It's Good to be the Mayor - Hickenlooper's Grandstand

Mayor Hickenlooper, for years, ignored warnings from Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez, Auditor Gallagher and others that the Denver Election Commission was screwed up beyond redemption and that the election process in Denver was doomed to failure (as was so grossly demonstrated on November 7th). So, what does the "business mayor" do? Well, yes, he forms another "blue ribbon" committee to study the issue. Unfortunately, many of the members of the committee don't have a clue about the Denver Election Commission or the election process itself. Witness a quote by the Hick himself from the Rocky Mountain News this morning, "You've got people like Dick Notebaert, who runs Qwest, and Ralph Peterson, who runs CH2M Hill--they don't know what the (Denver) Election Commission is," the mayor said after the 90-minute meeting. "That's not part of their universe."

Duh!

A couple comments from my prior post seem relevant this morning:

Anonymous said:

Old Hick is good at public hearings and blue ribbon panels. What went wrong with the elections? It should be fun. The City fucked up. Next election don't fuck up. Do the opposite of what you did this time around. Some good letters in the Rocky this morning. Where was the City's Legal Department with that Hiawatha (or whatever the name of that company is) contract? If we are to believe the Auditor, they completely dropped the ball and rubber-stamped the vendor's interests.

In olden days a glimpse of stocking...Anything Goes!


Anonymous said...

Another panel another show....

The most productive thing the panel members could do would be to TALK to every Election Commission employee that ran Denver's well run elections from 2001 to 2003.

A scant few are still employed at the Denver Election Commission and they are easy to find. JUST WALK ACROSS THE STREET from the City & County building and have a little chat.

Others are still in Denver and would LOVE the opportunity to say what REALLY happened after Interim Denver Election Commission director - Lynn Wolfe - was pushed aside in June 2003 and new Executive Director Karon Hatchett took charge of the commission along with Commissioners Sandy Adams, Susan Rogers and Wayne Vaden.

Nope. The Hick Administration has, from day one, relegated those public servants who have collective experience and knowledge spanning decades, to little more than insignificant bureaucratic slugs who have nothing to offer and can be ignored, shoved to the corner to wallow in their (as is the case with the Denver Election Commission) little particular corner of hell. A hell, by the way, perpetuated by the reprehensible failures of a mayor who seems intent on dismantling Denver's "strong mayor" form of government. Indeed, love or hate Wellignton Webb (Denver's prior mayor), I'll bet a bottle of Maker's Mark that he would have had a, or several, little tete-a-tetes with the Denver Election commissioners using some downhome expletives to get the point across. The power, influence of Denver's "strong mayor" used to be immense. Today, we've got the Hick who just explains, "It ain't my job, man," and puts together another "blue ribbon" committee that really doesn't know what the hell it's doing.

The Denver City Council, Rosemary Rodriguez and Auditor Gallagher have already told the Hick what needs to happen. So, make it happen, Mayor. You can do it, buddy. Make a decision for yourself once in a while.