February 04, 2011 01:15 AM UTC

Mayor Vidal to run for mayor?

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• by: FrontRangeRiffRaff

Even though the election of the next mayor is less than 90 days away and petitions are already being circulated, at least one more person could be making a jump into the race that would shake things up. Some in the business community including their lobbyists had quietly complained a lack of a business candidate or continuation of Hickenlooper and pinned their hopes to Walt Isenberg. After Isenberg  spent months deliberating and decided not to run, some shifted their attention to Linda Alvarado who seemed to be definitely maybe in until definitely probably not and ultimately definitely in according to the denver paper who hours later said she was actually definitely out.

Next on deck to reportedly be ready to jump in is none other than our newly minted Mayor Bill Vidal.  

People close to Vidal say that he is being encouraged by Republican mover and shaker Maria GarciaBerry who is making the rounds to the major donors in town and business leaders to rally support. Even those people who have publicly announced their support and given sizable donations to candidates in the race are getting calls to see if they would jump ship to get on board with a longer than planned Vidal succession to Hickenlooper. Mike Dino who had been waiting in the wings to run an Isenberg campaign is reportedly being courted to run Vidal’s bid.

I respect the work Mr. Vidal has done supporting Hickenlooper’s time as Mayor but my message to Mr. Vidal is simple: We need a full time mayor now not later  It’s no secret that one of the considerations in him being Deputy Mayor was his clear statement that he had no interest at all in becoming Mayor. Just a couple weeks ago he was quoted in the paper saying he would definitely not run. In articles at that time Vidal said he would complete the term until a new mayor is elected but that it wouldn’t be fair to his wife for him to jump into a campaign. That may be true but I say it wouldn’t be fair to the people of Denver either. With Hickenlooper campaigning full time most of last year we were without a full time mayor for 8 or 9 months. For Vidal to campaign and seriously run he would have to be a part time mayor, part time candidate meaning we’d be without a mayor for another 5 months. There is too much going on in this city from the budget to finances that need to be restructured and a police department that has run amok. We need a full time mayor, not another politician split between a campaign and his job or between what needs to be done for the people and what needs to be said to win an election.

The people of Denver deserve a full time Mayor now not six months from now

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