At Large candidates get no respect (statistically speaking)

Are the official election results misleading citizens about the race for City Council At Large seats?

Doug Linkhart’s 41,555 votes are displayed as representing 41% of the total. But the truth is, he received far more support than that.

That's because the Denver Election Commission displays the At Large percentages as a basis of all votes given in that race. Normally, that's fine. Total votes are usually equal to the total number of voters in any given race. But when voters can select up to two (2) candidates, as happens with At Large seats, the numbers are thrown out of whack.

For instance, the total number of At Large votes in May 2007 was 101,288, so half of that (assuming everyone voted for two candidates) would be 50,644. That seems low, insofar as 65,270 voted in the more obscure Clerk & Recorder race, yet it also seems unlikely that tens of thousands of folks chose just one of the three candidates. Still, if we raise the estimated votecount to 57,000 (halfway between the two numbers), the percentages change quite dramatically.

COUNCIL AT LARGE
Doug Linkhart – 41,555 / 57,000? - 72.9% (not 41.0%)
Carol Boigon – 31,952 / 57,000? - 56.1% (not 31.6%)
Carol Campbell – 27,144 / 57,000? - 47.6% (not 26.8%)
Write-In Candidate - 637 / 57,000? - 1.1% (not 0.6%)

Thus, for a more intuitive accounting, the vote tallies for At Large councilors should be judged not by the total number of votes, but the total number of voters who submitted a choice in that category.

Opinions may vary on the need for this revision, but it is at least important for voters to realize that the actual percentage of support for candidates in the At Large race was far more substantial than the generic results indicate.

It's Over. Did You Notice?

Doug Linkhart's eLink newsletter article for May 2007 provided just a bit of insight into our media-challenged election. His article was entitled "It’s Over. Did You Notice?"

The 2007 election will surely go down in history as one of the quietest ever. While there was competition for the At-Large seats and six of eleven districts, there was little media coverage or public fanfare. We almost had an article about our race in the Rocky Mountain News, but the reporter retired mid-article and no one finished it.

Cole Neighborhood blog urges you to vote for...

The ostensible goal of Cole Neighborhood blog's "Get Your Denver Election Ballots In!" is to increase participation:

It's shocking to me how little action some residents take in improving their neighborhood - whether it be participating in their neighborhood association meetings, volunteering, getting involved with neighborhood safety, or even more basically, VOTING.

The author ties this lack of involvement to the endemic difficulty of getting Denverites to participate in any form of local government:

One couple is never short on complaints about Cole--Whether it be the crime problem, the trash problem, the condition of their neighbor's home, etc.--Yet despite numerous efforts on my part to get them involved in the neighborhood, it has been somewhat like keeping a candle lit in a gusty windstorm.

Similarly, we've had neighborhood meetings as large as 45 people, but inevitably, the next one shrinks back down to the same 4 or 5 involved residents. How do these people expect things to change in Cole? It takes a few, committed individuals, some luck, and some momentum. But it starts by getting involved, rather than just complaining.

Yet to us, the more interesting part comes when the unnamed blogger BigSprinter offered endorsements. In addition to John Hickenlooper, the site endorses Dennis Gallagher and Stephanie O'Malley for somewhat facile reasons (e.g., "because the Denver Post endorses them, and for reasons that make sense to me.").

More substantive remarks are directed at the candidacies of Doug Linkhart and Carol Campbell:

Doug Linkhart seems dissatisfied in both Mr. Hickenlooper's and outgoing Councilmember Elbra Wedgeworth's track record in tackling the many issues North Denver metro neighborhoods face. Additionally, he seems sincerely interested in "filling in" and redeveloping the blighted "horseshoe" that still rings the redeveloped downtown to the north (and of which Cole belongs). Similarly, he shares my belief that the North Denver neighborhoods like Cole, Whittier, and Curtis Park at this point have enough homeless, drug and alcohol-related shelters--It's time for Highlands, and some of the other urban Denver 'hoods to do their part and host some of these important facilities.

Carol Campbell similarly seems ready to tackle head-on the crime and disorder issues that plaque urban Denver. I applaud her for consistently not skirting the issues, or candy-coating her opinions. For example, she's not afraid to speak out about the dim-witted Denver tradition of spending police dollars every year to facilitate Cinco de Mayo cruising. Is she being racist in speaking out about it? Come on, people. I don't care if they're Starbucks-drinking yuppies blasting Yanni in their 3-series BMW's, cruising is a big problem, that adversely affects residents and businesses along the Federal corridor. I lived over there, and know first-hand. So, because Carol Campbell is a straight-shooter that has the interests of responsible, law-abiding urban Denver residents in mind, she gets my vote.

Finally, the site endorses Carla Madison in Council District 8. The explanation was negative insofar as BigSprinter was troubled by the candidacies of Darrell Watson, Greg Rasheed, and Sharon Bailey, for some well-considered reasons.

