HOW do you top a class act like John Hickenlooper for mayor? Thats the challenge Denvers Jewish community tackled at the Intermountain Jewish News Mayoral Forum Thursday, March 31, at Temple Emanuel.
About 300 people crowded into Emanuels social hall to size up Carol Boigon, Michael Hancock, Doug Linkhart, James Mejia, Chris Romer and Theresa Spahn.
Former City Councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt, IJN Assistant Editor Chris Leppek and Marshall Zelinger of KMGH Channel 7 posed the questions.
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, IJN executive editor, moderated the forum, and Emanuels Senior Rabbi Joe Black offered introductory remarks.
Before the start of the 100-minute event, volunteers for the candidates stood on the corner of Grape waving flags and calling to drivers pulling into Emanuels parking lot.
Inside, audience members schmoozed with the candidates, each other and the occasional journalist.
Is she married? one man inquired of Carol Boigons marital status. (Yes). What about her? he pointed to Theresa Spahn. (Yes).
I think youre gonna need more chairs, another observer correctly assessed.
Find out the result of our straw poll
Linkhart introduced his parents to friends and strangers alike. Former Gov. Roy Romer, father of Chris Romer, accepted handshakes all around. Boigon, a longtime member of Emanuel, was in her element.
For weeks, the candidates had been making the rounds of every demographic sector of the city. Spahns voice was hoarse. Some of the men looked tired.
Running for political office is exhausting until the opening bell sounds, sparking adrenalin and renewed energy.
Goldberg opened the mayoral forum, presented by the newspaper since 1983.
Oh my goodness, Black followed. Its nice to be welcomed by the welcomer. He went on to quote from Deuteronomy, stressing, You shall not be indifferent.
While subtle favorites had started to emerge in the mayoral race, no one reigned supreme which contributed noticeable vitality to the debate.
Goldberg threw out three quick questions that could only be answered yes or no: are Denver city parks in need of repair; is urban density good for the city; and given the inevitable budget cuts looming in Denvers future, did they envision having fun as mayor?
Six unanimous affirmations greeted the first query. Urban density received three unqualified positives and three divided responses of both. As for having fun in a difficult economic era, six yeas erupted down the line.
Then Goldberg threw in a surprise.
Do any of you know who Wolf Londoner was?
Silence.
Barnes-Gelt waved her hand. I know, I know.
Take it away, Susan, Goldberg said.
Wolf Londoner was the only Jewish mayor of Denver, she said.
He was elected in 1888, Goldberg added, and became the only Denver mayor to resign for election fraud.
The audience loved it.
But were not making any implications here, Goldberg smiled.
The following is an edited transcript of the IJN Mayoral Forum.
SUSAN Barnes-Gelt: I want each of you to tell me among the people sitting with you on the stage tonight which department of the city you would have them run, and why.
Carol Boigon: Let me take their measure. Id make Michael Hancock in charge of public works. The city would be very clean. Id appoint Doug Linkhart as the head of human services, with a great deal of confidence. James Mejia . . . hmm. General services. Hed make us more efficient. Chris Romer, economic development. And Theresa Spahn, city attorney.
Michael Hancock: I had some great answers, but Im not going to say them. Carol, clearly human services. Doug, education. James, CEO. Chris? Wow. CFO. And Theresa, excise and licensing.
Doug Linkhart: Michael would be in charge of the airport; James, parks and recreation; Carol, human services; Chris, treasurer; Theresa, I agree, city attorney.
James Mejia: Well, Theresa, congratulations city attorney! Chris, treasurer. Doug, an enhanced human rights and communications director. Michael, public works. Carol, an enhanced education director.
Chris Romer: Congratulations. Theresa is the next city attorney. James, parks and recreation. Doug, excise and licensing. Michael, airports. Carol, human services.
Goldberg: Now its the city attorneys turn.
Theresa Spahn: Carol, department of health and human services. Michael, public works. Doug, office of economic development. James, parks and recreation. Chris, office of finance.
LEPPEK: In 1983, a relatively young man by the name of Frederico Peña was elected mayor of Denver largely due to a catchy slogan, Imagine a great city. Twenty-eight years later, Id like to ask if you think Denver has become a great city, and if so, why? If not, what does it need to gain that distinction?
