Nine Denver mayoral candidates gathered at Sturm Hall last Wednesday evening for a debate on issues that included bringing jobs to the city, illegal immigration, education and restoring public confidence in the Denver Police Department.
The debate, which was hosted by 9NEWS anchor Adele Arakawa, was moderated by Jeremy Meyer from The Denver Post and Matt Flener from 9NEWS. It drew a crowd of students, faculty, staff and candidates’ supporters that was large enough to nearly fill the Davis Auditorium.
9News viewers submitted questions for the debate, which ranged from how to run the city on a shoestring budget to how the city should handle medical marijuana dispensaries. The subject of raising taxes to pay for RTD’s FasTracks was also touched upon.
The candidates at the debate were Doug Linkhart, Theresa Spahn, Thomas Wolf, Jeff Peckman, Danny Lopez, Ken Simpson, Chris Romer, Michael Hancock and James Mejia.
One of the questions was how to bring more jobs to Denver. Denver City Councilman Michael Hancock said the way to accomplish this was through attracting more small and medium-sized businesses to the city.
If elected, Hancock would work to make Denver the “small business capital of the country,” he said.
According to a poll last week by The Denver Post and 9News, Hancock is in a three-way tie with James Mejia, who worked for Mayor John Hickenlooper and was a Denver Public Schools board member, and Chris Romer, a former state senator who also served for two years as volunteer superintendent of Denver’s New America Schools.
The poll showed the three candidates pulling in between 18 and 22 percent of the vote[s], with a 4.1 percent margin of error.
At the debate, the candidates were also asked to name the biggest issue with illegal immigration.
Romer said the biggest problem associated with illegal immigration is the low rate at which Denver’s undocumented students are receiving higher education.
“All undocumented students have the right to go to college,” he said.
If elected mayor, Romer would work to get the “cancer of hopelessness out of schools” that is preventing some undocumented students from attending college, he said.
The candidates were also asked to speak on how they would restore public confidence in the Denver Police Department, which has experienced some scandals in the past few years.
These include the firing of two officers after using excessive force in arresting a man outside of a Denver nightclub in 2009 and the death of an inmate after a scuffle with deputies in a Denver jail in June last year, which was ruled a homicide.
Former Judge Magistrate Theresa Spahn, who had 4 percent of the vote in the Denver Post/9News poll, said the way to restore confidence in DPD is to search for a new police chief.
“We need to change a culture, and that’s the way to do it,” she said.
At-large City Councilman Doug Linkhart, who was in fourth place behind Hancock, Romer and Mejia in the Denver Post/9News poll with 10 percent of the vote, said if elected he would have a zero-tolerance policy for excessive force and racial profiling in the DPD.
Linkhart was also directed a question about the medical marijuana industry, from which he has received some campaign backing. He supports full legalization.
“I support what they’re doing,” he said. Medical marijuana dispensaries are “one of the bright spots in our economy in the last three years,” he said.
When asked about the mayor’s role in education, many candidates said that increased parental involvement would improve the dropout rate and performance of Denver schools.
Mejia echoed the need for more involvement from parents, as well as an emphasis on early childhood education and the importance of preschools.
When asked to describe his character, Mejia said he would first describe himself as “daddy.”
“I’m about my family,” he said.
The election will be all mail-in ballots, which are due back May 3.
There will be 10 candidates on the ballot, including the nine at the debate as well as City Councilwoman Carol Boigon, who dropped out of the race early last week.
