Editor’s Note: Battle Of The Endorsements
Denver’s Runoff Election Is June 6. Voters, Pick Your Teams.
By Cara DeGette
GPHN Editor
On June 6, the election of a new mayor and city council will be decided. Speaking for many voters, this has felt like one long political sitcom.
The first election in April featured 17 candidates running for mayor, and another 38 or so people running for spots on the Denver City Council. Now, fully two months later, Denver is finally getting around to the Main Event — the runoff. Will it be Mayor Kelly or Mayor Mike? In City Council District 9, will it be Candi CdeBaca or Darrell Watson? And what about District 8? Will it be Brad Revare or Shontel Lewis?
At some point last year, a handful of well-paid consultants, who decide what people care about at this exact moment, concluded the following: Crime, homelessness, and affordable housing. Every single candidate running for office has done a truly outstanding job staying on message.
(The city’s dumpster fire of a trash system? Nah. How about the horror scream of a mess at DIA? Nope, not this time. Suncor spewing toxins? Bad audits of the parks department? Nepotism in city contracting? Cybersecurity risks? Promoting a culture in which city planners cuddle up with private developers to enrich their bottom line? Maybe we’ll talk about all that later.)
If they are elected, everyone has promised, in slightly varying degrees, to wipe out crime, solve Denver’s crisis of homelessness and make the Mile High City affordable to everyone. (Mike Johnston, running for mayor, deserves a special citation for promising to eradicate homelessness in Denver in four years, beating the past promise of former Mayor John Hickenlooper’s 10-year plan to end homelessness by a full six years.)
The other distinguishing feature of this year’s runoff election is the seemingly endless rollout of endorsements. All the candidates have been working this angle hard.
It all started with some impressive gets — Former Mayor Federico Peña joined Team Johnston, and Kelly Brough received the coveted blessing of former Mayor Wellington Webb. Then, pretty soon both mayoral candidates, and also candidates running in city council Districts 8 and 9, started issuing regular proclamations with the latest additions to their fan clubs.
By the end of May — and no offense to all the important people out there — the “high-profile” supporters were getting pretty obscure. Seriously, is landing the official endorsement of a former director of some little-known agency from back in the ‘90s really worth issuing a press release?
The Battle For The Endorsements was one of the most boring shows in recent Denver politics, save for one notable episode: The Leslie Herod skirmish.
You may remember Herod. She currently represents Park Hill in the state legislature, and she decided to run for mayor this year — while staying in the legislature. It didn’t turn out well for her; she came in 5th place, behind Republican Andy Rougeot. Sometime after that Herod decided to endorse Johnston, and they had a splashy (color coordinated!) press conference, joined by several other former candidates.
Then, several weeks later, Kelly Brough told a Denver Post reporter that she had previously met with Herod to talk about an endorsement. Herod, Brough claimed, wanted a promise of a really important job at City Hall if Brough won. That’s called political patronage, and Brough said she informed Herod that this isn’t the way she (Brough) is doing it.
Herod denied asking anyone for a job — either Brough or Johnston. “I did not endorse Kelly Brough because she doesn’t align with my values. Period,” tweeted a clearly-miffed Herod after the story broke.
Others then jumped in, reminding Herod that several extraordinarily wealthy white men have pumped millions of dollars into helping to get Johnston elected. “Politics is hard,” responded Wanda James, who is on the CU Board of Regents (and is a member of Team Brough). “Alignments are always based on what someone can get out of a deal. Mike [Johnston] is clear on who will benefit under him. It looks like his supporters are Republican-leaning rich white men; I am missing the progressive values here.”
Come June 7, we’ll look forward to seeing who gets what job if Johnston is elected — or if Brough is elected.
As of press time it seems the only VIP left in Denver who has notably not made an endorsement is outgoing Mayor Michael B. Hancock. Both Brough and Johnston are probably very grateful for that gift.