[flexcoders] Please help. Trouble setting button's color via actionscript

[Body Works Studio]

Hello All. I have been asked to color the text in a series of buttons
in a color series (blue, then green, then grey, then repeat). The
buttons are being dynamically made via an array that the script reads.
I can create the button, set the label, and set the alpha, but when I
get to color, flexbuilder throws a 1119 error.

here is my code

var tagLabel:Button = new Button();
tagLabel.label = word;
tagLabel.alpha = 0.0;
tagLabel.toolTip = Constants.RELEVANCE + ": " + tagScore.toFixed(2) + "%"
//Color Font
        if (colorIdx == 0)
                tagLabel.color = 0x1B82A1;
                tagLabel.
        else if (colorIdx == 1)
                tagLabel.color = 0xA9CCC1;
        else
                tagLabel.color = 0x7F8080;

all three lines defining .color have an error of 1119: Access of
possibly undefined property color through a reference with static type
mx.controls:Button.

Any ideas. 

Thanks

Jeff