Hefleys ride quietly into retirement

Longtime political pair enjoying life on Oklahoma ranch

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
October 29, 2007

Ever heard of Purcell, Okla.?
It's down from Slaughterville, up from Wayne. About a 15- minute drive south of Norman.

It's also the nearest town to the 80-acre horse ranch where the former dean of Colorado's congressional delegation has been lying low.

Joel Hefley and his wife, former Colorado state Rep. Lynn Hefley, quietly moved just outside the town of 6,000 in July.

No announcements. No goodbye party. Just Joel and Lynn, riding into the sunset. Like everyone who knows them well figured they might.

"I'm sitting in my shorts out here," the state's longest-serving congressman teased during a phone interview last week while it snowed in Denver.

Hefley, 72, retired last year after serving southern Colorado's 5th Congressional District for 20 years. His departure touched off a scramble that became one of the nastiest Republican primary battles in recent state history.

Former state Sen. Doug Lamborn squeaked past former Hefley staffer Jeff Crank in the 2006 primary and easily won the general election in the solidly Republican district. Crank and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Bentley Rayburn have lined up for a primary rematch to try to pick off the now-sitting congressman.

Hefley still supports Crank's candidacy and remains available occasionally by phone. But he said for now he's content to tend to horses instead of political shouting matches.

"I'm happy to take a breather," he said. "For 30 years I was up to my ears in all of that and loved it. But there's a lot I didn't enjoy about it, when I think about it."

The Hefleys, who both grew up in Oklahoma City and are University of Oklahoma alumni, said they began looking for a big spread to retire on about five years ago.

Last year, after Joel retired from Congress and Lynn was term-limited out of the Statehouse, the couple visited ranch properties from northern El Paso County to central Oklahoma.

"We just found what we were looking for here," the retired congressman said.

Lynn Hefley said about 15 different groups tried to throw them a going-away party before they left Colorado.

"Joel just said, 'That's not who we are,' " she said. "And that's not who Joel is. He has never tried to grab the limelight."

So the Hefleys called a few close friends, packed up their house and headed out of town.

"Usually, people in politics are egomaniacs," Crank said. "They want 15 parties instead of none. Joel has always been very unassuming."

State GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams still hasn't heard personally from the Hefleys, whose home phone number in Colorado Springs is now disconnected.

"I'd heard they'd moved," he said.

The Hefleys raised the bar for ethical standards in Colorado politics, Wadhams said.

Joel Hefley chaired the House Ethics Committee when it formally admonished fellow Republican and then House Majority Leader Tom DeLay three times over actions that went "beyond the bounds of acceptable conduct."

And Lynn Hefley carved out her own identity as a statehouse representative - a hard thing for a congressman's wife to do, according to Wadhams.

Lynn Hefley said she and her husband appreciate the kind words from their friends and supporters. She said they plan to visit with many of them in Colorado over Christmas. But for now, she said, they are enjoying their "little bit of heaven" in a sprawling valley with two stream-fed ponds stocked for fishing.

"Now it's time to move on and to let us ride off into the sunset and just enjoy life," she said before hanging up her cell phone to watch a warm rain fall.

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5059

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5733976,00.html