A tight race to replace Denver City Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie has candidates pointing fingers over who is beholden to special-interest groups.
The candidates in the race for District 7 – one of three contested council seats in the mail-in May 1 city election – are mostly in agreement on a need to protect neighborhood character, guard against increasing graffiti and gang problems, and improve public education.
But campaign contributions pouring in from labor and business interests have begun to define the race.
Candidate Chris Nevitt raised more than $65,000 through March, much of it from union groups such as a Teamsters political- action committee and several local labor organizations.
“I think that a lot of people are concerned about that in the business community,” candidate Shelly Watters said. “I think a lot of people are concerned that he has somebody else’s agenda.”
Nevitt notes that 70 percent of his contributions have come from more than 400 individuals – more individual contributions than the other candidates combined. And he said his work at the Front Range Economic Strategy Center – a nonprofit group that “works to maximize the benefits of economic development for communities and working families” and shares a phone number with the Denver Area Labor Federation – has shown his ability to barter compromise between business and labor.
“I’m the labor candidate, I guess, the way Shelly is the developers’ candidate,” Nevitt said. “I don’t think Shelly Watters would say she has been bought by the developers.”
Some of the largest donors to Watters’ $52,000 campaign are business leaders such as hotel-management and development company Sage Hospitality, and real estate company Paradise Properties.
But Watters, who has worked as a council aide to both Councilwoman Carol Boigon and former Councilwoman Joyce Foster, said those are only part of a “broad range of support.”
Julie Connor, who has been Councilwoman MacKenzie’s aide, said the rivalry between Nevitt and Watters has affected her campaign.
“The two of them have pushed me into the middle, and I like that,” she said. “I’m a Peace Corps volunteer. That’s not a centrist position, but I’ll take it.”
Connor is lagging in the money race with about $21,000, but she is hoping that her rivals’ contributions “might backfire.”
The other candidate is teacher Dennis Smith, whose unconventional campaign has sworn off contributions altogether.
Where the other candidates say they hope to “protect neighborhood character” as many houses are scrapped and replaced, Smith said, he is not concerned.
“I’m a Republican and a believer in property rights,” he said. “I prefer to call it gentrification rather than any loss of neighborhood character.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
