DENVER MAYOR CANDIDATES
Kelly Brough
Kelly believes that Denver’s most pressing issues are homelessness, public safety & crime, and housing affordability.
After hearing Kelly say that she would end the homeless sweeps if elected, we were a bit concerned about Kelly’s plan for Denver. But Kelly’s updated safety plan that was released at the end of January 2023 states that we cannot and will not allow anyone to break the laws designated to protect individual and community safety.
In her safety plan, Kelly has a lot of great ideas for action including expanding jail alternative programs such as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), community courts, Denver CARES, “drug court"", and better utilizing data to manage hot spots for crime within the city.
Read Kelly’s full safety plan: Kelly-for-Mayor-Community-Safety-Policy.pdf (kellybrough.com)
Andy Rougeot
MUST WATCH: Deliver for Denver - YouTube
Andy’s campaign website states that he will:
Crack down on crime - Andy will put the “security of law-abiding citizens first”
Enforce the camping ban (that 83% of us voted to maintain in 2019)
Increase affordable housing
Andy seems to understand Denver’s most severe and pressing issues and has a deliberate plan to fix them. Andy has said that he will enforce the camping ban that 83% of us voted to keep in 2019, we like that!
Thomas Wolf
Thomas Wolf For Mayor | WOLF FOR DENVER (wolfdenvermayor.com)
In Denver Mayoral Run, Thomas Wolf Focuses on Homeless Encampment Fix | Westword
Thomas’ main concern is encampments - He says that he will confront and remove all encampments immediately. He also promises that possession of stolen goods, illegal weapons, public defecation and shooting fentanyl will no longer be allowed.
Thomas’ campaign website says that he is “an independent unaffiliated and deeply concerned citizen”. We sympathize with Thomas’ position because we are also a non-partisan group of deeply concerned citizens.
We support Thomas’ goal of making Denver safer, cleaner and smarter and his fundamental value in doing the greatest good for the greatest number of Denverites.
Trinidad Rodriguez
MUST READ: DENVERITE ARTICLE
Intervene on behalf of Denver’s homeless | Denver-gazette | gazette.com
Mr. Rodriguez says that he would declare a “state of emergency” over homelessness and push for involuntary holds for mental health and addiction treatment.
Rodriguez believes that the catastrophe on the streets in Denver is principally driven by a series of health crises, not affordability. We agree.
He says that compassionate assistance will be provided to the unhoused - voluntarily or involuntarily - and promises to deliver visible improvements in public health and safety conditions surrounding street homelessness.
We’ve been suggesting involuntary commitment for a while now, it’s nice to see a candidate that agrees!
Mike Johnston
Mr. Johnston pledged to end homeless by the end of his first term as mayor. He plans to do this in part by partnering with churches and RNO’s to build micro-communities all over the city with 40-60 units each. SACD has mentioned the concept of a large SOS site for encampments east of the city; away from neighborhoods, businesses and schools.
Johnston also says he would move entire illegal encampments to the micro-communities together; might as well let all the members of the bicycle chop shop / meth lab group stay together! We already offer 24/7 shelter and hotel vouchers and are still unsuccessful at bringing people in from illegal tents on the streets.
This seems like a very unattainable goal.
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Debbie Ortega
Ortega for Denver (debbieortega.com)
Debbie is currently a council woman at-large in Denver and we believe that she is deeply knowledgeable of the issues that Denver is facing. Her campaign site says that she will partner with Denver’s public safety officers to reverse the historic increases in property crime, gun violence, illegal drugs and suicide.
Chris Hansen
Chris Hansen for Denver Mayor (chrisfordenvermayor.com)
Chris’ top agenda items for Denver are:
Affordability
Making Denver greener
Crime
We're liking many of the things we hear from Chris. We aren’t sure that Chris’ priorities are exactly aligned with ours; however, he is a strong, optimistic leader.
Chris recently introduced a senate bill that would define “media” and create a system for which ordinary citizens foot the bill for professional journalists to get government information under CORA. Under the current system, the requestor pays the costs of compiling and producing information. This bill would reward mainstream media like the Denver Post to the disadvantage of small independents and bloggers. And SACD.
Leslie Herod
Heroine … or Heroin. Failed promises have killed countless addicts.
Advocates for criminal justice reform, like Leslie Herod, have enacted measures to “decriminalize a range of crimes, reduce the punishments for committing crimes, and pursue decarceration through various means. The results of these actions have had a serious and lasting impact on Colorado communities, resulting in increased crime and a decrease in public safety.”
Leslie Herod was a primary sponsor for HB19-1263 that made possession of 4 grams or less of heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine a misdemeanor rather than a felony. As a result, addicts are openly smoking and injecting these drugs in our public spaces without consequences. Herod also wants to open “safe” injection sites (i.e. DRUG DENS) in our neighborhoods, alongside schools, residences and businesses. HB19-1263 and the bill to create a “safe” injection facility were all part of a six-bill package to combat the growing opioid crisis in Colorado. Since this package was introduced by Herod and others, Denver has deteriorated. As a direct result of Herod’s bills…'
Drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed
Crime is up in nearly every category in Colorado - From 2019 to 2021…
Auto thefts increased 86%
Murder increased 47%
Violent crimes, like homicides, aggravated assaults, sexual assaults and robberies, increased 17%
Property crimes increased 20%
Colorado had the fourth-highest increase in all crimes in the country
