by Mark Smiley | Jan 29, 2018 | Editorials
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock can no longer escape the fact that many of the citizens of the Mile-High City are increasingly viewing him as bought and paid for by some of the worst high-density developers in the country. That reputation has become so prevalent that he and The Denver Post believed it had to be rebutted. The Denver Post has become so financially weakened that it is dependent for its survival on the municipal government.
The Post somewhat quietly abandoned its iconic building between the State Capitol and the City and County Building for unincorporated Adams County. The large building has been rented sub silencio by the municipality thereby saving the Post from having to close. Thus, the paper is no longer in the position to do anything but be a cheerleader for Mayor Hancock and Governor Hickenlooper, the prior mayor of Denver.
Under the heading “Is Denver Mayor Michael Hancock too friendly to developers? Here’s what he thinks,” reporter Jon Murray offered up an extended single soft ball question with no follow up. Murray noted that Hancock was “seen as developer friendly” and that “developers have donated heavily to your campaigns.” Noting that developers “are the ones who are savvy” and “the system kind of favors them” he asks whether there are “things that you plan to try to even the playing field for people who feel like developers are running this town.”
The approximately 500-word answer could be summed up as: No, I have no plans to even the playing field because (1) I am powerless and (2) back in 2011 Denver needed business development. He protested that “I would never sell my integrity — for anyone . . . . not just for me but for my family.” One wanted to ask how that squared with his administration starting off with claims he was a regular “John” for prostitutes working for “Denver Players/Denver Sugar” but no follow up questions were apparently allowed.
He noted secondly that people just didn’t “understand the process” and that “the mayor does not decide where development goes and does not engage in the permitting process. Someone may bring a design to me and I may offer an idea to them, but this is their project, and we stay out of it.”
Wow! It is clear that it is not the public that does not understand “the process” but it is Mayor Hancock who is utterly clueless how the system is supposed to work and how it really works. Assuming the “we” in the quote refers to is the government of the City and County of Denver the mayor is correct that under his aegis the city is little more than a rubber stamp for developers. He goes on, sadly, to note that in his mind all that needs to happen is for a developer see a market need and declares “we need the space.” Game over.
His Honor does not appear to understand that Denver, like virtually every other city in the country, actually has a “Zoning Code” as well as “Master Plans.” We understand he has never read them but it would be nice if he were at least vaguely aware of them. He might also be shocked to find out that there is a “Denver Community Planning and Development Department” headed up by an executive director (Brad Buchanan) and even an 11-member Denver Planning Board that must approve real estate projects before they go on to the City Council. He is apparently unaware that he appointed Mr. Buchanan, as well as each and every member of the Planning Board, and that they are all total developer cronies and hacks and Mr. Buchanan is himself a developer.
The Mayor also appoints members of dozens of board and advisory panels. They all have been systematically stripped of anyone who ever indicated any affinity to parks and open space or even suggests that Denver might want to do a little planning for parking or traffic.
We, of course, understand that he actually did not choose any of these people but they are chosen by Oakwood Homes CEO Pat Hamill and the boys and girls over at Colorado Concern who fund all of his election bids. Perhaps they have an autopen for his signature for all such appointments, so as not to overburden his Honor.
It is consistently rumored that Mayor Hancock spends most of his time when in his office watching ESPN and that his staff has had to put “parental controls” on his office computer to prevent him from going to sites like Ashley Madison.
If you found reading Michael Wolfe’s book Fire and Fury on how the Trump White House works depressing, the relatively short interview by Jon Murray with Mayor Hancock printed on December 12 is even worse.
The 19th century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is said to have noted that: “Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made.” The Denver Post did all of Denver a disservice in showing us how Mayor Hancock and his city government actually operate. We all have had our fears, but apparently the reality is even more difficult to stomach.
Mayor Hancock is, of course, highly favored to be re-elected as mayor for a third term next spring. People really do get the government they deserve.
Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Dec 17, 2017 | Editorials
Mayor Mike Dunafon
The announcement by CBS Sports that it had agreed to a multi-year rights deal with Major League Rugby (MLR) to televise 13 games starting this spring, including a game of the week and two weeks of playoff action for MLB’s inaugural season, is a dream come true for Glendale and its many rugby fans.
MLR was formed earlier this year with seven teams, including the Glendale Raptors and teams from Austin, Houston New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle and Salt Lake City.
Glendale Rugby was the vision of the Chronicle Publisher Chuck Bonniwell, Michael Dunafon and Debbie Matthews, all of whom had played rugby. The team logo of a three-headed raptor represents the three founders.
