The governor and I

By Marilyn Barnewall

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Colorado has had some really great governors.

I met John Love for the first time when he was my dinner partner at the Flanagan Ranch, located close to the Green Mountain Reservoir, south of Kremmling.

At the time, Bobby Flanagan was the State Republican Chairman. His brother, Peter, was Richard Nixon’s chief economic advisor. Every fall, the Flanagan clan and a number of friends got together for a good old fashioned branding.

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My husband was Bobby’s wife’s cousin. We arrived at the ranch the night before the big event. I knew John Love was an outdoorsman, but was surprised he was in attendance.

Considering the family, the guests and the setting, it was only logical that dinner conversation would turn to politics. John Love was a reasonable, conservative Republican. It was one of the best dinner conversations I ever had!

We disagreed about some things – he signed a bill legalizing abortion. I disagreed with him. But during his first term, he got the Sunshine Law passed. It opened government meetings to the public and because it was the first in the nation, it brought a lot of positive attention to Colorado.

Coloradans will remember the time Governor Love was thrown from the back of a horse and a helicopter was sent to the West slope to take him to a Denver hospital. He injured his back… an injury that bothered him for many years. Well, that was the day after our wonderful dinner.

A lot of people do not know that Love was a World War II Navy pilot who was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He became our 36th Governor in 1963 and served until 1973 when, at Richard Nixon’s request, he resigned to go to Washington as the first Energy Czar. He resigned after six months to return to Colorado, saying there was not enough to do to keep him busy.

I saw Governor Love several times… the last time when I presented Senator John McClelland of Arkansas to the Governor at an Americans for Effective Law Enforcement event.

John Love died in Colorado on January 21, 2002 at the age of 85. He was a good man and an excellent governor.

Governor Dick Lamm is my next favorite Colorado head-of-state. We met twice. The first time was up close and personal. The second time was at a distance… fortunately for me.

A good friend of mine, Rene Heredia, had a party at which he played classical flamenco guitar for his guests. At that time, Rene was still doing tours in Spain during summer months. Governor and Mrs. Lamm were invited. It was still early when the doorbell rang. Rene and his girl friend were still preparing, so I answered the door. It was Dick Lamm. The Governor loved flamenco guitar. It was a delightful evening!

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The second time I saw Dick Lamm was at a Denver Chamber of Commerce luncheon. He was the speaker. I was sitting at a bank table when the introductions began and someone whispered, “Why does he want to people to introduce him as the Honorable Richard Lamm, but he wants to be called ‘Dick’?”

Without thinking, I said “He probably does not want to be introduced as The Honorable Dick.” I truly had no idea what I had said, but everyone burst out laughing… just as the Governor began his talk at the podium. He gave us a brief glare and I figured it out, very quickly.

I like Dick Lamm. We belong to different political parties, but he is an intelligent, articulate man. He gave a speech recently of which any conservative would be proud. He is a man with a lot of common sense. He pointed out that “An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.”

Lamm’s audience was spellbound as he described eight ways to destroy America.

“Here is how to do it,” Lamm said. “Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bi-cultural country,” was his first suggestion on how to we can destroy our nation. “History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures.”

“Invent ‘multi-culturalism’ and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture and make all cultures equal,” he continues. Everyone, he said, should believe that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences.” He explained that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates “are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority.” No other explanation would be acceptable, he said.

“Celebrate diversity rather than unity,” was one suggestion for self-destruction. “Replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor,” he said.

His other suggestions included dual citizenship, the creation of a cult of ‘Victimology’ with a grievance industry that pitted different social groups against one another. In explaining how, he said he would “...get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. …I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.”

And, he would make it taboo to talk against the cult of diversity… political correctness and hate crimes would rule. “Words like ‘racist’ or ‘xenophobe’ halt discussion and debate,” he said.

There was no applause when Dick Lamm finished his speech. Rather, one attendee reported, people sat and thought about how many discussions are suppressed, today. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness.

Remember George Orwell’s book, “1984”?

Remember the three slogans engraved in the Ministry of Truth building? “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and “Ignorance is strength.”

Dick Lamm is a man knows when to stop doing the important and start taking care of the necessary.
 

Marilyn Barnewall, in 1978, was the first female to be named vice president in charge of a major loan and deposit portfolio at Denver’s largest bank. She started the nation’s first private bank, resigned to start her own firm and consulted for banks of all sizes in America and other countries. In June 1992, Forbes dubbed Barnewall “the dean of American private banking.” Author of several banking texts, she has written extensively for the American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, and was U.S. consulting editor for Private Banker International (Lafferty Publications, London/Dublin). Article originally appeared in the Grand Junction Free Press. Marilyn can be reached at [email protected].