February 11, 2011 04:28 PM UTC

Mayoral Candidate Forum

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Last night at St. Cajetan’s church on the Auraria Campus, all of the leading candidates (and some of the lesser-known ones) met to discuss policy, their visions for the city, and their stances on the issues at a Mayoral candidate forum sponsored by the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. The event was moderated by CBS4 News anchor Gloria Neal.

In attendance were Councilman Michael Hancock, zany madcap comic relief candidate Eric Zinn, Councilwoman Carol Boigon, dark horse candidate Theresa Spahn, James Mejia, and Councilman Doug Linkhart (who showed up about 40 minutes late.) Mysteriously absent was former State Senator Chris Romer, who, according to a source, told the organizers he couldn’t be there because of a previous engagement involving his young daughter, but was actually attending a pajama party fundraiser for Denver’s Road Home.

The candidates were all given very short one minute speaking times, and they were kept on a short leash by Neal and the brothers of Alpha Kappa Psi who were tasked with timing the responses. The questions fielded by the candidates included topics like:

• Medical marijuana: Linkhart was the only candidate who unequivocally stated he supports full legalization, while Hancock made it very clear that he is against Marijuana legalization and sees it as a “gateway drug”. The other candidates all said they support medical marijuana, but were reticent to support full legalization.
• Police brutality: Hancock said “the scales of justice swing both ways” but that cops deserve their day in court to give their say. Boigon condemned the death of Marvin Booker, and said that the interim safety manager (who replaced Ron Perea after the scandal that erupted surrounding a video of Michael DeHerrera being brutally beaten by Denver police in 2009) deserved praise for helping to restore some of the trust that was lost in the wake of the release of tapes showing officers using excessive force.

• FasTracks: This was one area where all the candidates agreed–every candidate at the forum said they would support the proposed 0.4% sales tax increase that RTD has proposed.
  

Many times during the evening, Neal was far more engaging and entertaining than any of the candidates–except, unintentionally of course, for Eric Zinn, who brought with him several props; including a copy of the Wall St. Journal to illustrate some of his more, shall we say, entertaining points. Zinn repeated his call for Denver to lose “1,000,000 pounds in 180 days” and called for Denver to cheer on valedictorians and other successful DPS students in a parade.