Voter turnout in Denver since 1987

When the Denver Election Commission purged voter lists earlier this year, many folks were outraged. However, the graph below shows that the number of "active voters" was actually near the historical average even after the purge.

The graph also shows that turnout was very respectable, especially when you consider that the percentage of active voters submitting ballots hasn't exceeded 50% in Denver since 1995. Indeed, see how similar the numbers are between the "exciting" 2003 campaign and its open mayoral seat and this year's "boring" election, which got virtually no media attention.
Prior runoff elections have involved virtually the entire city, and gained more or less the same number of votes as the general election. Since this year's races are limited to only Council Districts 3, 7, and 8, we should expect to a much smaller turnout - perhaps a few thousand less than the 16,427 votes in those districts earlier this month.

Aide to winning seats on Denver City Council

Back in 2002, Peter Blake of the Rocky Mountain News offered a primary on "How To Win Seat On City Council." His answer? Become a council aide.

After all, it's worked in the past. Look at Jeanne Robb, Peggy Lehmann, Judy Montero, and Carol Boigon. They were all council aides before winning a seat in their own right. Yet so many more have tried and failed.

This year, aideship seems like a far less promising path to the Council. Just three aides were in the race, and none seem likely to join their former bosses at the dias.

• Julie Connor (aide to current Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie) went down to defeat in Council District 7.
  
• Shelly Watters (aide to current Councilwoman Carol Boigon) is in the runoff, but facing a daunting 20% deficit against frontrunner Chris Nevitt.
  
• JoAnn Phillips (aide to former Councilwoman Ramona Martinez) trails frontrunner Paul Lopez by 30%.

Nevertheless, I offer an excerpt from the April 24, 2002 article as found in the Rocky Mountain News for your historical reading pleasure:

There is no royal right of succession to seats on Denver City Council, but if you can't be born to the job, the next best way to land it is to work for the incumbent.

Just as many current council members served as aides to former ones, so do their aides hope to succeed them - or maybe another member - in the 2003 elections. To serve on council you have to live in the district you represent.

District 3 Councilwoman Ramona Martinez worked 10 years for the late Councilman Sam Sandos and now holds his job. When term limits force her out next year, among those hoping to succeed her is aide John Soto Jr. Her other aide, Bernadette Salazar, might also run...

Debbie Ortega succeeded to the council seat once held by Sal Carpio, and rumor has it that one of those who might run to succeed her is current aide Kim Kucera. A former Ortega aide, parks spokeswoman Judy Montero, might also run.

District 5 Councilwoman Polly Flobeck, who once worked for Paul Swalm, has two former aides who might run next year. Marcus Pachner, who just left her office, could run in the district; another former assistant, Jeanne Robb, might run in District 10 for Councilman Ed Thomas' seat.

District 11 Councilwoman Happy Haynes succeeded the man she had worked for, Bill Roberts. Her former aide, ex-school board member Bennie Milliner, might seek her job next year.

Sharon Elfenbein, assistant to Council President Joyce Foster in District 4, made an abortive run for the vacant District 6 seat that Charlie Brown won last year. But she said she's not likely to try again next year. A former Foster aide, Carol Boigon, is likely to run for an at-large seat next year.

A funny thing happened to Peggy Lehmann, who served in years gone by as an aide to former council members Mary DeGroot and Bill Himmelman. She came within just a few votes of beating Brown last year but the new redistricting map puts her in District 4 instead of 6. Brown is one of only three council members who can run again next year. Lehmann hasn't decided whether to run in 4.

Among those who never served as an aide is Councilwoman-at-large Cathy Reynolds. That's because there were no aides when she was first elected in 1975, and she takes credit for creating the system shortly thereafter. Each council member is entitled to 1.75 aides, a peculiar bureaucratic compromise...

It's obvious why aides have an edge when running for the top job. They've worked with local issues for years ``and can hit the ground running,'' said Reynolds. ``They know a heckuva lot more about how to do the job.''

And, if the council member likes the aide, he or she might get access to the contributor lists.

Notes on the final returns

Now that the final numbers are in, we can follow up our initial reflection on results with a final bit of analysis.

Yawn... wrong again: Virtually everyone predicted low voter turnout due to a uninteresting election. Boy, were they wrong. 80,566 interested Denverites submitted their ballots, representing 42.5% of active voters. That blows away the last Denver campaign without a competitive mayoral election (1999, when just 26% of active voters went to the polls), and begins to approach some of those exciting campaigns that the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News actually covered.

