When Amanda Sandoval and Amanda Sawyer were elected to the Denver City Council, from District 1 and District 5 respectively, this Editorial Board could not have been more thrilled. We strongly endorsed both candidates as women who would take strong stands against Mayor Hancock when appropriate. Sawyer upset incumbent Mary Beth Susman, who had decided to become little more than a shill for Hancock and his developer buddies. Sandoval, on the other hand, had been the aide to former Councilmember Rafael Espinoza, arguably the best councilman in the previous Council term. But he decided he could be more effective on the outside rather than in government and would be there to help, and assist Sandoval, when needed.
District 5 Denver City Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer
As far as opposing Hancock when needed each has done an outstanding job. But as for being decent human beings each has been an abysmal failure. Lord Acton the famous 19th century historian said: “All power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He noted that such people are not innately evil. They begin as decent human beings but soon evolve.
We have watched Denver City Council members come and go for decades now. It is an interesting process to observe. Many were relatively powerless prior to coming to office and that certainly was the case with the Amandas. Sandoval came from a highly political family but was known for her kindness and appreciation for others. Sawyer had lots of degrees, both a JD and an MBA. She had moved to Hilltop with her husband to raise their five children and had no political background. With the help of the EMERGE program, which trains Democratic women for political office, she prevailed.
It didn’t take either one very long to begin attacking and denigrating anyone who got in their way. For both, they always asserted that they were being “bullied” when they were, in fact, the biggest bullies. Sawyer claims any opposition to her is “sexist,” and Sandoval quickly claims everything is “racist.”
At times Sandoval appears to represent only the Latinx community. When Sandoval spearheaded the change of the name of Columbus Park to La Raza Park (which means The Race Park) she seemed clueless on why African Americans seemed to wonder whether they were welcome at the park. Her relations with the black community took a deep dive when she was booed at a City Council meeting after stating: “I support a lot of things that are going on. But it’s the same violence that is happening in our community. It’s Black on Black. It’s brown on brown.”
District 1 Denver City Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval
The black community began a “Recall Sandoval” campaign. She claimed she and her entire family were being threatened by something called the Afro Liberation Front and she went tribal. She asserted the Chicanos who had gone before her had been afraid, at times, but always showed up. She asked her supporters to take over the streets of North Denver. While everything eventually calmed down, starting race wars in District 1 was not previously thought to be one of the functions of a Denver City Councilmember.
If anything, Amanda Sawyer has been worse. She decided to try to destroy the career of an employee at the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI). She threatened to block every DOTI bill and grind the department into the ground unless she was given her way. When the employee responded in his defense, she declared it was sexist and claimed people were trying to smear her. She and her attorney wrote extremely unprofessional letters, claiming false and sexist attacks and threatening to file legal actions. A spokesperson for Hancock responded: “As far as I know there is no precedent for a member of city council, or any public servant, to communicate with the Mayor’s office this way.” Leave it to Amanda Sawyer to accomplish the impossible of making Mayor Hancock look sympathetic.
The Chronicle’s reporter Robert Davis recently had a chance to experience the full Amandas treatment. In a story on page 15 of the March 2021 edition of the Chronicle, he incorrectly indicated that Amanda Sandoval voted against the Group Living Amendment when it was, in fact, Amanda Sawyer. No apologies were enough for the Amandas. When alerted on Sunday morning, February 28, 2021, The Chronicle’s Executive Editor immediately changed the online version and updated the photo used in the story. This was also not sufficient. Nor was the declaration that a correction would be placed in this month’s printed edition (see Correction below).
If you believe them, Mr. Davis was clearly a misogynist. Amanda Sawyer immediately posted on Twitter where she joined Denver School Board Director Tay Anderson in attacking the paper. Separately, she has claimed that the Chronicle is out to get her, even though she has received overwhelmingly positive coverage from this paper since assuming office.
As a practical matter, newspapers from the Chronicle to The New York Times make inadvertent errors, and all papers can do is acknowledge the mistakes and move forward. As for the Amandas, we have had it with them. We will continue to report on them fairly. But like many people and businesses in Districts 1 and 5, Amanda Sandoval and Amanda Sawyer have lost all goodwill and this newspaper will not hesitate to defend and protect those people they unfairly and viciously attack. You can oppose Mayor Hancock without being total jerks, notwithstanding what Amanda Sandoval and Amanda Sawyer think.
- Editorial Board
Correction
In the March 2021 edition, on page 15, the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle printed a story titled “Denver Approves Controversial Group Living Amendment.” Within the story, we mistakenly identified Councilmember Amanda Sandoval voting against the amendment when in fact it was Councilmember Amanda Sawyer who voted against it. We regret the error.