Spahn: This is a great city, an absolutely great city. What makes Denver so great is all the people that live here and want to move here. Also our neighborhoods. You can see them transitioning: People are living where they shop and play.
Businesses are coming back. And think of the great arts and culture here. We have met many people in many communities in this campaign, and they all care about their children. They all care about education.
That being said, there is work to be done.
This economic downturn has hit us hard, and this is an opportunity for us to chart a new course. Its also a chance for us to reinvent ourselves.
When it takes people six months to get food stamps, this is unacceptable. Regarding our office of economic development, its critical that we lower our debt.
If we can do the best for our citizens and our businesses, then well continue to be the great city we are. This is a great opportunity.
Romer: This is an extraordinary place. I truly believe that our best days are ahead of us. And if you truly believe that, we need to expect more for Denvers future.
We need to expect more from City Hall. We need to cut red tape. There are too many people, with a 9% unemployment rate, who dont have a friend in City Hall.
We need to make sure that everyone from the mayor to the clerk at the front desk is a friend of small- and medium-sized businesses. Every day Im mayor, I want City Hall to consider, What small business did we help today?
We need to expect even more from our school districts. A great city does not have a 53% graduation rate. If we want to be a world-class city, we need a world-class school system.
We need to expect more from the corporations in our private sector, and more private-public partnerships to take us to the next level.
Frederico Peña did imagine a great city. We have DIA, the Convention Center, FasTracks. To get to the next level, we need to expect more of ourselves.
Mejia: Frederico Peña did challenge us to imagine a great city. Today we are living in that great city.
In 1983, he stood on the banks of the South Platte River and spoke about investing in Denver. He wanted to put forward one large bond issue to invest in Denver and to make Denver a city for generations to come.
The city council said, No, lets cut it up into 10 pieces, and if were lucky, Denverites will invest in one or two of them. All 10 bond issues eventually passed.
I cant imagine Denver without the Convention Center, DIA and that Central Platte Valley where Frederico Peña stood in 1983.
Back then, it was literally a dump, with abandoned tires and shopping carts in the rivers and on the banks. If you go to the Central Platte Valley today, its some of the most prized real estate in the entire city.
We can spread this vision to other regions along the valley, including Sun Valley, our poorest neighborhood. We can revitalize every part of Denver.
Linkhart: In the 28 years since Frederico Peña uttered those words, we have truly built a great city. We have a world-class airport, a convention center, three sports stadiums, a new central library, a new art museum expansion, and now were building FasTracks.
Now Im hoping youll invest in our community, because thats whats next.
When I see that the number of homeless kids in Denver Public Schools has gone up by 53% over the last four years; when I see that 31,000 kids statewide are entering extreme poverty every year; when I see that our jail population has tripled, I know we can do better.
We as a community have always risen to the challenge. Working together we have accomplished so much for our city and our region. We can become the most humane city in the country.
But its not about me. Its about community, and engaging you in the process. The answers are in this room.
Hancock: For anyone who knew or knows Frederico Peña, we realize he would never have treated the word greatness as a destination. It was a journey.
He knew that for Denver to be great, the people had to be great. If you read his full statement on that day in 1983, what he was really saying was that greatness rested in the hope that you would demonstrate your greatness and your yearning for greatness every day of your life.
Fredericos vision of greatness was perfect for 1983. Today, the call for all of us is to perform for the greatness of 2011. And there are challenges we have not seen since the Great Depression.
We must invest in our children and in education in every corner of our city.
We must invest in small businesses so that we build a foundation of economic opportunities for our city.
The greatness that Peña spoke about was appropriate for 1983. Today, the greatness were called to is much different. We face different challenges, greater challenges. But it starts with each and every one of us in this room.
Boigon: What makes a great city? Clearly Denvers families make this a great city and the optimism with which they face the future and the kindness with which they approach each other. This is a place where people can talk to each other, get along, air their disagreements, explore policy, act.
What we need to do next is find a different way of thinking about economic development.
Its time for the city to assert leadership in doing things here so our families can have jobs. Thats the most important thing that confronts us: to bring companies to Denver to grow our small startups, to move technology out of our universities and into the marketplace.