Depends where you are: Even without a serious mayoral contest, some districts showed turnout comparable to 2003. Open seats in Council Districts 7 and 8, for instance, brought 93% and 87% of their 2003 totals. However, a competitive race in Council District 3 (with far less money) earned just over two-thirds of last cycle's voting totals. And interest in Council District 1 declined precipitously, reaching exactly half of the 2003 voters. Guess that proves the old notion: "All politics is local."

None of the above: While there were 80,566 votes in all, not everyone voted in each race on their ballot. Only 79,231 voted in the mayoral race, 71,612 voted for auditor, and 65,270 voted for clerk & recorder. Such disparities are called "undervotes," and generally reflect disaffection with all of the given choices. The results for citywide offices were thus less impressive than generally presented. Stephanie O'Malley was only supported on 63% of the ballots submitted (not 78%); Dennis Gallagher was the darling of 69% (not 78%) ballots; and John Hickenlooper earned the respect of 84.9% voters. Funny, this last figure is virtually identical to the approval rating announced by the mayor's consultants last month.

Let's count that again: The Election Commission's final vote counts generally reflected the same percentages found in earlier returns... with one exception. Somehow, Councilwoman Judy Montero actually lost 78 votes from yesterday to today, going from 2,704 votes to 2,626, while challenger Waldo Benevidez received 7 additional votes. At this rate of decline, Montero could lose the election in less than a month.

Anyone but him: Among the uncontested incumbents, Councilmen Rick Garcia and Charlie Brown were the most disliked, receiving 4.7% and 4.2% write-in votes against them. While that is unsurprising for Garcia, who had an active write-in candidate in Gerald Styron, Councilman Brown's result seems to reflect a more sustained opposition to his politics, as found in both the election results and an earlier Internet poll. Thankfully, Brown's business friends have given him $174,796 reasons to think his seat is safe.

Can't think of anyone but you: In contrast, Councilman Michael Hancock received only 94 votes against him (2%). While write in votes dipped even lower in other races, his was the most impressive performance for an unopposed candidate, and was also reflected in the earlier Internet poll.

Where are you? JoAnn Phillips is going to a runoff in Council District 3, you say? I wonder whether this will finally spur her to get up a campaign website. Out of 29 candidates, she was among only 7 who didn't care to provide such a device for potential supporters. The unopposed Charlie Brown was the only winner among them.

Quick as a cat: The only candidates who have updated their website since Tuesday's election are Chris Nevitt (who asks for your support) and Ike Kelly (who immediately withdrew his campaign site from cyberspace).

MoneyVotes: Now with the final figures for all district candidates for City Council.

Also read our initial reflection on Denver's election results.

Historic comparisons

Wondering how this election compares to others in terms of turnout? Below are figures for each of Denver's municipal elections over the past 20 years.

YEAR - ACTIVE - VOTES - %VOTING
2003 - 244,398 - 114,492 - 46.9%
1999 - 195,476 - .51,494 - 26.4%
1995 - 165,218 - 104,358 - 63.2%
1991 - 162,083 - 125,453 - 77.4%
1987 - 249,032 - 140,270 - 56.3%

Given the lack of mayoral competition, we should expect this election to be more like 1999 than any other year.

We may well exceed that year's turnout of just 26%, and yet still have a historic low. That's because the list of "active" voters has been drastically culled this year.

So the bigger comparison will be found in the total votes. Will we exceed 52,000 votes... and if so, by how much?

DIffering interpretations of Hick's relative popularity

Stuart Steers of the Rocky Mountain News writes "Despite slips, Hick feels the love."

However, the real meat of the article is in the subtitle, which provides historical comparison: "Easy re-election was never in cards for Peña, Webb."

There are differing explanations for the Hickenlooper phenomenon, ranging from the mayor's boyish charisma to his history as a downtown businessman who is comfortable with Denver's corporate elite.

By contrast, both Peña and Webb were seen as outsiders who were committed to opening up City Hall to people who had been excluded - including women, Hispanics, blacks, and gays. Peña was Denver's first Hispanic mayor, and Webb was the city's first black mayor. Barnes-Gelt thinks that partly explains Hickenlooper's success...

Webb has said he believes minority mayors receive far more criticism than their Anglo counterparts.

"Both Mayor Peña and myself took arrows for being firsts," said Webb. "If you go up to City Hall and look at the picture of mayors, there are only two that are different. John is the 39th or 40th white man."...