The concept was to bring a sports team to Glendale which the town could rally around and bring a sense of community. As Chuck Bonniwell remarked, “Glendale wasn’t going to get a National Football League or Major League Baseball team, but rugby worldwide is the second most popular team sport after soccer, and little Glendale could make a mark, not only nationally but even internationally, with rugby.”
Mike Dunafon, now the mayor of Glendale, has been the relentless major driving force behind rugby in Glendale but it has not been an easy task. For its initial team in 2007 Glendale did not want to cannibalize the existing teams in the Denver metropolitan area so they placed ads in The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News for new players and brought in players from across the country.
One of the keys to Glendale’s success was the early addition of Stanford educated Mark Bullock, who is now the Director of Rugby for Glendale. Bullock has coached with great success the men’s team, the women’s team and youth teams. His intelligence, tenacity and broad range of abilities has made him one of the faces of Glendale rugby.
Glendale built a world class stadium specifically for rugby with a seating capacity of 5,000 which can be doubled for special events. The city also built an adjacent venue with artificial turf that is open to the Glendale public for myriad sports in addition to rugby. Dunafon ensured that the Infinity Park Stadium was designed to be a state-of-the-art broadcast facility which now meshes perfectly with the national broadcasting standards of CBS Sports.
The Infinity Park Stadium has won numerous state and national awards relating to its field and turf management thanks to the extraordinary work of Josh Bertrand, Glendale’s Director of Public Works.
It was always envisioned that Glendale would compete at the highest level nationally which proved to be a challenge, not because of the quality of the Glendale team, but the state of rugby in the United States. The top level of American rugby when Glendale rugby started was the Rugby Super League which refused to admit Glendale due to petty jealousies by older more established clubs to a newcomer. By the time the Super League was willing to accept the Raptors, Glendale was no longer interested and the Super League folded in 2012. It was replaced by the Rugby Elite Cup which lasted only one year before closing in 2013, which Glendale also declined to join.
National and international rugby bodies sanctioned America’s first professional rugby competition named PRO Rugby in 2016 which was owned and operated by a single individual, the quixotic Doug Schoninger, and also did not include Glendale. Schoninger was not up to the task and that league also folded after that single season (2016) amid acrimony and threats of lawsuits. Schoninger, in the process, lost millions due to his investment in professional rugby.
In the meantime, during those years, Glendale competed in whatever top competition it could find, including winning USA Rugby’s Division I championship in 2011 and the Pacific Premier Championships in 2015 and 2016. In addition, Glendale’s women’s team, now known as the Merlins, was also excelling, winning back-to-back National Championships in 2014 and 2015.
The CBS Sports television contract elevates the MLR, and American rugby in general, to a level never reached before. It is expected the league will attract traditional power houses on both coasts, and Chicago to join in the near future.
After a decade Glendale is now competing at the highest level nationally with country-wide television exposure thanks to CBS Sports. The Glendale team has some of the best players in the United States with international players from across the globe sprinkled in. It can be expected to compete strongly for the league championship.
The success of Major League Rugby is by no means guaranteed, but Dunafon and Glendale can be justifiably proud of the fact that the dream and vision, over a decade old, has been fulfilled. The future of Glendale rugby is bright and the upcoming season of Major League Rugby in Glendale should be one exciting ride.
by Mark Smiley | Nov 20, 2017 | Editorials
Perhaps the greatest upset of the November 7 election in Colorado was the approval by Denver voters of the citizen referred Initiative 300, better known as “Green Roof Initiative,” by a clear 54% to 46% margin. Denver resident Brandon Rietheimer and a group of environmental activists prevailed against the odds. They started this summer gaining signatures and submitted over 4,700 this past August to make the ballot.
The initiative mandates new buildings larger than 25,000 square feet must dedicate some of their roof space to trees, plants, solar panels or a mix. Existing buildings are not included unless they either expand to above 25,000 square feet or they need a new roof.
The initiative was opposed by all the forces and money that control the Mayor’s Office and the rest of the city. Rietheimer and his hardy band were outspent according to the financial disclosure records by an incredible 12 to 1 margin with the proponents raising only $20,000. Conversely the “no” side had over a quarter million dollars in their pockets to bend the voting public to their side.
The “no” contributors were a Who’s Who of those who wish to destroy Denver for their own purpose led by developer Pat Hamill’s Colorado Concern organization which has dozens of Denver fat cats whose only real “concern” is lining their own pockets at the expense of the public.