As we take leadership in these areas, we will have jobs that go up and down on different rhythms and be able to weather the ups and downs, the booms and busts, of the national economy.
Our economic development depends on the old-fashioned concept of bring the jobs here. Thats whats important to sustain ourselves as a great city.
ZELINGER: Due to a high profile incident (involving the brutal police beating a Pueblo sheriffs deputys son and his friend in 2009), Denver may not have any new recruits possibly until 2013. What if anything needs to change with the Denver police, and how do you do that without a recruitment class meaning the same officers, the same employees?
Boigon: We need a strong police force and an accountable police force.
Everyone at this table has been outraged by some of the acts committed by police officers who are not meeting our standards. We have 1,400 officers and a handful of them are causing serious problems. But I want to tell you were in the process of changing the Denver Police Dept. in substantial ways.
It started with the creation of the Office of Civilian Monitor, which enhanced civilian oversight and judgment around the internal process for disciplinary action. It went on to include data-driven policing, which was started in New York, to make us more effective.
While thats been a good start, there are many more things we can do.
We threw out the old system called Comparable Discipline and replaced it with a new discipline system predicated on our expectations for good performance. We are in the process of making this part of our culture, part of our supervision, part of our expectations.
I support these changes. I think they will result in the best police department in the country.
I would add that we have to execute our discipline processes faster.
Hancock: We have a real issue of trust in our police department. The first thing Im going to do is begin restoring that trust. And we start with the appointment of leadership that does not deflect but accepts accountability and responsibility.
I really believe that the most sacred trust between government and the people is the public safety department.
And whenever theres a breach, the leadership must move expeditiously to repair it. The prophet Isaiah said that we ought to be restorers of the breach, restorers of the streets that we live in. We must never allow for that breach to exist, because if you do, it tears at the heart of trust the very basis, the foundation of the public safety department.
Now I believe that 99.9% of our officers want to do two things: serve and protect the public, and get home safely. All it takes is that 0.1% to step over the line and exercise their authority in the wrong way to put a stain on the police department.
We must address these problems quickly, utilizing tools we have in place, and hold all officers accountable and honor them as well. You are here to protect and serve the public.
No citizen should be afraid of his or her police department. Thats why theyre here. Thats why we pay them taxes. Were the customer, and we should expect professional integrity and transparency every time we call on those officers to serve us.
Linkhart: I was at the press conference the other day when Mike DeHerrera and his father and the rest of the family were there. The manager of safety, who was appointed a few weeks earlier, made a decision in that short period of time to fire two officers.
And Michaels father, a sheriffs deputy in Pueblo, said, They tarnished the badge. They tarnished the badge.
We do have a good police department, but we need a huge change. And its not just a couple of officers were talking about. We get 700 complaints a years not just the ones you see on TV.
We need to make the police department act quickly, so it doesnt take two or three years to reach a discipline decision.
These decisions have to go through too many hoops to get to the manager of safety. We need to make the process efficient, because thats what enables some officers to get away with the things they get away with.
A police chief in California said to me, Why dont you just let this go? Why do we let a few bad apples tarnish the rest?
We need to be firm, and move toward community policing so its not an us vs. them situation. We must ensure that police officers are working with the community to solve crime.
Mejia: In our city we live on safe streets and in safe neighborhoods. I credit the Denver police for putting us in this safe position. Overall its an excellent department. But there needs to be more accountability, more transparency, more swift justice.
Imagine being a sheriffs deputy on the other end of the telephone hearing your son being beaten by police officers in downtown Denver [the DeHerrera scenario] and knowing exactly whats going on. And then having to wait two years for any sort of justice to be found with regard to your son.
I guarantee that if there were a criminal case with regard to a downtown assault committed by a citizen, that case would be resolved in six months.
So why are we not holding our police department to that same standard or better yet, a higher standard, because they have the trust and confidence of Denver citizens to mete out justice in our community?
So lets make sure that when this kind of case happens, it is reviewed at the lowest possible level, at the district level, not kicked up to the chief or kicked up to the manager of safety, but that there is accountability at every level, just as we expect in any other department or business that we operate and manage.
Romer: The top job of any mayor is public safety. I spoke with Chief Michaud, who was convinced that the discipline system must have two key elements: It must be swift, and certain.
