Joanne Phillips questions Paul Lopez's residency in Council District 3

George Merritt of the Denver Post reported this morning that Council District 3 candidate Joanne Phillips asked the Denver Election Commission yesterday to have her opponent, Paul Lopez, declared ineligible for the office. The article was entitled "Candidate cries foul to election panel."

The Lopez campaign did not comment on the matter. The article indicates that Lopez has previously denied the claims, but no further information or evidence was provided.

The most important news here is that the Election Commission apparently is not going to get involved, as "Assistant City Attorney Vicky Ortega said the only way to take action would be for someone to contest the election in district court." Apparently the Phillips campaign is considering just such a lawsuit.

Update: An unnamed author over at Colorado Pols takes a cynical view of the question here. It's not clear why the author considers court appearance documents and electoral change-of-address forms unimportant, but the weight of such evidence certainly raises an eyebrow to those who would dismiss the question out of hand.

For more detailed information on this issue, visit "Analysis of the Lopez residency question" and "Lopez residency under formal investigation."

Lopez residency under formal investigation

Today, George Merritt of the Denver Post investigates whether Paul Lopez was officially a resident of Council District 3 since May 1, 2006... and thus whether he is even eligible to run for City Council in that district.

The article is entitled "Candidate Lopez insists he's resident," and adds several new wrinkles to the story.

• Indicates that the Denver Election Commission is formally investigating the matter.
  
• Clarifies that the District 3 home is Paul Lopez's family residence, and that the Lowell address is an apartment Lopez lived in while attending CU-Denver.
  
• Adds a third address to the list: an apartment on West 38th Avenue. Lopez said he simply "paid a couple bills there."

Read the Denver Post story and let us know what you think.

Come-from-behind victories are rare in Denver's runoff elections

Jason Bane of Colorado Confidential has come to the same historical, statistically-derived conclusion about the runoff elections as outlined in Denver Politics last week: "History Says Denver Runoff Could be Without Surprise."

Below are the 2003 percentages received in the municipal elections and the runoff. Note again that only Garcia and Rodriguez overcame deficits (of 1% and 5% respectively) to win. Bane also indicates that "no candidate who was down by more than five points ended up getting within even 10 points in the runoff election, so things don’t look promising for Phillips [who is down 30%], Watters [down 20%] or Madison [down 8%]."

Mayor
John Hickenlooper: 43% --> 65%
Don Mares: 22% --> 35%

Auditor
Dennis Gallagher: 31% --> 52%
Ed Thomas: 26% --> 48%

City Council District 1
Timber Dick: 36% --> 43%
Rick Garcia: 35% --> 57%

City Council District 3
Don Sandoval: 37% --> 47%
Rosemary Rodriguez: 32% --> 53%

City Council District 5
Marcia Johnson: 31% --> 50.2%
Marcus Pachner: 27% --> 49.8%

City Council District 9
Judy Montero: 31% --> 57%
Veronica Barela: 24% --> 43%

City Council District 10
Jeanne Robb: 48% --> 57%
Caroline Schomp: 36% --> 43%

City Council District 11
Michael Hancock: 44% --> 64%
Jon Bowman: 20% --> 37%

Immediately after the election, George Merrit of the Denver Post indicated that "History has shown that runoff elections can favor candidates with lower vote totals in the first contest," but that misrepresented the facts. Shelly Watters took the opportunity to proclaim the runoff election as "a whole new ball game," but that was just spin.

The truth is, runoff elections are just more compressed ends to a game previously set in motion. And for challengers with significant deficits, the chances just aren't good.

For more details, see our May 2nd reflection on results, especially the final section entitled "All Over But The Shouting."

Latino activist Paul Lopez

In an article entitled "Shut Down Denver - Vote for Paul Lopez," Westword's Jared Jacang Maher highlights canddiate Paul Lopez's more controversial past:

Exactly one year ago May 1, Lopez, a Latino activist and organizer with the Service Employees International Union, was exhorting protesters to "shut down Denver" during the massive, pro-immigrant rally that seized downtown. A year before that, he was telling Denver Police Commander Gerry Wittman how minorities in poor communities don’t trust cops and how "my family and I have been getting harassed by police officers since I can remember."

How it was that the 28-year-old firebrand managed to earn the endorsement of the conservative editorial board at the Rocky Mountain News is anyone’s guess. A clean-cut website helps. But let’s hope he doesn’t change his tune too much. We’re looking forward to hearing some serious anti-establishment talk from the City Council chamber: out of seven candidates, Lopez earned 45 percent of the vote and missed avoiding a run-off by just 5 percent. His competitor in the June election, JoAnn Phillips garnered only 15 percent.

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.

