The Aaron Harber Show

Aaron's Real Opinions (Yikes!)

THE AUDITOR SURPRISE
05-15-03

The most exciting race of the upcoming June 3rd runoff election for the City & County of Denver may not be the mayoral contest but may end up being the Auditor’s race. The contestants – or should one say "combatants?" – are City Councilmen Dennis Gallagher and Ed Thomas.

Gallagher has been known in Denver politics for years, after having served in one public service capacity or another for over three decades. The Regis University speech and communications professor has been elected in Denver as a State Representative, as a State Senator, and as a City Council member. He served 16 years on the State Legislature’s Audit Committee and has been endorsed by well-respected, former State Auditor Tim O’Brien.

Thomas was best known for his service in public safety, with a more than two-decade career protecting Denver citizens as a high-ranking and well-respected member of the Police Department. He joined City Council and immediately became an independent and outspoken member of the group – serving as a "Watch Dog" regarding a number of issues. He recently received one of the most unique endorsements in Colorado political history when fellow Council member Susan Barnes-Gelt simultaneously described him as a "ass" while formally throwing her support to him. (If this is how Barnes-Gelt treats her friends, one trembles at the thought of what she does to her enemies!)

In the debate held on my show between Gallagher and Thomas, the gloves came off so fast viewers who are late to catch the show will miss all the niceties – well, at the least the few which were uttered before both candidates started taking shots at each other. Gallagher accused Thomas of overspending his City Council account and borrowing from Council member Polly Flobeck to balance the account. This didn’t seem to be a big deal but Thomas denied ever having done it. So the question for Ms. Flobeck is "Did you ever help Mr. Thomas balance his account?" Most Denver citizens probably don’t really care.

On a similarly mundane matter, Thomas accused Gallagher of having a "slush fund" but was referring to a very small donation from the Northwest Denver Democrats which Gallagher had legally rolled over from his past City Council campaign to the Auditor’s race. What Thomas should have been emphasizing is the need for a citywide law (and really a statewide law) which prohibits politicians from rolling over funds from one campaign to another. This gives incumbents an unfair advantage over challengers. Everyone should have to start from zero for every campaign. The rolling over of funds often intimidates potential challengers and the public then is denied the chance for a competitive contest – which is the basis for campaigns which engender public debate on the important issues of the day.

Gallagher continued to refuse to reveal the donors to the Northwest Denver Democrats’ fund and said it was up to the Democrats to make that disclosure. This was an accurate statement but, politically, especially given the small amount of money involved, it seemed it would have been – and still would be – wiser for Gallagher to say he was in favor of all the donor names being disclosed. Colorado law should require that all donors to any political entity should be disclosed to the public. Full public disclosure is critical to the health of any democracy and there remain too many gaps in Colorado. An Auditor candidate should be setting the standard for disclosure – using the accounting concept of "transparency" (ENRON was an illustration of the opposite of "transparency!") as his or her model for the office and for campaigns. Neither candidate has taken advantage of this opportunity.

In fact, the challenge voters face is that the really different candidates originally in the race who were most likely to bring new ideas to the fore – Landri Taylor and Bill Wells -- fared poorly. Taylor garnered 13% of the May 6th election vote and Wells got a paltry 5%. Taylor brought a true businessperson’s approach to the office and Wells was the only candidate who had the real-life expertise and management experience best-suited for the job. Instead, the much better known names – all of whom were incumbent City Council members, including Debbie Ortega (who had an impressive 24% of the vote compared to Thomas’s 26% and Gallagher’s 31%) – dominated the top finishers.

The two remaining candidates generally approve of the job done by the incumbent, Don Mares, and were recalcitrant too criticize anything Mares has done. They each want to make the office more "business-friendly" and streamline bureaucratic processes – both admirable goals but the kind of bland statements one would expect to hear from any Auditor candidate.

It may be their similar themes, deep public service backgrounds, and willingness to make enemies by taking on unpopular challenges which actually makes these two seemingly opposite candidates so similar that making a choice will be difficult for many Denver voters.

As far as which candidate would make the best Auditor, that is a tough question. Both men clearly can serve in oversight and watch-dog roles and is likely to do a good job as Auditor. Neither has extensive management experience nor formal training in any accounting, financial, or related fields. Politically, both are ambitious but Gallagher is the only candidate who took an oath to not run for Mayor – an assumption Denver voters makes about any Auditor these days after the successful election of Auditor Welling Webb in 1991 to the mayoral post and the candidacy of Denver’s latest Auditor, Don Mares, for Mayor. Thomas, quite reasonably, does not want to foreclose any options. The election is likely to be a close one so make certain you get out and vote.