In her first try for political office, Peggy Lamm took on what most people believed was a fool’s errand: She ran for the state House as a write-in candidate.
But through determination and hard work, Lamm nearly unseated conservative Republican Drew Clark in 1992. Two years later, this time officially on the ballot, Lamm defeated Clark to represent the Boulder area in the House.
Her dogged work ethic brought her to the attention of Rutt Bridges, who later hired her to lobby for and lead the Bighorn Action, the political arm of the Bighorn Center for Public Policy.
Bridges said Lamm, who faces Ed Perlmutter and Herb Rubenstein in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary, would be the best person to represent the 7th Congressional District seat being vacated by GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez.
“Peggy can be extraordinarily tenacious and nice, and she can be both things at the same time,” Bridges said.
But detractors say Lamm sometimes says one thing and votes for another. Clark said Lamm attacked his support of concealed-handgun permits and then supported the measure once in office.
“Peggy Lamm is an issues chameleon,” Clark said. “I do not see how voters can have any assurance that Peggy Lamm will keep her promises if elected.”
Lamm said she opposed Clark’s support of giving concealed-weapons permits to almost everyone in favor of a system that required background checks and gun classes.
Lamm was born Margaret Grandin in 1951 in New York state, and her family moved to rural Kansas when her father died in a factory accident. She received a teaching degree in Kansas. Because most of her extended family was teachers, she taught high school English and journalism.
Looking for a change, Lamm moved to Colorado in 1976, writing commercials and selling advertising for several radio stations. She worked as marketing director at Colorado Ski Country and was executive director of the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau.
She married Tom Lamm, the brother of Gov. Dick Lamm, and had her only child in 1988. Always active in the Democratic Party, she was urged to run as the write-in candidate in 1992 for the state House seat.
When she won the seat two years later, she faced an overwhelming Republican House and had to fight to get her views heard. Despite the difficult circumstances, Lamm jumped in.
“I loved learning (the process),” Lamm said. “It was fascinating, the grappling and the give-and-take.”
Her most memorable bill was one that would have allowed doctors to end the lives of terminally ill people who were competent to give consent.
The bill never passed, but Lamm, a former member of the Hemlock Society, said she still believes in a right to die with dignity.
“I look at it as a civil-rights issue,” she said. “It’s not a question the government should decide for us.”
Lamm left the legislature after her first term to raise her son, and after he was older, she became a lobbyist for Bighorn.
There, her tenacious nature re-emerged. She was able to get a no-call list passed that prevented telemarketers from calling people who signed up. The no-call bill failed the first time but passed the following year despite overwhelming opposition from most special interests.
Last year, Lamm said she started itching to get into politics again, and after Perlmutter delayed in announcing, Lamm jumped in.
She opposes the war in Iraq and promises to protect Social Security and abortion rights.
Opponents have questioned whether she lives in the district and her late filings on disclosure statements, but Lamm dismissed those issues as paperwork mistakes. She said she is the best person to represent Colorado.
“There is so much important work that needs to be done, and we need better leaders to make a difference,” Lamm said.
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at 303-820-1244 or akane@denverpost.com.