Peña disagrees with those who attribute part of Hickenlooper's success to race. Peña says his narrow re-election in 1987 was largely because the local economy imploded during the mid-'80s oil bust.

"In 1987, any mayor would have received complaints regardless of ethnicity or race," said Peña.

Denver's largely white electorate gave him two terms and Wellington Webb three terms, Peña pointed out.

"The people of Denver have been very supportive of individuals regardless of ethnic background," he said...

Hickenlooper doesn't dispute that his background as the owner of several of downtown's most successful restaurants helped give him a network of well-connected supporters. But he was visibly annoyed at the suggestion he is part of a "white boys club."

"I think that characterization is unfair," he said. "We are as trusted and have as positive a relationship in Latino and African-American communities as we do in Anglo communities."

What your city officials USED to say

The exercise with Mr Werther got me to wondering what our city officials' websites looked like way back, even before they were elected. And by extension, how do they compare to their official actions?

Using a wonderful resources called the Wayback Machine, I perused the old websites. One limitation is that certain graphics may not load and links may be broken, but you can still navigate (guessing at what the missing images may have shown) and see what they had to say about themselves.

I invite you to peruse Denver's election facades as they looked in April 2003.

John Hickenlooper
Dennis Gallagher
Rick Garcia
Jeanne Faatz
Rosemary Rodriguez
Peggy Lehmann
Marcia Johnson
Kathleen MacKenzie
Elbra Wedgeworth
Judy Montero
Jeanne Robb
Michael Hancock
Carol Boigon

Did you notice anything different or strange? Comments, ideas, and critiques of "how they were then" appreciated.

Did the Clerk & Recorder election break election laws?

According to former Denver Election Commissioner Jan Tyler, Denver's January 2007 election violated Ordinance #851. It was conducted after just 30 days notice, yet the controlling ordinance requires at least 60 days notice.

Dear Denver wonders "What if, on May 1, a judge declares Denver's January special election void?"

In essence, the judge would have to decide whether the election violated city election laws. And if so, what's the remedy?

It's possible that our current Clerk & Recorder race between Stephanie O'Malley and Jacob Werther would be for a non-existent seat. We'd have to have another special election to validate the need for an elected Clerk & Recorder, and one more special election for the potential candidates for this seat. All of this would be the result not of some "mad" judge, but of the city's failure to follow its own ordinances.

What a shame. But what a question. Where do you think it'll land?

More details available from Lisa Jones in "Can An Election Be Nullified"?

Profile: Dennis Gallagher (Auditor)

Dennis Gallagher successfully faced off against Bill Wells and others in 2003. Below is an excerpt from The Colorado Statesman written in March 2003 by Ken Freed. The full title is "Auditor Candidates Seeing Red at Neighborhood Forum."

...Dennis J. Gallagher was the last candidate to speak. The former state legislator with a Colorado budget amendment named after him is the term-limited Denver City Council representative for District 1, northwest Denver. He's also a speech communication professor at Regis University.

"I've directed performance audits of state agencies while a state senator," he said, "and I'd like to see the same done for all Denver agencies." He'd also "like to see what can be done" for Denver's neighborhoods and small businesses in city services.

"I remember hearing how the new city office building would feature a 'one-stop shop' for all permits and licenses, but it's not there. As Auditor I could ask why and do something about all the money being wasted."

If elected Auditor, he promised that he would his own car instead of a city vehicle, and he questioned if so many in the city government staff even need vehicles. "Are they racing to some crime scene or a fire in the middle of the night?"

And on top of all that, he said, he's the only member of term-limited city council members in the Auditor's race who will give back to the city 30 percent of his budget.

Denver City Council members have traditionally rolled forward unused funds from year to year, and the tallies for some council members have grown over time.

"I'd have to face any ethical challenges about spending a million dollars before I left office," he concluded. "So just remember the name of Gallagher."

Profile: Bill Wells (Auditor)

Folks searching for information on Auditor candidate Bill Wells will have a devil of a time. Mr Wells has no campaign website, his public appearances have been few, and media mentions are rather rare.

He did, however, run for Auditor back in 2003 against Debbie Ortega, Ed Thomas, Landri Taylor, and Dennis Gallagher. Below is an excerpt from The Colorado Statesman written in March 2003 by Ken Freed. The full title is "Auditor Candidates Seeing Red at Neighborhood Forum."