In the past two years, we have had neither.
So I believe we need three key elements: leadership, transparency and training.
First, we need a new police chief. We also need to look hard at the role of the manager of safety: how does the job work, how it is inefficient, and whether it really has become something insulating the mayor from having the buck stop on his or her desk.
We didnt understand the issues that went down in the DeHerrera case.
For two years, we wondered what was going on. It was opaque. The process wasnt clear. All of this needs transparency to enable the public to judge the facts.
Lastly, theres training. To really change the character of that department, you need to make sure training is appropriate. Training is the key to effecting solutions in terms of long-term change and culture change.
We have to make sure that the system is swift and certain.
Spahn: When I served as deputy district attorney, I prosecuted a law enforcement officer for bad conduct for sexual assault during a DUI. When I served on the bench, I was the judge that found a law enforcement officer guilty of very inappropriate conduct with children.
So I have seen how important it is for law enforcement to be held accountable.
Most of the police officers in the city and county of Denver do amazing work. They care about the community, and its very important that we take a few minutes to give them credit.
But we need to fix the few who use excessive force and those who are dishonest.
Heres what we need to do. In the history of the Denver Police Department, we have always hired from within. Other large cities have done a national search to try and change their culture. We need to do a national search.
Secondly, law enforcement agencies that are willing to create change have looked at national accreditation to set benchmarks and standards.
Finally, our internal investigations need to take 60 to 90 days like every other large city. Its absolutely ridiculous that two years elapsed before there was a finding or any transparency.
When law enforcement is dishonest, it hurts victims in the courtroom.
PANELISTS asked briefer questions of all six candidates and then each one questioned only two. This allowed the candidates to address a wider range of topics. While not all answers can be included here, here is a sample.
Barnes-Gelt: Michael [Hancock], you have a wonderful reputation for being articulate, a leader, and certainly loving the city. You also have a reputation for avoiding conflict. How will you deal with a multiplicity of viewpoints and take the tough steps?
Hancock: Well, if you ask my wife, or my twin sister back there, they would not agree that I avoid conflict! Listen, Im the 10th of 10 children. If you cant get with conflict, youre not going to survive in that village.
You dont have to seek conflict. You also dont have to run from it. As city council president, I have stood and made the most difficult decisions in the most public venues. I raised my right hand to serve and protect the people of Denver. And at times Ive been called on to make very tough decisions.
We always sit down and try to find the middle ground, the win-win. But when its time to make a decision, I make it in the best interests of the city of Denver.
Leppek: Ms. Spahn, you have written and spoken about your own ethnic origins and the importance it brings to your work. Why is someones ethnic background or immigration status at all important to the character of this city?
Spahn: My family moved here from Italy straight to North Denver, where they opened up a grocery story. My grandparents were German-Russians who settled at 31st and Marion. Its not that far away when you look at your grandparents or great-grandparents and understand the struggles that they went through, what they built, the contributions they made, and the opportunities they provided for me.
I like to share that because its also important to understand that I stand on their shoulders, like many of us here whose families have been in Denver for two or three generations. I believe I brought something very different to the bench because of my humble background.
The mayors job is to make sure that all ethnic communities have a voice and an opportunity to shape this city and help make decisions.
Zelinger: Ms. Boigon, imagine Im the person calling you in the middle night to complain to you as my councilwoman. There are 169 plows that go down the roads in Denver in a snowstorm, and wouldnt you know Im the one who only finds the roads that those plows have never touched. And in the spring there are potholes.
What needs to happen so I dont call you in the middle of the night or report on budget cuts that are eliminating these services?
Boigon: Thats the $64 million question. The answer is economic development. In this budget crunch, we are slowing garbage pickup, stretching out our pothole repairs, stretching out our fleet replacement. If you look through the citys budget, youll see that were slowing down all of our maintenance because we dont have the money.
So the thing for us to do is to get a handle on economic development, bring jobs back and make sure Denver families are working. Then well have the money to do everything we want to do as quickly as we need it to be done.
In the meantime, until we find that balance, yes, there will be more potholes.
Zelinger: And more calls in the middle of the night?
Boigon: Which were happy to take.
A question submitted by an audience member asked, How do you view Denvers relationship to Israel?