RMN runs down the election and previews the runoffs

And the big story of the day from the Rocky Mountain News? Well, of course "It's the Hickenlooper waltz" by Daniel Chacon.

After a brief rundown of the results, Chacon records "some memorable moments."

* A postal worker drove up to the Denver Election Commission office in his postal truck and dropped off his ballot in the all-mail contest.

"We thought it was kind of weird," worker Judy Hodges said.

• Voters complained that a pro-immigrant march prevented them from dropping off their ballots at commission headquarters.

"What incompetent idiot approved a parade down our street on Election Day?" asked Election Commissioner Susan Rogers. "Do you realize they're blaming us for it? Like we approve parades now, apparently. There's a posting on (a political blog) accusing us of disenfranchising voters by having a parade through here."

• People did double takes when they saw Gov. Bill Ritter standing in line at the Election Commission waiting to apply for an emergency ballot.

His ballot was mailed to his home in Platt Park. Ritter and his family moved into the Governor's Mansion this year, but he hadn't updated his address.

Ritter posed for pictures with election workers who were sporting festive boas and cowboy hats. Tuesday was "hat day" for commission workers, who wore exotic headgear while counting ballots.

Astoundingly, the News then did something uncharacteristic: provided more hard data about the issues now in front of the voters, profiling the 6 candidates still in the race for election in the June 5 runoff. Each candidate was briefly profiled and asked the following questions:

• Biggest challenge for Denver?
  
• Do you support a property tax increase to repair city assets?
  
• What would you do about gang crime in Denver?

Read the full article for details of Paul Lopez, JoAnn Phillips, Chris Nevitt, Shelly Watters, Sharon Bailey, and Carla Madison.

Post spins into the runoff elections

Gabriela Resto-Montero of the Denver Post offered a more in-depth look at the next stage of the elections in an article entitled "3 council races headed to June runoff."

It's interesting to see how each of the candidates tried to "spin" their circumstances.

In Council District 7, Chris Nevitt tried to come off as the quintessential "happy warrior."

"We were hoping we'd make it over 50 (percent) but that's hard to do in a four-way race,"said Chris Nevitt, the top vote-getter from District 7 in south-central Denver. "Some people may be exhausted from campaigning, but I've been invigorated."

Shelly Watters tried to pretend she still had a chance, and was aided and abetted by the reporter's own (mis)leading comment:

History has shown that runoff elections can favor candidates with lower vote totals in the first contest.

"It's a whole new ball game now," Watters said. "It's the playoffs."

Nevermind that the idea of overcoming a 20% deficit in one month is virtually unprecedented in Denver history. So long as you say runoff elections can favor candidates with lower vote totals (like, say, Rick Garcia's 5% in 2003), you're covered!

Finally, came one sentence and one quote on District 3:

In west Denver's District 3, Lopez received 45 percent of the vote in a crowded field of seven candidates.

"We're celebrating," Lopez said. "We intend to move forward."

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

Denver Post reports on the May election

The Denver dailies did, in fact, commit at least an article apiece to trumpet the results in Denver's municipal elections.

George Merritt of the Denver Post submitted an article which found the big story to be the virtual cakewalk in the mayoral race. In "Hickenlooper coasts to second term", he wrote:

Four years after taking the mayor's office as a political novice, John Hickenlooper coasted to a second term Tuesday as one of the most popular political figures in the state.

The mayor held an overwhelming lead on election night with 88 percent of the more than 68,000 votes counted...

"I'm not sure we have seen this level of popularity in the modern history of Colorado," Democratic political consultant Steve Welchert said.

He then mentioned the far more pressing story, sandwiching these details between Hickenlooper tributes:

Three open City Council seats were headed for runoffs, though Paul Lopez in District 3 and Chris Nevitt in District 7 had more than 40 percent of the vote in their respective races. Candidates must have more than 50 percent to be elected; otherwise the top two vote-getters compete in a runoff.

As of press time, JoAnn Phillips, with 16 percent, would square off with Lopez in the 3rd and Shelly Watters, with 28 percent, would battle Nevitt in the 7th.

In District 8, Sharon Bailey had 37 percent and will be in a runoff with either Carla Madison or Darrell Watson. Madison and Watson were separated by just 73 votes.

The silliest quote award goes to Danny Lopez:

Mayoral challenger Danny Lopez, a public works employee, said he was disappointed he did not receive more attention in the media.

"They didn't take me as a serious candidate because I did not want to spend $100,000," he said.

No, silly. They didn't take you seriously because you didn't want to spend $1,000,000! Hickelooper raised nearly $800,000 without even breaking a sweat. $100,000 wouldn't even have gotten you in the door, my friend. That's why raising nothing was a much better strategy - and I think you know that.