Will green roofs work? Will the Denver Botanic Gardens build an elaborate garden and display on top of its parking garage to the delight of thousands of visitors ever
y year? It goes without saying that the same will reduce noise and pollution in the city which is never a bad idea.
The Mayor’s greedy friends argued that it would increase the cost of developments in the city and, of course, it will. Similarly, any open space requirements or parking requirements also raise the cost of the potential developments until they are waived by the city’s corrupt Community Planning and Development Department. The mayor’s friends believe that the only real purpose of parks and open space is to be monetized for commercial enterprises which, of course, they did to Ruby Hill Park and Overland Park Golf Course.
They also love to see parks used for massive drainage holes to save land for development on the I-70 project. Wouldn’t want the Mayor’s friends’ land to be used for such a purpose.
If you hate the idea of greenery on top of roofs don’t despair — it’s not going to actually happen. Mayor Hancock after passage of the Initiative stated, “We have always made a good-faith effort to implement the initiatives — once the people have spoken, that’s our job.”
He is, of course, lying.
Initiative 300 provides that it can be amended after six months with two-thirds vote of the City Council. Pat Hamill and his friends own more than two-thirds of the City Council and it will be slowly amended until the Initiative becomes virtually meaningless.
Moreover, any implementation would have to go through the Department of Community Planning and Development. Its Executive Director is the corpulent Brad Buchanan. He proved with his interpretation of no parking required for micro units that he will perversely interpret virtually any provision of law for benefit of high density developers. Rietheimer and his band of rebels will find that Buchanan will determine Ordinance 300 to mean exactly the opposite of what they intended. Buchanan is Denver’s very own Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland where any word in Ordinance 300 means “just what I [Brad Buchanan] choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” Mr. Rietheimer unfortunately is going to get to learn how things really work in today’s City and County of Denver.
But citizens for the first time ever during the Hancock Administration have shown that they can defeat all the King’s horses and all the King’s men even when outspent 12 to 1. For the first time, Pat Hamill’s regime has suffered a loss. Let us pray that this is just the beginning and not a one-time aberration.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Oct 23, 2017 | Editorials
Beth McCann
The strange short career of Beth McCann as District Attorney of Denver gets darker virtually every day. As reported in our August editorial McCann had gone on the Craig Silverman Show on 710 KNUS to explain why she had not charged illegal alien Ricardo Lopez-Vera in the jailhouse death of William Anderson. She claimed that her chief deputy (apparently Ryan Brackley) had determined that the death was a matter of self-defense in a one punch landed fight after which Anderson had then fallen down and hit his head.
She declared the whole matter had taken no more than 12 seconds and a deputy sheriff had rushed up and saw Anderson in a wobbly state and falling down. She declared that there was only one witness to the actual fight who said it was a mutual combat scenario with Anderson throwing the first punch which missed and when Anderson was drawing back to throw another punch Lopez-Vera hit him causing Anderson to fall and hit his head on a step.
Without even waiting for a formal coroner’s autopsy report she declared Lopez-Vera innocent due to self-defense. Two days later she had him released on a de minimis $1,000 bail. He was then purportedly given a lift by the deputies to a hospital after which he disappeared.
The problem for McCann was that sheriff’s deputies who saw the mangled and battered body of Anderson knew that it could not have been caused by a one-punch fight and leaked that McCann was lying.
Federal ICE agents were also outraged that McCann refused to honor federal retainer requests and accused her of harboring and hiding a criminal illegal alien. McCann is a strong advocate for sanctuary city policies but even she does not go so far as publicly declaring that murder is allowable in Denver by persons illegally in the country.
It turns out McCann knew exactly where Lopez-Vera was after he was released from police custody since she had him on a monitored ankle bracelet. As far as the assertion the death was due to “self-defense” C.R.S. 18-1-704 explicitly states a claim of self-defense is not valid in the case of mutually agreed combat and, furthermore, there is no such thing as legal mutually agreed upon combat inside of a city jail.
Cyril Wecht
The Denver coroner has now issued the autopsy and it is clear that the so-called one punch fight was an utter fabrication. World famous forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who has performed 20,000 autopsies and supervised or reviewed 40,000 more, went on the Craig Silverman Show and declared that the multitude of head injuries, including the injuries to both sides of the neck, and injuries to the lower back could never have happened from a one punch fight where the victim fell down and hit his head. Apparently, it is far more likely that after punching Anderson, Lopez-Vera grabbed him by the neck and smashed his head into the concrete and then kicked the dying or dead Anderson.