...Bill Wells lowered the mic slightly. With his white hair and black suit, he stood relaxed before the audience, resulting from years of training and leadership in Toastmasters with involvement in Optimists and Rotary and Mensa.

Wells spoke about nine years as a management analyst in the Denver Budget and Management Office, he did not mention additional experiences as the purchasing agent for Arapahoe County.

He's chief concern that night was making sure the audience knew he had done and could do effective performance audits.

He's worked with Denver Health in establishing auditing standards now being adopted nationally. But this is not his only sign of merit.

"I've personally exposed waste in the city fleet," he said. His audit proved that replacing some vehicles would be cheaper than maintaining them. Wells did not mention that he knew about cars from being president and CEO of Smethport Auto and Truck Parts.

"I'm the only candidate who has actually done the job of a city auditor," Wells said.

...Closing statements from the candidates repeated the messages in all but one case. Wells placed a capstone on the forum with his own disclosure.

"I'm the only one here who has never before run for public office or led a political campaign," he said. "I'm the only one here who does not think of the job as a step to higher office."

He paused, looking almost serene for a moment. "Budgets and audits may sound boring to some of you, but the idea of being Denver Auditor has been a passion of mine for a long time. This is my dream. That's the kind of person I am."

Profile: Waldo Benevidez (CD9)

Waldo Benevidez has been running for City Council for a long time. Decades, in fact. As a historian, I recently reviewed some old Denver newspapers for information about this candidate and discovered dozens of articles. Below are some excerpts from the archives.

In 1991, Benevidez ran for the City Council District 9 seat against incumbent Deborah Ortega, Gary Castillo and Joe Herrera.

Denver Post, March 30, 1991

...Benavidez, a 51-year-old Democrat who works as executive director of the Auraria Community Center, calls dispersed housing "social engineering. ... I don't think the Denver Housing Authority should be in the business of buying single-family homes.

...On other issues, Benavidez said he's against a subsidy for a convention center headquarters hotel.

And he thinks the large retail project proposed by the city's urban renewal agency for downtown should be replaced by a plan calling for shops that would appeal more to students and downtown workers.

Rocky Mountain News, May 9, 1991

... District 9. Incumbent Debbie Ortega may be steamrolling toward another term, but challengers Waldo Benavidez, Joe Herrera, and Gary Castillo are mounting spirited attacks. Our favorite is Wally Benavidez, whose pro-business ideas include selling off Winter Park and investing the profits in more beneficial projects. While the conventional wisdom says it's Ortega all the way, Benavidez's ideas promise greater development in the Ninth.

Then in 1996 he ran for Colorado House District 2 against Gloria Leyba. Leyba was initially left off the ballot for failure to file the necessary paperwork in time. Leyba was elated in the article below when a federal judge ruled in her favor.

Denver Post, June 26, 1996

...Benavidez was less enthused.

"I don't think it's right that the judge should put her on the ballot," he said from his home. "She didn't get her papers in on time because she was too busy trying to keep me off the ballot."

After Benavidez won a spot on the ballot through a petition drive, Leyba challenged some of his petitions last month, but Buckley dismissed the challenge.

In the end, Gloria Leyba won with 71%: 2,445 total votes against Benavidez's 980. He ran again in 2004, and again encountered issues with the ballot.

Rocky Mountain News, June 29, 2004

A Denver man hoping to run for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives failed to submit sufficient signatures to make the August primary, a state election official ruled Monday.

But Waldo Benavidez, executive director of the Auraria Community Center, said he intends to challenge that finding in court and is not giving up.

"As long as my name is on the ballot, I'm going to campaign," said Benavidez, 65.

Deputy Secretary of State William Hobbs ruled Benavidez lacked sufficient signatures on petitions to participate in the primary, falling 19 short of the 579 names needed to become a Democratic candidate in Denver House District 2.

...Benavidez initially was placed on the ballot when state election officials ruled 733 of the 1,037 signatures that he submitted were valid.

However, Hobbs struck 173 more, leaving Benavidez with only 560 valid signatures - 19 short of what he needed.

The bulk of the signatures rejected - 158 names - were tossed out because they were obtained by two petition circulators who were declared not to be residents of the district. as required by law.

Denver Post, August 6, 2004

Democrat Waldo Benavidez is putting on a conservative hat and challenging incumbent Rep. Mike Cerbo for the Democratic nomination to represent state House District 2, which includes Denver's west side.