Spahn: To be honest with you, Im not quite sure what our relationship to Israel is, but we need to make sure we have a good one. I would work with this community and every community to ensure this relationship.
All of us have been very busy campaigning, but its important that all of us stop and see whats going on in the world. Its so critical.
Weve been following events, and praying. Obviously whats happening [in the Middle East] is having a huge impact on Israel. And thats really the most I can say.
Romer: We need to be a strong friend. Israel is an important ally. But theres a way we can create a synergistic relationship that would benefit us both. Israel is a country of great technological entrepreneurs.
Extraordinary conservation technology is coming out of Israel. I think Denver is really going to have to come to terms with its arid environment. We have a lot to learn from the Israelis, who have become incredibly good stewards of the environment.
We have to stop marketing Denver as a place that has 300 days of sunshine. We need to wake up in the morning and talk to Tel Aviv and London and go to bed at night talking to Sydney and Hong Kong. Thats our future.
Mejia: We have tremendous international connections within Denver. There are 76,000 people in Colorado who identify with the Jewish faith. Thats a lot of people, and an incredible asset.
Too often we dont acknowledge that we have this kind of asset. Twenty-five thousand Ethiopians came here to live. Today, there are more Mongolians in metro Denver than in any city outside Mongolia. We need to see what we have in Denver relating to these nationalities.
Our relationship with Carmiel, Israel [one of Denvers sister cities] is an important one. Gov. Ritter went on a trade mission to Israel last year. We need to build on this.
Linkhart: I wanted to take a trip to Israel, but my supervisor didnt want me to take the time off. I want to go desperately. Any good leader needs to understand global demographics and populations.
While I was in the state senate, I managed our sister city relationships, including our relationship with Carmiel in Israel. Its important to foster people-to-people and business exchanges.
And Im a big admirer of David Merages project to revitalize the Negev.
Hancock: Im a product of the sister cities program. When I was in high school, I had the opportunity of going to Carmiel or Nairobi, Kenya. Of course, being an African American, I wanted to go to Africa.
When I was bused to Manual High, I met students from Crestmoor Downs. My best friend in the world is in this room tonight. I spent more time in Crestmoor than anywhere else, having conversations about the Jewish religion.
Young people need to experience each others cultures. You know the greatness we talked about earlier? Thats how we get to it.
Boigon: Well, this is not a fair question to put to the rest of this panel. My husband is the head of Colorado AIPAC. This is my synagogue. Weve spent our lives doing this work.
When Gov. Romer left his job, the last thing his early childhood development deptartment asked me to do was find a solution for funding the HIPPY (Home Instruction for Preschool Youngsters) Program.
HIPPY was created in Israel to make the ingathering of the exiles easier: to help people acculturate and get comfortable in their new home, and have parents be their first teachers. Its a preschool program, taught at home, and we brought it to Denver.
Oh no, I have to stop now. But theres an endless list of things we can and are doing, and more that we should do.
ANOTHER query sought the candidates response to the problems caused by strong unions that have stifled Denver. Several audience members protested under their breath.
Mejia: I actually dont think Denver has those kinds of problems. We have a good balance between business and labor. And where that balance doesnt exist, we need to find it.
People are concerned about livable wages and jobs. They need to have a seat at that table. Everyone deserves a seat at that table.
When I was on the Board of Education, we worked with the union to set up pay for performance, which directly related student achievement with teachers salaries. It was an incredible accomplishment. There are no problems with unions in Denver.
The final audience question read, Im 24. I live in New York City. Why should I move to Denver?
Hancock: Come July, youll have a hip new mayor, so I invite you out.
Linkhart: Well thank you, Michael, for calling me young. It makes me feel better. Were all young out here, right?
People look at Denver and see the Rockies, both the mountains and the baseball team. Its a great city on the surface. But whats greatest about Denver lies underneath. Its the people.
There are two women in my neighborhood who distribute dog biscuits when theyre out walking. I asked them, How long have you been doing this? Seventeen years. Why? Well, were out getting some exercise anyway so we may as well do some good. People care about each other. And thats what I love most about our city.
The election for Denvers next mayor is Tuesday, May 3.
Only mail ballots will be counted.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News