GOP had refused to
adopt a platform that supported the free and unlimited
coinage of silver
and instead supported the gold
standard. Since silver-mining was a major industry in
Colorado then, Teller felt he had no real choice if he was
gong to continue to represent Colorado.
Teller, however, supported silver to the end of his days. But since the party change, we haven't heard much from Campbell about the importance of balanced budgets -- and with the Bushites proposing $500 billion in deficit spending, you'd think that Campbell might have raised his voice, somewhere along the way, if a balanced budget was really that important to him.
A couple of years later, in a magazine interview,
Campbell said the party switch came about because I was
tired of give-away programs. And I think Indian tribes are
a good example of people that have been almost forcefully
made dependent on Federal programs. They were never
dependent on anything. They were free in spirit and heart,
worked hard, and got along just fine without the Federal
government. Now I would guess that probably 80-85 percent
of all Indian money comes from the Federal government.
Unfortunately, I felt the Democrats were just perpetuating
that spiral, making a proud people more dependent instead
of trying to make them less dependent.
And I suppose that the Halliburton Corp., whose appropriations Campbell votes for, isn't dependent on the federal government.
My guess for the real reason for the party change is pretty simple. When Democrats controlled the Senate and Campbell was a Democrat (as well as being the only Native American in the U.S. Senate), he was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs. When the Republicans took over in 1995, he would lose the chairmanship -- unless he became a Republican.
And because of his heritage, Campbell wasn't just a senator from Colorado -- he was the senator that two million Indians from throughout America turned to, and he could do a lot more as a chairman than as a committee member from a minority party.
I always wanted to ask him about that, but our paths have never crossed for more than a moment or two.
But in stepping down, Campbell will be doing something for Colorado's economy. The 2002 senate race cost about $11 million, and that was with an incumbent. The 2004 race will be for an open seat, and money should pour in from all over the country to be spent in Colorado.
We'll soon get sick of the TV ads, but it's hard to feel totally negative about something that will put more money into circulation here.
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