Benavidez, executive director of the Auraria Community Center, and Cerbo, a union official with the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, are the Democratic primary candidates.

Support for school vouchers could make Benavidez a stranger in his own party, but he said families in his district deserve school choice and higher-quality education.

"Parents are upset with how their kids are being treated in the public school system, and school choice is an alternative," said Benavidez, who started a group a few years ago for parents in west Denver to push for vouchers. High dropout and expulsion rates in the public schools in his district are a problem, Benavidez said.

But Cerbo argues that K-12 education has already been squeezed enough.

...Benavidez has had a roller- coaster ride to get on the ballot by petition. The secretary of state's office first ruled in June that he did not have enough signatures. A Denver judge then ruled in July that all votes cast for Benavidez in Tuesday's primary would be counted.

In the end, Cerbo won re-election with 65% of the vote. Benavidez received 1,246 votes. By 2006, Benevidez was in the middle of the immigration debate.

Denver Post, January 5, 2006

[Defend Colorado Now] are here to introduce an anti-illegal-immigration initiative that will probably be on the ballot in 2006.

One of the group's leaders, former Gov. Dick Lamm, lends the debate intellectual firepower and left-wing credibility. His "liberal case" to control the border is a well-crafted argument against "illegal immigration," not "the illegal immigrant."

Defend Colorado Now's initiative would amend the state's constitution to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving publicly funded services that are "not required under the law."

Question: If Colorado is already "not required under the law" to provide these welfare-state services, what's the purpose of the initiative?

Why not just follow the law?

"It's a mandate," Lamm explained. He expects the passage will send a message to legislators that Colorado voters are getting impatient. "Listen. Voters matter."

Unfortunately for Lamm, his arguments were corroded by the presence of another leader of his group, Waldo Benavidez, director of the Auraria Community Center.

We've seen the ugly underbelly of the isolationist, right-wing crowd - and, no, not everyone who is concerned about illegal immigration falls in this category - but wait until you hear the left-wing case for closed borders as presented by Benavidez.

There is no other way to say this: Benavidez's rhetoric was two parts nonsense and one part paranoia, sprinkled liberally with economic illiteracy. Benavidez threw so many inane anti-business clichés around that, by the end of the speech, you had to wonder why any Mexicans would risk their lives coming to this dreadful country.

Other than to sell us drugs, of course, in Benavidez's world.

GOPUSA.com, April 28, 2006

“Enough is enough,” said Waldo Benavidez, a Denver social service agency director and leader of the ballot measure. “I’m tired of people protesting in our streets demanding rights that they’re not entitled to.

“This initiative is the first volley of Colorado citizens fighting back,” he said. “It’s about preserving our way of life. In the final analysis, it is all about cheap labor and denying the middle class their piece of the American dream.”

For more information, visit Defend Colorado Now.

Opinon: Denver needs more spirited politics

Former city councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt penned a March 3 column for the Denver Post entitled "Election Below the Radar".

So much of the article is good, it's hard to know where to start. The column begins with a rundown of the current apathetic political situation:

So far, Denver's all-mail, May 1 municipal ballot looks like a nothing burger. With the exception of three open City Council seats in Districts 3, 7 and 8, there are no truly contested council races. There are no serious candidates challenging the mayor or the auditor. Nor does there appear to be a real horse race to fill the newly created, $125,000-per-year elected job of clerk and recorder.

Oh, sure, the perfunctory Harold Stassen candidates (the Minnesota Republican who sought the presidential nomination nine times between 1948 and 1992) have pulled petitions: Dwight Henson, Denver's "homeless mayor," may run for mayor; CPA Bill Wells is gathering signatures - again - to run for auditor; Ike Kelley Jr. and William Rutherford III want the District 4 seat; Mitchell Poindexter and R.J. Ours are running in District 5; and there's Waldo Benavides in District 9. Denver voters see these names regularly on the ballot.

In the at-large race, only Carol E. Campbell, a credible west Denver neighborhood activist, has pulled a petition. The at-large race has been a slam-dunk incumbent's dream for as long as anyone can remember because of two significant factors: money and geography. It's nearly impossible to build a political base by going door-to-door citywide. The other alternatives are a challenger with high citywide name recognition or a wealthy, self-funded candidate who would have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy name recognition though direct mail, TV and radio.