Which brings us to Carla. Why do I like Carla? One, she isn't a good public speaker. I know, you're probably laughing now, but while I wish she'd practice her public speaking skills a bit more so more people would embrace her, I feel that what you see is what you get with her--And that makes all the difference too me.

She also supports Broken Windows, stimulating redevelopment while maintaining the historical and architectural character of the neighborhood, and she has consistently attended neighborhood and Cole-Whittier Against Crime meetings (not just the one where all the candidates were in attendance to give their sales pitch). Not to mention that she has a strong track-record at the neighborhood level as president and involved member of her City Park neighborhood association.

Whomever you pick, VOTE! And the bottom line is realistically that any of the above candidates will be an improvement over Elbra Wedgeworth, who checked out years ago.

Video Interview: Doug Linkhart (At-Large)

Colorado Confidential's Kerri Rebresh interviews Doug Linkhart, candidate for one of the two City Council At-Large seats.

Linkhart discusses his background in the federal government, state government, neighborhood associations, and city council.

Overall philosophy is "investing in people." He speaks to mundane issues like expanded after-school opportunities and public safety initiatives in ways that reference the real lives of Denver citizens.

With the exceedingly-meager "safety net" offered by state funds, the work done on the city level becomes ever more obvious. Linkhart tries to save money wherever possible, including the great hope that Denver's new jail would never have to be built. His remarks focus on the effects of substance abuse in Denver, which are particularly prevalent in our city.

This is another terribly impressive interview, and recommended for others to review.

Rocky endorses frontrunners

The Rocky Mountain News today issued official endorsements for the May 2007 municipal election. With due caution, they endorsed the frontrunner in every race... except for Council District 8, in which they offered kudos for both Sharon Bailey and Carla Madison:

Mayor: John Hickenlooper
Auditor: Dennis Gallagher
Clerk & Recorder: Stephanie O’Malley
District 3: Paul Lopez
District 4: Peggy Lehmann
District 5: Marcia Johnson
District 7: Chris Nevitt
District 8: Sharon Bailey or Carla Madison
District 9: Judy Montero
At-large: Doug Linkhart and Carol Boigon

Political force in the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver

I have been openly (sometime unreservedly) critical of the Denver dailies. But occasionally critical and hard-working reporters do slip through the cracks. One such reporter is Stuart Steers of the Rocky Mountain News.

It takes more than a little gusto to rip through the campaign statements over every political candidate for municipal elections in Denver. But if you want to understand the power of such powerful organizations as the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, that's what it takes.

Especially when one of the most important tasks of the next Denver City Council is going to be implementing the recommended changes of the Zoning Code Taskforce.

Review Steers' article entitled "Developers build campaign coffers: Elected officials bound to have say in major projects." Specific mention is provided to council candidates Marcia Johnson, Carol Boigon, Jeanne Faatz, Peggy Lehmann, Doug Linkhart, Shelly Watters, Carla Madison, and Charlie Brown.

CD At-Large: North Denver Tribune endorses Doug Linkhart

The endorsement of Doug Linkhart by the North Denver Tribune helps us to understand what some North Denverites may be thinking about this race:

Politics generally rewards the loudest voices, not the deepest thinkers. Thus the dilemma for the most serious man in Denver city government, Doug Linkhart. Linkhart has served as a thoughtful and considered conscience on the Denver City Council for the past four years, filling an at-large seat that represents the whole city. Denver voters should send him back for another term.

Linkhart has brought a focus on safety, kids and economic development for four years. He has embraced a role that gives City Council a perspective on city-wide issues when most members are focused intently on the narrow issues affecting their districts. Linkhart is true testament to the wisdom of at-large representation, leavening the debate and lifting the discourse.

Beyond that, Linkhart is a smart and savvy policy guy in a city that could use more. Voters choosing Linkhart are voting for a long-view, investment-based future for Denver. More a role player than a rock star, Linkhart would metaphorically be a key ingredient in a championship basketball team. As Denver’s focus seems slightly adrift in this age of consensus government, Denver needs Linkhart’s vision and perspective to take on the changing needs of a changing city.

Cowboy Linkhart

Westword's daily blog has reported on a racial and potential fashion makeover for AT Large City Councilman Doug Linkhart, in an article entitled "Cowboy Up":

Denver City Councilman Doug Linkhart found himself in a bit of a fashion conundrum last week. After being called a racist in a letter to the Rocky Mountain News — based on his statement about kids who wear “saggy, baggy pants all over the place” – Linhart’s campaign manager joked that his boss consider a makeover. Maybe a grill?

