ROSH HASHANAH 5786 SECTION B, PAGE 2
At the peak of public service, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman’s perspective on politics and Colorado is far wider than most. Coffman has served five terms in Congress, has been Colorado’s Secrtary of State and State Treasurer, and is now in his second term as mayor. He plans to run for a third term, after which he’s term-limited. Coffman won his current term by a large margin.
It is not difficult to see why.
An occupational hazard in politics — as well as a necessity — is talking. Making speeches. Pitching policies. Mike Coffman does that, of course, but the hazard is that the speaker might not hear what others are saying. Mike Coffman, however, is a listener. It helps save him from snap judgments that, often as not, turn out to be wrong.
For Coffman, listening also has a human dimension. It’s not just about understanding issues, it’s about respecting people.
Not to mention, it’s hard to listen to people whose language you don’t know. I don’t know how many politicians with a substantial Latino constituency take the time — and it’s a lot of time — to learn Spanish. Coffman has done it — not, he hastens to qualify, that is he as fluent as he would like.
But he is fluent enough to give an interview in Spanish and fluent enough to understand Spanish television and speak to Spanish-speaking constituents.
That’s listening.
In fact, Coffman is planning to do a Spanish language talk radio segment.
Coffman sat down with the Intermountain Jewish News to review the state of affairs in Aurora and at Anschutz, and to address anti-Semitism and the war in Gaza.
When Coffman was in Congress in 2015, he had more military experience than any other member of Congress. He served in both the First Gulf War and the Iraq War.
Aurora is predicted to surpass Denver in population eventually because Denver cannot annex, but Aurora has a land mass a little larger than Denver, and a third of it is undeveloped.
Aurora is known for its very diverse ethnic and socieconomic population. Aurora is by turns upscale, working class, in need of urban renewal (think East Colfax), and host to the ever expanding, premier medical campus in many states (think Anschutz).
Coffman relishes the diversity and the accompanying challenges. He likes being a mayor. It’s very different from being a congressman, he says. He has that wide perspective. The difference between mayor and congressman boils down to one word: speed. The wheels of the federal government turn very slowly. A congressman needs great patience. Not only that, but a congressman in the minority party has little influence.
It can be frustrating.
Not so the mayoralty. Decisions are made at a much faster pace, and even though Aurora’s system has a relatively weak mayor, it’s still a position that gives the mayor much power to get things done — he explains how below — and to act a lot more quickly than in Congress. For Coffman, to be mayor is not frustrating. It’s exciting.
Plus, in Aurora’s case, the mayor has a major say not only in the city, but in the development of Anschutz. The north part of the Anschutz campus is jointly owned by the University of Colorado and the City of Aurora.
The interview has been edited.
ANTI-SEMITISM & ISRAEL
Question: Anti-Semitism in this country is growing.
I worry about it in the city, but I think we’ve stayed on top of it. We have only one synagogue in the city. I really enjoy going to a lot of their events.
But there have been some problems, we’re always cognizant of that — to have a greater police presence in the area particularly during festival-type events.
Sadly, there was an incident not long ago. It certainly looked like the synagogue was targeted.
It’s a wonderful synagogue and I’m very grateful it’s here.
But I’m also worried about anti-Semitism more widely. It’s on the rise in this country. As mayor, I’m committed to ensure that everyone has a right to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or intimidation. But yes, anti-Semitism is definitely on the rise.
What is your take on the Gaza war?
It is a very difficult time for Israel. I think Israel’s response has been appropriate, I think it’s horrific that Hamas is so interwoven within the Palestinian population.
I know there is a movement inside the Palestinian population to push back against Hamas, but my worry is that it’s all going to happen again. That Hamas is going to reconstitute itself. And begin to attack Israel all over again. I hope that doesn’t happen. But as long as Hamas is there, how can you end the war? I don’t know.
I wonder how much the average Palestinian really knows what happened [on Oct. 7]. They should be angry with Hamas.
I’m worried about Iran — that we may have just delayed their nuclear program And we haven’t taken it out. Iran is a very unstable threat to the world.
The decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon gives breathing space to the Lebanese people. I hope they take advantage of that.
Does foreign policy play a role in being mayor of a city?
To a small degree.
We passed a resolution supporting Israel after Oct. 7. And obviously there was a lot of disruption in our city by pro-Palestinian pro-testers.
I’m trying to find a way to work together with Israel on bioscience research — some joint projects.
I signed a friendship agreement with Taiwan. There was a lot of pushback by mainland China, the PRC.
I try to avoid foreign policy, instead to try to make sure there’s no discrimination against Jews or Muslims. Aurora has a Muslim community, so it’s a very different role than when I was in Congress and focused on international policy
There’s a lot of issues internationally that I’m very passionate about — Israel, Ukraine — but I really focus on what I can control here.
After I’m mayor, I want to become a commentator on public policy issues, both domestic and international.
ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS
What’s the role of Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora?
I work very closely with the University of Colorado at Anschutz. It’s really the economic driver of the city right now. The legacy of Aurora is as a military town. We had three military installations but now we’re down to one.
