Kelly Brough
The Denver voters at the April election winnowed down a large field of 16 potential candidates for Mayor to Kelly Brough and Mike Johnston. We could have done worse, like when we three times elected the worst mayor in the city and county’s history, Michael Hancock. Was there a candidate who could have become a mayor like Wellington Webb, Frederico Peña, Robert Speer, and Benjamin Stapleton, who with all their faults, helped build and maintain Denver as an incredibly great place to live? We don’t know. But our choice now is between Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough.
Another troubled former great city, Chicago, has elected Brandon Johnson to be mayor with the strong endorsement of the all-powerful teachers union. The press has been warning that teachers unions across the country are trying to elect their candidates to the detriment of the citizenry. The endorsement of the Denver teachers union is however, kryptonite in Denver. Even the incredibly desperate Westside Investments refused to disclose in its unsuccessful campaign to destroy Park Hill Golf Course open space that the Denver Classroom Teachers Union had endorsed its “Yes on 20.” The teachers union is endorsing no one in the Denver race, but there is no doubt it is backing the former Denver union teacher Mike Johnston.
Even more concerning is the avalanche of dark money that is coming in for Johnston from across the country. There is never money without promises and Johnston refuses to say what those promises were. Johnston’s cavalcade of standard liberal bromide positions earned him the also unwanted endorsement of the hedge fund-owned Denver Post, whose endorsement has lately become a political kiss of death.
With nothing new or interesting about Johnston, we turn to Kelly Brough. People in Glendale know a great deal about the former head of the Denver Chamber of Commerce. She succeeded now U.S. Senator Michael Bennet as chief of staff for then Mayor John Hickenlooper before going over to the Chamber. Unfortunately, while the people in Glendale found Bennet a delight to work with, not so much the perpetually dour Brough. People in Glendale almost don’t recognize the campaign photo of Brough with a huge smile. She has the backing of most of the Denver business community which unfortunately includes the high-density apartment developers who want to gobble up every inch of park and open space in the City and County of Denver.
Mike Johnston
When asked by The Denver Post whether she supported the redevelopment of the Park Hill Golf Course property most of her answer was such gobbledygook that the Post refused to print it. But at least she was not bought off by Westside Investments like Johnston who supported the open space grab.
She does have the endorsement of former mayor Wellington Webb, which is one of the few endorsements that carries weight with us. Sadly, she counter-balanced that with promoting endorsements from two of the worst former mayors in the metro Denver area — Adam Paul of Lakewood, and Herb Atchison of Westminster.
If we had to pick a former Denver mayor she most politically resembles, it would be William H. McNichols, who reigned in Denver from 1968 to 1983. He did little during those 15 years to improve the city, but he was not interested in destroying it either like Hancock.
Brough has had a lot of pain in her life, with her father being murdered and her husband killing himself, so she can empathize with others in pain today in Denver. Moreover, she can could grow and shine in the position of mayor. As we said politics is a matter of choice and here we choose and endorse Kelly Brough.
- Editorial Board