In December 2003, Cat gave the good councilman a new look – and damn if the clothes didn’t make the man! In fact, Cat noted in Off Limits that week that “Leftie Linkhart” looked downright H-O-T in his new duds from Rockmount Ranchwear. [see article for actual image]

Maybe he’ll break them out again now that he’s running for re-election. A well-defined ass never hurt any campaign.

Are You An Active Voter?

More than a third of the voters registered before last November's election have been taken off the "active voter" rolls.

This means that if you didn't vote in November 2006, you will have to make a specific request for a ballot.

If you haven't registered to vote at all, the last day to register to vote is Monday.

Denver Post reporter George Merritt offers valuable insight into an unsexy yet key question: that is, who gets a ballot?

The article, entitled Voters' List Idles 100,000, is excerpted below:

The Denver Election Commission has scrubbed more than 100,000 residents from the active voter list since November, creating one of the smallest such lists in recent years....

The change does not purge registered voters. However, only "active" voters will automatically receive ballots when the city sends them out early next month. Active voters are people who voted in the last general election - in other words, last November.

Councilman Doug Linkhart took issue with the move Tuesday, given what he called "extreme problems" during the November election...

Linkhart suggested the city mail ballots to the 287,000 active voters from the November election, instead of the updated list of 184,000.

But Election Commission executive director John Gaydeski said Denver's voter list needed to be updated.

"We had 52,000 ballots returned as undeliverable" in the January special election, he said.

Election Commission operations manager Matt Crane said the commission sent out about 117,000 cards to registered voters who did not vote in either November or January to see if they want to remain "active." About 7,000 people responded.

Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell said the commission had followed the law... But he acknowledged that he, too, had been curious about the low number of active voters.

He said the 184,000 ballots "may be the least number that we have mailed out in a mail-ballot election."

POLL: Council At Large seats

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Profile: Doug Linkhart (At Large District)

Several candidates for a City Council At Large seat were profiled in the March 2007 edition of Life On Capitol Hill.

Doug Linkhart's candidacy was described as follows:

Incumbent At-Large Councilman Doug Linkhart launched his campaign by saying, "I am choosing to run for re-election because, although our city has made great improvements, our work is not done. We must build upon the momentum our economy has gained in the last four years. We must continue to protect our streets from violence, crime, and gangs. And, we must continue to create better opportunities for our children."

If re-elected he intends to "continue to build upon the progress we have made during the past four years, which has included: adding 24,000 jobs to a once-stalled economy; bringing over 100 more police officers onto the streets," resulting in a 2006 crime drop of nearly 10%; and expanding after school, preschool and summer programs for our children."

He notes that, "Significant projects to streamline development review processes, preserve historic homes and neighborhoods, combat homelessness, and prevent crime" must continue and be improved.

Councilman Linkhart has more than 13 years of public service experience to City Council. Having served two years in the State House of Representatives and eight- years in the State Senate. He was the founder of the Neighborhood Resource Center of Colorado, a non-profit organization that works with neighborhood associations to strengthen local communities throughout the state.

Profile: Videotape of the District 8 and At Large City Council candidates

An image is worth a thousand words, then Denver Direct has just offered a million or so helpful words for Denver voters this campaign season.

Gerald Trumbule visited a candidates forum sponsored by the San Rafael neighborhood association on Thursday evening (March 22nd), and videotaped all of the introductory statements by candidates.

Would you be interested to see the likes of District 8 candidates Sharon Bailey, Carla Madison, Greg Rasheed, Lynn Smith, and Darrell Watson? No matter where you live in Denver, the candidates for the At-Large Seat are important: Carol Boigon, Carol Campbell, and Doug Linkhart.

Please visit Denver City Council District 8 Candidates Speak at San Rafael 3-22-07.

The vast majority of Denver voters will never meet these candidates face-to-face. That's why issue-based, Internet resources are so valuable. Thanks, Jerry!

Candidate forum at Denver Young Democrats meeting

TakeBackTheHouse has provided a terrific first-hand account of a recent candidates forum hosted by the Denver Young Democrats. I highly encourage you to read the entire article at SquareState, but include excerpts below for your convenience.

First came the Mayor:

He pointed towards future issues such as global warming as a place where simple changes on the municipal level could have ripples of impact. "Even if there is a 2% chance that 95% of leading scientists are right, we'd be insane not to spend billions." He didn't propose any billion dollar programs, but he did point to increasing the City's tree canopy as a way that we could have a real impact on the use of domestic and automotive air conditioners. The solutions he was looking for on all topics; environmental change, crime, etc. were ones where you were "not just throwing money at the problem," but ones that led to intelligent solutions. Putting more police on the streets was obviously a large contributor to Denver's 2006 10% drop in crime, but so too was the implementation of new systems that chart the hot spots in real time and help plan the new deployments.