A scorecard for Hickenlooper's promises

Daniel Chacon of the Rocky Mountain News offers a rare and balanced profile of Denver's most overcovered campaign: that of Mayor John Hickenlooper. The article entitled Hickenlooper: Success, unfinished business is excerpted below:

The mayor, who faces nominal opposition in his re-election bid Tuesday, has made myriad commitments in the last four years. For the most part, he's done what he set out to do, but other promises still need more work...

In other big cities, crime is up. But not in Denver, which saw a 10 percent drop in 2006 after the city invested $22 million in safety-related technology and hired a consultant who believes — in a nutshell — that fixing "Broken Windows" and other signs of lawlessness leads to safer neighborhoods...

He's visited nearly every public school, telling wide-eyed Denver children that college translates into $1 million more in earnings over the course of their lifetimes.

The city is also going "green," encouraging energy conservation and recycling, and the mayor, a geologist, is leading the way by driving a hybrid Ford.

His 10-year plan to end homelessness has helped hundreds of people find shelter and services...

However, several of the mayor's initiatives haven't been so successful. Some of his highly-publicized promises to reform city government have yet to be realized...

Andrew Wallach, a senior aide to each of Denver's past three mayors, including Hickenlooper, said Hickenlooper hasn't fulfilled a promise to find ways to track the performance of city agencies...

Wallach ran the office of accountability and reform for Hickenlooper for eight months. He says the mayor backed off major reform after running into opposition from the bureaucracy...

Hickenlooper promised that Blueprint Denver, the city's land-use and transportation plan, would be a guiding vision in the preservation and revitalization of the city's neighborhoods. But some elected officials and residents say the plan offers no incentives for investment in "areas of change" and that development in "areas of stability" is ruining neighborhood character...

Hickenlooper advocates transparency in government, but he refused to identify the person who offered to donate $150,000 to support gang prosecutions...

Parents of former Cole Middle School students say the mayor promised "full college tuition" to every 2003-04 Cole student who graduated from high school. But the mayor says he promised that money wouldn't be a barrier for them to attend college, and the city would help cover the "gap" between tuition and other scholarships and financial aid won by the student.

What's at stake in the Clerk & Recorder election

Rocky Mountain News reporter Daniel Chacon has offered an excellent, balanced review of the current Clerk & Recorder race.

The post not only provides biographical details about the candidates, but actually discusses the real issues behind the race itself and plans to implement once the election is decided.

I highly recommend review of the article, entitled "Two vie for clerk and recorder post: Candidates' views differ on precincts vs. vote centers."

Imagining Hickenlooper's second term

When everyone is ac-centuating the positive, it's especially important to inject a dose of reality into the discussion. That's just what the Cherry Creek News did yesterday in an article entitled "Sending Hickenlooper Back."

Rising above a bland retelling of Mayor John Hickenlooper's fan base, the News investigates some of the soft spots in his strength. They especially note the departure of senior staffers such as Michael Bennet and Cole Finegan, which has left City Council members and others "uncertain as to who to go to on given issues."

The article also discusses serious shortfalls in the current administration:

In three substantial policy areas, Hickenlooper has disappointed: economic development, health care, and community planning. In economic development, the city and region continue to lose headquarter companies, and long term that impact will hurt everything from wages to philanthropy. In building small businesses and attracting start-ups, the cover remains relatively bare. The city desperately needs to pioneer new economic development strategies that go beyond the tired patterns of the past. In health care, Denver’s number of uninsured continues to grow. Hospital beds, trauma care and basic health services continue to leave the city, leaving a crisis for the future. The glacial pace of a zoning update that would protect neighborhoods, and effectively balance scrape-offs with the need for new investment and housing stock has been disastrous. Many neighborhoods are changed forever, and much of the city’s historic character and livability are at risk. Replacing hundred year-old homes with disposable development that won’t last more than thirty years makes today’s bad decisions a painful legacy for future generations.

Candidates in Council District 3

George Merritt of the Denver Post has turned some focus to the issues, looking in on the City Council race in Council District 3.

Each candidate has two sentences to highlight their campaign platforms in this morning's article: "7 run to revitalize district: West Denver hopefuls target graffiti, foreclosures."

More Post complaints about the election

The folks over at the Post must have some rather scintillating lives. I'm growing bored with Denver Post comments about boring elections, such as Susan Barnes-Gelt's article entitled, "Denver's doldrums election."

She thinks that "[t]he climate reflects too much groupthink leading to a faux election where important issues (and there are several) aren't debated." I think that the lack of a serious mayoral contest has destroyed any campaign coverage, meaning issues have not been presented in the mainstream press until very recently (and limited at that).

