Time to change up the Denver Line dontcha think?

6 thoughts on “Time to change up the Denver Line dontcha think?”

1. Nominating petitions are due in a little over 4 weeks. The 2011 Municipal Elections are starting to gel a bit. Here are my initial observations:

   Mayor – The Mayor’s race now has 15 people signed up, 13 of whom have checked out petitions. There was speculation that Linkhart might change to the Clerk’s office, but he is now circulating petitions for Mayor. The top tier of candidates seem to be Romer, Hancock, Linkhart, Boigan, and Mejia. These five are the meat and potatoes of the stew, the other 10 seem to be there just for flavoring. A new wrinkle could be coming as Bill Vidal, the current mayor since Hickenlooper’s move to the Governor’s office, has been sending out signals he may reconsider his decision to not run for a full term. Even though he is techincally the incumbent, the other top 5 all have better name recognition, except maybe Mejia.

   Auditor – Incumbent Dennis Gallagher should have no trouble here. Until yesterday he was unopposed. One of his 2003 opponents is coming back for a challenge, but has the misfortune of not being the incumbent and being a Republican, two almost insurmountable obstacles in a Denver citywide office.

   County Clerk and Recorder – With the incumbent not running, this has become the most important seat to watch for me. I seriously considered running myself, but decided against it, for mostly personal reasons. Of the four who have announced thus far, Andrew Luxen and Tom Downey have good political connections, Debra Johnson and Jacob Werther have the experience: she’s currently City Clerk for Aurora, and he already works at the Clerk’s office. This pot needs to simmer a bit before we can see what it’s going to look like in the end.

   City Council at-Large – Both incumbents are running for Mayor so there are two open seats. The way this one works is that all of the candidates (currently 8) are listed on one ballot and the top two vote getters are elected. In this race, name recognition matters. There are only two candidates who bring recognition with them: Debbie Ortega and Rich Gonzales. There are two others who have really been working it to increase their name ID: Robin Kneich and Josh Davies. So I expect two of these four to be the next council members.

   Council Districts – Most districts have incumbents running and none of them seem to be in any danger. Although, I have been a little surprised there has been no opponent for Charlie Brown to come forward. In the two open seats, Districts 5 (Montclair to Lowry) & 11 (Stapleton to Green Valley Ranch), I have not had an opportunity to get a feel for those races yet.

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   1. Districts 5 and 11 are competitive. District 5 doesn’t have a clear front runner as far as we can tell, and District 11 looks like a two-way race between former US Army officer Chris Herndon and longtime district activist Chris Martinez.

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2. Are there any issues which could be a factor?

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   1. will be the most talked about issue on the campaign trail. From reading the candidates’ websites, it appears fiscal responsibility and the city’s debt will also play a factor.

      We’re also noticing a lot of talk about education. With the Nate Easley recall taking place around the same time, it’s possible that education will be nearly as important as jobs as far as important issues in this campaign.

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   2. I know there is petition circulating to do with allowing ownership of chickens in the city (farm animals are generally not allowed in the city boundaries currently).

      There is also the potential recall of school board member Nate Easley.

      I have not heard if City Council is planning to refer anything or not.

      Ballot language has to be finalized March 11th so we’ll know for sure what is on the ballot then.

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      1. According to the DED website, they have until June to get their signatures, so they must be heading for a future election, possibly Nov.2011 school board election.

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