Federico Peña’s recent support for immigrants won’t be the first time he has stood up for what he thinks is right, and it probably won’t be the last.
I have my own story about that.
Between 1987 and 1991, Peña and his team faced seven campaigns, including a tough re-election that he won by barely 3,000 votes. The other six were a 1988 recall attempt; two new airport elections; two metro-wide elections on the baseball stadium and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District; and a $245 million bond issue.
This very disciplined and focused man governed during one of the region’s most severe economic recessions, shepherding Denver through the oil bust, the savings and loan debacle, record business failures, foreclosures and population decline.
Despite tough times, Peña remained an advocate, not a naysayer. During a tough eight-year tenure, he persuaded Denverites to invest in themselves and their city.
However, it was during the nasty recall attempt that Peña displayed his grit. Partly because the mayor refused to invest time, money or political capital in opposing the initiative, political types were betting even odds that the petition drive would result in a recall election.
On the evening petitions were due at the election commission, the mayor decided to attend a large neighborhood meeting to explain to hundreds of angry southwest Denver homeowners why record HUD home foreclosures – many in their neighborhoods – offered opportunity. The Denver Housing Authority purchased dozens of these homes, a strategy designed to house poor families with children in neighborhoods close to schools, services and jobs.
When he strode into his office at 9 p.m., following hours of angry NIMBY confrontation, Peña didn’t even ask if the petitioners had been successful. And he didn’t blink when informed that the petitioners hadn’t gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall.
Eighteen years later, it is no surprise that Peña is now calling for reasoned, informed discussion on a difficult and polarizing issue.
The group he has agreed to head – Keep Colorado Safe – is opposed to the constitutional amendment likely to be on the November ballot.
Proponents – mainly Defend Colorado Now, led by the unlikely duo of Tom Tancredo and Dick Lamm – want to amend Colorado’s constitution to prevent those unlawfully present in Colorado from receiving public services not required by federal law.
Guess what? Those unlawfully present in Colorado are already ineligible for publicly funded services not required by federal law. They are eligible only for services directly related to public safety, life-threatening emergencies and K-12 education.
The fine print, however, is a recipe for disaster. Section 2 of the proposed amendment says that any citizen can sue any jurisdiction for not enforcing laws against the “unlawfully present.”
In plain English, – our national language – that means every recreation center, library, emergency room, medical clinic, police force, fire department, rescue and emergency medical team might be vulnerable to unfounded lawsuits.
Are preventive inoculations a threat to public safety? Bird flu, mumps, measles, smallpox, polio are contagious and a threat to public health – but preventable. What will Defend Colorado allow?
Ask Dick Lamm.
Talk about abuse of public resources, cluttering the state constitution with unenforceable junk and about sending a message.
The answers, as Peña points out, are complex, inter-connected and achievable if reasonable people agree to address the issue rationally. They include:
Greater security at the border;
Harsh penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers;
A balanced guest worker program that serves employers and workers and a country enjoying full employment.
A road to citizenship for 12 million people who are already here.
Then there is this irony: A bill headed to Congress that would require Canadians entering the U.S. to show passports. Currently only a driver’s license is required.
Opponents on both sides of the border are screaming that economic development would be at stake.
Hmmm.
Susan Barnes-Gelt is a former Denver councilmember and aide to Peña. Her column appears on alternate Sundays.