Barnes-Gelt can talk all she want about the serious questions in front of us - including government privatization, FasTrack compromises, the zoning code update, and the infrastructure task force - but until the media seeks (and publishes) answers about serious questions from our local candidates, we'll have the kind of vapid race their coverage demands.

Divided Council District 7

Daniel Chacon of the Rocky Mountain News has written about the chasm between communities in City Council's District 7.

The article was entitled: "In divided District 7, there are two sides to everything: East, west zones split by wealth, development."

In some ways, [Councilwoman] MacKenzie said, District 7 is "like two different districts."

"On the east side of the river, I get constant complaints about scrape-offs and infill developments because there's so much private investment, and people want it to stop," she said.

"But on the west side of the district, they'd love to have pop tops and scrape-offs and that kind of investment that indicates that people want to stay in the community."

The candidates mainly offered platitudes about spreading the wealth, encouraging redevelopment in the western "areas of change" and supporting the eastern "areas of stability.

In terms of neighborhood character, three of the four were in agreement:

Connor, Watters and Nevitt said they support private investment but would work to preserve neighborhood character.

The fourth candidate, Dennis Smith, a teacher at South High School and the only Republican in the nonpartisan race, said the development in the east side is "a nice problem to have."

Watters was described as "supported by development interests," while "Nevitt and Connor have received campaign contributions from several labor interests" and "Smith is neither soliciting nor accepting campaign contributions."

Biographical sketches and forums below:

JULIE CONNOR
Age: 40
Occupation: Senior analyst for MacKenzie.
Family: Single, no children.
Etcetera: Speaks Spanish and served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay.

CHRIS NEVITT
Age: 45
Occupation: Political economist. Former executive director of the Front Range Economic Strategy Center.
Family: Married, no children.
Etcetera: Born in Thailand and has lived in Africa, Australia and Russia, among other places.

DENNIS SMITH:
Age: 48
Occupation: Teacher at South High School.
Family: Married, two sons, ages 12 and 8.
Etcetera: Serves on the Denver Parks and Recreation advisory board.

SHELLY WATTERS
Age: 61
Occupation: Former aide to at-large Denver City Councilwoman Carol Boigon and former Councilwoman Joyce Foster.
Family: Married, one adult daughter.
Etcetera: The New York native has lived in Denver for more than 30 years.

Denver's five nonvoting political candidates

We care to know that political candidates show political leaders, so it is discouraging when they fail to fulfill even the most basic democratic responsibility to vote. Daniel Chacon of the Rocky Mountain News has investigated the voting records of the current candidates for municipal office, and found that five didn't vote at all in the January 2007 election.

They want your vote, but five candidates running for office in Denver in May didn't cast ballots in the last election.

Their reasons for not voting in January - when voters were asked whether to replace the troubled Denver Election Commission with an elected clerk and recorder - are as varied as the candidates.

Dennis Smith didn't remember receiving his ballot.

Bill Wells lost his ballot.

Greg Rasheed forgot to mail it.

Mitchell Poindexter said he didn't understand the question.

Waldo Benavidez thought it was a waste of money.

View the entire article online at "Five city candidates didn't vote in January election."

Changes to Auditor and Clerk & Recorder positions

Bob Ewegen of the Denver Post outlines some of the changes in Denver's elected Clerk & Recorder and Auditor positions in an editorial entitled "Denver pours 'new wine' in old offices," noting:

For the first time, [Denver voters] will directly elect their city clerk and recorder, pouring new powers into that old office in hopes of solving Denver's election mess.

Additionally, whoever wins the familiar office of city auditor will face a radically different set of duties than the office formerly performed...

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

Diversity in the City Council District 8 campaign

Finally, an informative article in the Denver Post regarding the shape of our upcoming election, focusing on issues and illuminating heretofore unknown challengers.

Hopefully the dailies realize that this is a mail-in ballot, and they can't wait until the weekend before the election to provide fuller coverage.

Constituents in Council District 8 should definitely read this article by George Merritt. It's entitled "Diversity shaping election."

What others think of City Council

Penny Parker of the Rocky Mountain News sums up the dull (but important) work of our city council:

EAVESDROPPING on a man at Elway's: "Denver City Council is like a really long PTA meeting."

Mark Roggeman's past

I like Denver Post reporter George Merritt as both a journalist and as a person. But really - does every one of his articles about challengers in the 2007 municipal elections have to be an expose?

The below article regarding Mark Roggeman may well appear a serious matter at its face. But for a 1981 mistrial of a public officer who has served the community for nearly three decades since, is this news?

Without further review, I direct your attention to "Council candidate indicted in 1981."