Michael Hancock then followed:

He told us to be prepared to make some difficult decisions, and to decide if we were, "ready to pay more for a better managed government." He said that his constituents tended to make good decisions when given good information, but we have, "lost our way on some issues that are very very very germane to being Democrats." He encouraged the young crowd to become an army ready to knock on doors and to go around the media and the national organizations and find out again what changes the people really wanted in the neighborhoods. He looked around the room at all the hopeful candidates and said he had no doubt all of them were able to do the job, but wondered if all of them could look the people in the eye and make the hard decisions.

Doug Linkhart offered brief remarks about returning Denver to being a "shining example of Democratic values.":

After joking that he remembered what Denver politics was like back when he would march with Sojourner Truth, he said that this race today was mistakenly called 'non-partisan'. He said that it was very partisan, but that we were all on the same side. Aligned against us were the challenges we were facing.

Rick Garcia then spoke:

The very popular Councilman spoke of the great economic advantage brought to our businesses by foreign born residents, and how the research and policy dynamics in this region were changing with 12,000 people per day turning 60 years old.

Then came Clerk & Recorder candidate, Stephanie O'Malley:

She wants to be at the helm of the new office because, "It's no one's place to disenfranchise anyone from casting a vote." Obviously, conduct of the elections will be a large part of her role, but the Clerk's office also deals with many other issues. Increased foreclosures mean increased documentation flow. She says she intends to prepare the office to meet the statutory requirements of the greater workload, and improve accessibility by moving the old paper and microfiche documents into electronic form.

The narrator unfortunately missed the presentations of Kevin Slevin (write-in candidate for Clerk and Recorder) and Danny Lopez (mayoral candidate).

While you are at it, someone tell me where Paige Wolf came from. She is managing the campaign for Carol Boigon, and she has ~wunderkind~ written all over her. She is young, charismatic, and smart, so of course I am instantly suspicious. She made a very able surrogate for the Councilwoman-at-Large, and ran through her employer's accomplishments, including the redevelopment of the Lowenstein Theater into the Tattered Cover Bookstore. My job has me constantly researching the Council Members, and Boigon has easily the most interesting corners. She supports working family issues and development interests, her donors include labor, community leaders, and her husband's large oil company law firm buddies. I do not envy her having to appeal to the amazing clutter of an At-Large seat.

After a staffer for District 5 Councilwoman Marcia Johnson said a few words, two challengers were invited to speak:

R. J. Ours, a former government relations director for the American Cancer Society, spoke of building coalitions and investing in infrastructure. He said if we were going to spend, "three quarter of a billion of your tax dollars, I want the best price, best projects, and the best quality." He spoke of his work on Amendment 35 which increased the tobacco tax, and he advocated for smoke free casinos.

There was another candidate for District 5. He called himself a 'property rights advocate' and called for the abolishment of historic preservation designations. He talked about his experience in the 'energy infrastructure business.'

Then came Julie Connor for District 7:

As aide to the outgoing Mackenzie, she has the right to claim she represents a continuity of knowledge. Like my favorite candidates in the municipal elections she is an unashamed lover of provincial politics. Zoning issues, potholes, overlay districts; she loves that stuff.

Finally came the candidates for the District 8 City Council seat [it should be noted that although the description of all candidates seems exceedingly fair, the author of this account is himself a Darrell Watson supporter]:

First up was the very accessible Carla Madison. She shares Darrell Watson and Julie Conner's love for urban policy. She spoke about her work with the zoning code and about increasing density on the corridors of neighborhoods while preserving the character within them. She proposed a good idea about establishing a Senior Advocacy Hotline, and she finished with a statement that sounded a bit darkly cryptic, "Welton St. is sad. The 16th St. Mall is ailing. There are a lot of reasons. I won't go into why that is."

Greg Rasheed opened with a song. Really. "Helloooo Young Democraats wherever you arrrre. I hope yooou willlll vote for meeeeee..." Really. He sang. Then he talked about gang issues. Coming out of a childhood surrounded by gang culture he wants to "give young people hope." Part of that is starting a 'Youth Advisor Council'. "I'm not looking for the A students. I'm looking for the hard heads." He spoke about students, "already being earmarked not to pass."

....After a long day and too many speakers, I was ready to take a nap, but with incredible energy [Darrell Watson] moved around the room and woke people up. "Who here, who in this corner right here, which of you thinks City Government should work for you?" Darrell did, and he explained his vision for a 'City that Works'. Darrell can cover a lot of territory in two minutes; culture of the neighborhoods, economic development, safety, broken windows, bike lanes, advocacy for the people... but obviously you can't get into detail on anything in that time. So instead of just keeping it vague and running off, he stuck around for a long while to answer all the questions. An evening that started with a room full of politicians ended with a room full of active Young Democrats and a candidate interested in helping them make the city a little better.

Again, I highly recommend that you read the full account at SquareState.net.