Anschutz is an incredible opportunity. When the Army hospital closed in 1996, there were only 3,000 employees, military and civilian. Today we have about 32,000 employees and 4,500 students.
Anschutz has large annual local economic impact on Aurora and it has tremendous capacity for growth. We have all the basic elements to be a major medical research hub for the country.
There are three elements for a successful medical research center. One is clinical healthcare, and we have three major hospitals on the Anschutz campus. Two is an academic element — teaching — and we have all of UC’s health science schools — medical, nursing, nurse practitioner, pharmacy. Third is research institutes.
You can have a physician see patients, then go teach a class, then work on a research program.
Boston’s Longwood medical area has all this, but just absolutely no room to grow. Anschutz’ goal is to grow the whole campus, but with a focus on bioscience research
The governance at Anschutz is complicated. The VA is governed by the federal government. Children’s has its own governance. UC Health has its own governance, separate from the University of Colorado. UC Health has a board of directors. I am chairman of the board. Don Eliman, the chancellor for the University of Colorado at Anschutz is vice chairman. We’ve hired Kelly Brough, former director of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce to implement a lot of the vision.
THE STATE OF AURORA
What is your biggest challenge?
The redevelopment of our blighted areas. It the biggest challenge but also an opportunity. With blight comes crime, so by reducing blight you reduce crime. Several apartments have been problematic. For example, at 16th and Nome. There were problems before the Venezuelan gang issue arose.
We always use nonprofit contracts to facilitate things like helping the homeless or migrants. Unfortunately, the mayor of Denver changed a contract with a non-profit that allowed him to put Venezuelan migrants in Aurora without telling us. There’s nothing in current law that prevents him from doing that — it’s a contractual relationship. He had a contract with a nonprofit that made a contract with CBZ management — but without telling us. We are going through an open records request with Denver.
By and large, Venezuelans tend to be good people, but their economy has collapsed. The role of police in Venezuela is to protect the government from the people and criminality is rampant, so when you have a concentration of Venezuelan immigrants the criminal element tends to follow and exploit them. That’s the situation we had that led to violent behavior.
President Trump made a big deal out of crime in Aurora. Is crime disproportionate?
No. Our crime rate is going down. Most categories of crime are less than in Denver on a per capita basis. President Trump did a lot of reputational and economic damage to Aurora.
How does Aurora get its reputation back?
We’ve got a relatively new police chief, and he’s very effective. We talk about our initiatives to bring down crime and what our statistics are. That trend is helpful.
I’ve also engaged in promoting what I call partners of the city, such as our school districts and our community college and the Anschutz medical campus.
We’ve been siloed as a municipal government to focus only on ourselves and promote what we do, but it’s important to promote what the others in the city do.
Will Aurora build out?
We have conservation-minded water policies, with incentives on development in terms of reducing water usage.
My goal is to push the redevelopment in the Colfax corridor near Anschutz — to push it west all the way to Denver between Peoria and Yosemite.
If you think about redevelopment, think about the Stanley Marketplace and Northwest Aurora where you had a boarded up Stanley Aviation parts manufacturing facility that closed in 2007 and reopened in 2017. It’s this incredible mall — about 50 businesses, boutique retail, lots of things for families to do. The mall has spurred development around it.
That’s my goal: a revitalized Colfax corridor. I’m working on how to deal with gentrification issues.
MODELS OF GOVERNMENT
Explain the difference between the Denver and the Aurora models of city government.
Aurora has a city manager form of government. I don’t direct the operations of the government on a day-to-day basis. The city manager does that.
So I need a majority on the Aurora City Council to support my views and move them forward. I lead on my political experience.
In Denver, the mayor has a lot more power. He leads on policy and is the chief executive of the government on a day-to-day basis.
Are there advantages for you? If someone’s complaining about garbage pick-up or potholes, I guess they don’t come to you.
Well, they do. They come anyway. But it’s important that they come because the complaints help me define what the policy should be to correct the complaints, and I pass that on to the city manager. But on a day-to-day basis it’s got to be the city manager that takes care of the problems. When I notice patterns or problems, then that becomes a policy question.
What’s the difference between serving in Congress and being a mayor?
I love being mayor. I’m grateful for the experience of 10 years in Congress, and it helps me be a better mayor. Aurora is my home. I’m passionate about turning it around, and I really have the ability to do so in this position. I can decide that I want City Council to vote on something, and in two weeks we’ll have a vote. That’s unheard of in Congress.
In Congress, you’re introducing legislation all the time, but it’s a small group of people that hold the power. You have to be in the majority and be in a small circle who really make the decisions.
It’s much easier to have a legacy in this mayoral position. I feel I’m getting a lot more done.
Final question: How is your Spanish?
I think Spanish is really important in this city because we’re a very immigrant-driven city. Probably over 20% of our residents are born outside the United States. The largest immigrant group is from Mexico. Second largest is Ethiopian. Third is El Salvador. Fourth is Korean.
If I don’t speak for a week, then I’m rusty. Spanish speakers see my speaking Spanish as a sign of respect, even if I make mistakes. And it’s nice to be able to speak to people directly as opposed to have somebody translate for me.
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