The one witness to the fight appears to have been a gang member lookout for Lopez-Vera. What about the Deputy Sheriff statement that he was there in under 12 seconds and watched the wobbly Anderson falling over and hitting his head? In fact, we only have McCann’s claim to the same as the Sheriff’s Office is refusing to release to the press the Sheriff’s Report on the incident claiming the matter is confidential, since it is still under investigation. But, of course, the DA is not investigating the Anderson killing any more as she has publicly declared the same to be a matter of “self defense.”
As for DA McCann, she has gone into hiding, refusing to comment on the matter, having been caught red-handed lying about the facts of the case by Cyril Wecht.
Sheriff deputies and ICE agents want a grand jury empaneled by the U.S. Attorney’s office with McCann and her chief deputy Brackley indicted for conducting a fraudulent investigation and harboring an illegal alien in violation of federal law. Unfortunately for law enforcement, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado is Bob Troyer. He was an attorney in the Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck law firm which means he is highly politically connected with the legal cesspool in Denver run by the Brownstein law firm that protects persons like DA McCann.
Some in law enforcement hope that a regular U.S. Attorney for Colorado will soon be appointed who is not part of and controlled by the Brownstein firm but they realize that the firm has its tentacles virtually everywhere as stated by journalist David Sirota. [Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle, Editorial, October 2017, page 3.] Additionally they have apparently sworn that they will not stop in their pursuit of bringing DA Beth McCann to the bar of justice.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Sep 25, 2017 | Editorials
David Sirota is a well-known nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, author blogger and former Denver radio host. He is a man of the Left and friend of the Democratic Party here in Colorado and nationally. Recently he has begun to do investigative journalism for International Business Times and he has indicated he wants to do so on a non-partisan basis.
His recent work at the Times demonstrates that he is a man of his word. His exposé titled “Democratic Governor Hires Health Care Industry Lobbyist to Push Obamacare Fixes in Congress” rips off the façade off Governor Hickenlooper’s so called bipartisan health care proposal he trotted out with Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Sirota discloses that the governor has had the state pay the law/lobbyist firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck $17,500 a month purported for lobbying Congress, the Interior Department, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency on “issues related to federal spending and national service programs,” whatever that means. In addition apparently the Brownstein firm was to lobby for the Governor’s proposed bandaids to Obamacare.
$17,500 per month is chump change for the Brownstein firm, but when you have hundreds of these scams it adds up. Especially since the Brownstein firm would have to do no additional work for the taxpayer money handed them by the Colorado governor. The Brownstein firm is already lobbying for dozens of insurance, pharmaceutical and health care interests to prevent a single payer system being adopted as proposed by some Democrats, or a free market system proposed by some Republicans. They love the present Obamacare system they helped devise just with more subsidies and tax incentives for themselves.
Hickenlooper and Kasich have gone on television and across the country to sanctimoniously assert that they had come up with a “bipartisan” solution to our health care woes when in fact they are little more than sellouts to Big Pharma and the health insurance companies. Their plan involves massive increased subsidies to the insurance companies and even large tax credits for them providing health plans to “underserved counties.” In addition it has the individual health care mandates forcing Americans to buy the awful health care plans the insurance companies presently provide for individuals.
The Denver Post breathlessly reported in its sub-headline for the release of the plan that “Hickenlooper and Kasich have been working on the blueprint behind the scenes for weeks.” Hickenlooper has degrees in English and geology while Kasich a degree in political science. Neither has the slightest background in the medical field and would have no idea how to redo the health insurance quagmire. But Big Pharma and the health insurers have lots of ideas on how to stick it to the average American.
Sirota’s article also helps explain the mystery of Lieutenant Governor Donna Lynne. After Joe Garcia resigned the lieutenant governor position to take a real job, Hickenlooper appointed Lynne claiming he did so because he wanted someone who 1) had business experience and 2) had no political aspirations. We know the second stated reason was a lie as Lynne has just declared she is running to be the next governor of Colorado. We know that it was not just any business experience that the governor was looking for, but someone who had extensive contacts with the health insurance and health provider fields, which could be an enormous benefit for him should he run for the U.S. Senate in 2020 or even President. Lynne was the head of Kaiser Permanente, the massive integrated managed care consortium in Colorado and various other states. And surprise surprise, according to Sirota, Lynne was key in drafting the Hickenlooper/Kasich bipartisan plan.
It is no secret that health companies and oil companies in Colorado are terrified of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis who wants single payer health care and no oil and gas fracking in the state. Notwithstanding the fact that Lynne has absolutely zero political experience or support, she is now running with the strong encouragement of Governor Hickenlooper. Why Lynne? Because with enough money and negative advertising she can soften up Polis for whatever Republican wins the other primary, who will undoubtedly not be for single payer and be for oil and gas fracking.
