HERE IS THE BEST OF THE BEST AND THE WORST OF THE WORST I want to be clear that I am not endorsing anyone in this race, and I fully believe it will go to a runoff in June as it will likely be impossible for any of these candidates to get over 50%. If I don't mention a candidate below (and I am not mentioning several of them) it is simply because I don't think they have any chance of being in the top two and should not be an indication of their worth as a candidate. Polling and fundraising are good indications on whether or not someone is going to make the cut and many of the candidates running don't have enough of either to be considered contenders. It's a shame, because some of them I genuinely like.
MY TOP PICKS FOR DENVER MAYOR These candidates have presented plans to deal with many of the issues facing Denver, though some of those plans are likely unattainable but at least they are starting from somewhere. These are in NO particular order.
- Andy Rougeot. Andy has been the most vocal and forceful when talking about the two biggest issues facing Denver: Crime and homelessness. As the only conservative in the race, I believe he has made other candidates strengthen their stances because of his forcefulness. One thing that I don't know about Andy is WHAT ELSE is important to him. He's been focused like a laser but there are other issues facing Denver.
- Kelly Brough. Kelly is very smart and has served in the Mayor's office before, but also has business cred as head of the Chamber. She understands the nuts and bolts of running the city better than anyone other than Debbie Ortega and it shows in her answers during debates and interviews. She would hit the ground with a very small learning curve. She knows homelessness is going to take an aggressive, regional approach to truly solve, but she is all in on green energy so that's a knock from me.
- Debbie Ortega. I don't agree with Debbie on everything (I don't agree on everything with any of these candidates) but she's got a track record on the City Council of pragmatic decision making and she supports enforcing the camping ban and voted against Safe Injection Sites so she's in this group. She has good ideas on how to move the city forward and has the experience to move quickly on many issues.
- Trinidad Rodriguez. I don't think he has enough to support to crack the top two, but dang it I like him. He's passionate about cleaning up the city he loves, supports the camping ban and has real ideas on how to solve problems. He's got a clear view about renewable energy that is based on pragmatic solutions. For someone who isn't currently serving in office he seems to have best grasp of all the issues and good ideas on how to fix things.
- Mike Johnston. Mike's plans are the ones I think will be impossible to implement, but I think he's smart and reasonable and knows something big has to change. He also supports enforcing the camping ban, though his idea for homelessness is a non starter as far as I'm concerned. He's got the "tiny village" idea that sounds great, but I've not heard him say where in the city he's going to create these tiny villages and I asked him directly how he is going to staff them and he glossed right over that. The current hotel that has been purchased to provide this very thing can't get enough staff and he's just talking if he can't answer that question.
PLEASE DON'T VOTE FOR THESE PEOPLE None of them will enforce the camping ban or do anything significant about homelessness.
- Leslie Herod. She is a hard left progressive who thinks we don't coddle homeless people and criminals enough. If she wins, it's a disaster for Denver.
- Renate Behrens. She literally running because she "needs a job" and as a formerly homeless woman all of her solutions are giving people government money. Total disaster.
The rest of the candidates aren't worth going into because they don't have a chance anyway, but please vote your conscious knowing that Denver and all the surrounding metro areas are counting on this election to put someone in office who can fix some of these problems before we enter a death spiral downtown that we can't get out of. We're very, very close to that now.