In fact, Councilwoman at-large Carol Boigon did exactly that four years ago. She loaned her campaign nearly $190,000 for advertising in the 2003 election and placed first in a field of seven - with 22 percent of the votes cast. Doug Linkhart secured the other at-large position with 17 percent.

After discussing the now-discarded idea of splitting the at-large council elections into two separate seats, which would have ensured more direct accountability and head-to-head campaigns, she returns to the question of political candidacies in Denver.

In 1995, Denver voters extended municipal terms to 12 years and in 2003, 10 of 13 council seats, the mayor and the auditor were open. Despite record candidate interest and numerous hotly contested seats, less than 47 percent of Denverites voted in the May municipal election.

Honestly, I don't know what to make of a citywide election for 16 important positions and little controversy. Are we so absorbed in national and international affairs and the doings at the state legislature that we simply don't care about the direction of our city, its condition and its future?

Maybe I'm tone deaf, but the absence of a spirited civic dialogue that should accompany municipal elections is not music to my ears.

Campaigns struggle for publicity in 2007

Denver Post reporter George Merritt today highlighted the very issue that initiated this blog. The article was entitled "Slew of council candidates under the radar."

No fewer than 18 candidates are vying for three open seats on the Denver City Council this spring, but the contests have largely gone under the radar without a high-profile race for mayor to draw attention to the campaign season.

...No one currently in Denver government knows the difficulties of running for office in a low-profile election year as well as outgoing Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie. She won the only open seat on the council in 1999 - a year in which the incumbent mayor, Wellington Webb, won handily.

"I think that was one of the worst turnouts ever," MacKenzie said. "I was nervous as the day went by and the turnout was so low."

Similarly, this year's race for mayor is not likely to drive people to the polls. Mayor John Hickenlooper has a war chest closing on $600,000, and the only opponent to turn in petitions, Public Works employee Danny Lopez, does not have a campaign budget.

Hickenlooper officially launched his re-election bid Tuesday, filing more than four times the necessary 300 signatures.

Adding to the difficulty of stirring public interest, this year's election will be by mail ballot - effectively shortening the campaign for candidates because ballots go out about a month before the May 1 election day.

Regardless of the lack of buzz surrounding the election, Mac Kenzie and others said council seats are still won by pounding the pavement.

"The papers tend to cover the mayor ... but there's still not much coverage of the council race," MacKenzie said. "Those races are won by a real, door-to-door grassroots effort."

...Challengers facing the 10 council incumbents seeking re-election face the biggest obstacle. Since the 1970s, just three incumbents have been knocked out of a council seat.

"There is approximately a 95 percent re-election rate among incumbents" on the City Council, said John Bennett, a former council administrator who analyzed the council elections. "The chances of an incumbent losing is almost nil."

Historical average voter turnout

How many votes can we expect in the upcoming election? I would guess 110,000. Although we have a good stock of candidates, only three seats are wide open (as currently held by exiting councilwomen Kathleen MacKenzie, Elbra Wedgeworth, and Rosemary Rodriguez).

Historical averages are provided below. Most interesting is the fact that municipal elections and runoff elections generally garner turnout representing 60% of the active electorate. 1999 was the only major aberration.

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
2003 May-06 114,492 46.85%
1999 May-04 51,494 26.40%
1995 May-02 104,358 63.2%
1991 May-21 125,453 77.4%
1987 May-19 140,270 56.3%

RUNOFF ELECTIONS
2003 Jun-03 108,217 44.8%
1995 Jun-06 124,523 68.6%
1991 Jun-18 116,531 70.7%
1987 Jun-16 157,053 62.1%

Denver City Council voted against Iraq war

As a historian, I frequently harken back to previous actions of elected officials. One such occasion four years ago seems especially prescient.

In February 2003, Denver City Council voted 7-3 in favor of a resolution against the Iraq war, as reported by the Denver Post. No current Council members voted for the war.

The resolution passed on a 7-3 vote with Joyce Foster and Charlie Brown abstaining and Ramona Martinez absent.

In favor were Susan Barnes-Gelt, Dennis Gallagher, Happy Haynes, Kathleen MacKenzie, Debbie Ortega, Elbra Wedgeworth and Cathy Reynolds. Opposed were Polly Flobeck, Ted Hackworth and Ed Thomas.

An amendment proposed by Hackworth supporting the Bush administration failed by the same vote.

...The measure also resolved: "That United States forces may be deployed as a last resort if it is determined that military action is necessary to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction with full support for our military personnel."