Which brings us to the Brownstein firm which is known as the “Octopus” since it has its tentacles virtually everywhere. Hickenlooper’s chief of staff is none other than Doug Friednash who was a partner in the Brownstein firm and who, according to Sirota, along with Lynne, strongly supported the $17,500 a month kickback to the Brownstein firm which would be considered illegal in many states but not apparently in Colorado.
One of the reasons it is not is that The Denver Post and the rest of the media in Colorado, with the exception of 710 KNUS radio, will never report on this scandal. Why? Well who is the lawyer for The Denver Post and many other media? None other than the Brownstein firm. The sewer runs deep in Colorado politics but most Coloradans will never find out about it and thus it is unlikely to ever change.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Jul 24, 2017 | Editorials
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann was sworn into office a little more than six months ago, but already appears to have lost the trust of her predecessor Mitch Morrissey, the rank and file of the Denver Police, and much of the public at large.
Her handling of the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) scandal involving Police Chief Robert White and Deputy Chief Matt Murray as well as the inmate killing at the Denver Jail has brought into serious question whether she remains intellectually capable of handling the difficult job as head law enforcement officer in the City and County of Denver. McCann gave interviews to the media in both cases, but the interviews raised even more questions than they answered.
The Denver Police had issued a press release accusing Angiella Arnot of sexual assault (along with a now former Denver Police Officer), but she was never charged. Longtime Denver DA Mitch Morrissey sent a letter to Police Chief White highly critical of Deputy DA Matt Maury’s “rush to judgment” in the arrest of an “innocent woman.” Chief White responded to the DA in a two sentence letter declaring he would “look at the totality of the situation and . . . ensure that the appropriate action is taken.”
When the Denver police union asked for a copy of the letter pursuant to CORA it was told that the police department was “unaware of any … electronic or written exchanges responsive to your request.” It was a lie and White and Maury knew it according to the one honest person in the sordid affair, Mary Dulacki, Department of Safety Records Coordinator.
It was an open and shut case of a criminal violation of CORA by the two highest cops in Denver. McCann had promised the voters during her campaign that she would strongly pursue cases of police misconduct. What she meant, of course, was that she would go after the cop on the beat, but vigorously ignore the most blatant criminal conduct on the part of the top echelon bosses. This has always been the modus operandi of the office of the Denver District Attorney. In the early 1960s 47 Denver police officers were charged as part of a massive burglary ring, but not a single higher up in the police department was brought before the bar of justice even though it was impossible that such a huge criminal enterprise could be going on without the implicit knowledge and consent of members of the top brass.
The blatant CORA criminal violation last year was too much for former DA Mitch Morrissey who said he would have definitely brought charges against Deputy Chief Murray and would have strongly considered charging Chief White. The head of the Denver police union, Nick Rogers, has publicly excoriated McCann indicating that the rank and file were losing all respect for her. McCann made matters worse by going on air with Channel 7’s Tony Kovaleski. She embarrassed herself by endlessly and unsuccessfully trying to hide the fact that her chief deputy had strongly recommended bringing charges.
Following that PR disaster McCann was caught red-handed as part of a scheme to hide the fact that an illegal immigrant, Ricardo Lopez Vera, had killed another inmate in the Denver jail. The Denver Sheriff’s Department had hidden him from ICE as part of the city’s widely acknowledged sanctuary city policy. McCann again compounded her error by doing another media interview this time on the The Craig Silverman Show on 710 KNUS where she was eviscerated by Silverman, a former Denver Chief Deputy DA.
The fact that at age 69 she no longer has the mental acuity she once had was dramatically demonstrated when she used the “f” word on air with Silverman. There are only seven words clearly banned by the FCC for which a radio station can be fined for airing and the “f” word is one of them. After over 40 years in public life, DA McCann is well aware of that limitation, but she is apparently unable to control herself.
Some individuals are mentally sharp well into their 90s while others begin to show serious mental deterioration by their late 60s. Obviously, McCann fits into the latter group.
The sad part is she is just beginning her term as DA. Denver has a woeful habit of endlessly re-electing incumbents no matter their infirmities. It can be expected that McCann, at age 80, will still be the Denver DA at the start of the year 2029. The DA’s office will, of course, be a wreck and utterly rudderless. It is said that people get the government they deserve, but even Denver’s severest critics would say we don’t deserve a District Attorney’s office like the one we now have.
— Editorial Board
