Now is the winter of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s discontent. A pitiable individual who has been deserted by all but the developer vultures and others that feed off his political carcass for fun and profit. Even his wife of 28 years, Mary Louise Lee, has deserted the philandering mayor and is seeking a divorce. His Honor’s biggest problem is that his final day isn’t officially until July 23, 2023.
He has told friends that he plans to move to Florida once his term is over. Who could blame him? In places with traditional corruption like Mexico, you pay a politician off upfront and then get the actions from the politician you need. In this country it’s just the opposite. The politician does not get paid off until after he leaves office in the form of consulting contracts, board positions, and other sinecures. That form of payoff is deemed perfectly acceptable in America. Still, it’s better off to retire to Florida before getting your just rewards. That way it will be done far from the probing eyes of the Denver media.
Still, every day left in political office, Hancock must take one more humiliating bite of the proverbial sh*t sandwich. After waiting weeks for Governor Polis to reinstitute statewide COVID-19 mask mandates, and after surrounding counties did so, Hancock finally acted. Then Polis announced that the pandemic is over and there is no need for mask mandates. Polis then goes on a triumphant national media blitz on his “courageous” announcement while Hancock once again looks clueless.
Governor Polis seems to take delight in embarrassing this Denver mayor. When Major League Baseball decided to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta because the Commissioner didn’t like new Georgia voting laws, the Colorado Governor’s Office announced that: “The Governor will be burning up the phones the next few days to see if there is an opening to bring the All-Star game to Denver.” Other notable Colorado politicians like Denver Congresswoman Diana DeGette and Secretary of State Jena Griswold encouraged MLB to come to Denver. Notably absent was the mayor of Denver. Why would anyone care what the useless politically inert mayor thought?
Polis isn’t the only one who likes to humiliate Hancock. Hancock has put all his political might and a lot of the Denver taxpayer’s money behind the effort by Westside Development to get rid of the conservation easement on the Park Hill Golf Course area, and destroy the open space with a development. Denver’s first African American mayor Wellington Webb decided to take on Westside Development and behind the scenes Hancock.
The white developers who support Hancock love to play the race card. They successfully turned Hancock’s opponent in the last election, Jamie Giellis, into a caricature of a white supremist. For the November Initiative 301 and 302 which initially determined the Park Hill Golf Course area fate, they tried to make believe, as stated by Wellington Webb, that “Park Hill is inhabited by racist bullies.” But Webb was a more formidable force than Giellis and this time Hancock’s race baiting failed overwhelmingly at the polls.
Hancock’s own City Council also likes to kick him around these days. For Hancock’s first two terms the extraordinary powers of the mayor in the city charter kept the Councilmembers at bay, but not for the third term. The Council put three proposals on the November 2020 ballot, opposed by Hancock, that expanded the Council’s powers and limited those of the mayor. The first allowed the Council to hire their own professionals, including legal council, without the approval of the executive branch. The second, which was even opposed by former Mayor Webb, mandated Council approval for 14 mayoral appointments. The third one gave the Council the power to initiate appropriation of new and excess revenue. The voters gleefully approved all three and for the first time in over 100 years the strong mayor form of Denver government was not so strong.
Having lost the voters, his City Council, and his wife, Hancock appears to do little more than spend his days working out at the Denver Athletic Club getting his “beach body” ready. Perhaps the City Council should pass a provision whereby he could move to Florida and work virtually as mayor of Denver from the beach. It would cheer him up and it is doubtful anyone in Denver would notice.
— Editorial Board