Danny F. Lopez is not a Republican, and he’s not homeless either. But he is running for mayor of Denver.
Lopez says people think he’s a Republican because he’s running against John Hickenlooper, a Democrat. And he also gets confused with “that homeless guy” who was thinking of running for mayor but never filed his petitions. That would be Dwight Henson, formerly homeless guy, who got the requisite papers but never returned with petitions.
Lopez did file his petitions, and early, too – before Hickenlooper filed. He is frustrated that his campaign isn’t getting much attention.
What a difference from 2003, when there were seven high-profile mayoral candidates and dozens of debates. It began with an even larger field. Early on, there were 14 announced candidates.
So what makes Danny run?
“Nobody is speaking up for the worker,” he says.
Lopez is a worker, a city worker in fact. He is a television unit supervisor in the wastewater division of Public Works. Yes, they take pictures of sewers, through manholes, with closed-circuit TV, to ensure that the sewers are doing what they should be doing.
After the big snowstorm in December, he drove a snowplow. And that’s another thing. “I have a more proactive snow-removal plan that would provide for better neighborhood coverage.”
He was one of 150 city workers pressed into service and told to get out there and plow – “a late, reactionary, P.R. response,” he says. “I got behind a plow for the first time in my life.”
He reported for plow duty at midnight, and by the time things got organized and blades hit the pavement, it was 1:30 a.m. and there were already 14 inches of snow on the streets.
He says blizzard response plans should be developed during the summer. Volunteers should be identified, and staggered shifts arranged.
Lopez is a rarity, a Colorado native. He was born in Alamosa, and his family moved to Denver when he was 6 months old.
This is hardly a high-profile campaign, although Lopez he has been endorsed by Teamsters Local 2004, which represents 700 city workers. He asked the union not to give him any money.
The most attention Lopez had was when Hickenlooper invited him to lunch and Lopez accidentally spilled beer in the mayor’s lap.
This is not Lopez’s first try for city office. He ran in Council District 2 four years ago; Jeanne Faatz won. He wanted to run in the district this year, too – as well as for mayor – but he was told he had to pick one or the other.
It’s not a big-money campaign, either. He’s not planning to spend anything for television advertising, and he hopes his supporters will make their own yard signs.
“I’m planning on spending nothing to try to beat this mayor,” he says.
That’s another plank in his platform: “Professional politicians spend too much money to get elected.” Such as Hickenlooper, for example, whose out-of-state contributors have been slow to disclose, and “I don’t know if anybody cares.”
Also, “Poorer neighborhoods are neglected.” Hickenlooper, he says, shows favoritism toward wealthier neighborhoods.
And, the subject he keeps coming back to, “City workers need a wage increase.” Forty percent of the workforce hasn’t had a raise in four years, he says.
Then there’s just the idea that “I want to give voters an alternative choice. No one should run unopposed,” Lopez says.
“I’m not afraid of the big money machine. I’m not afraid of the popularity of this man. … I still respect him, but there are a few chinks in the armor out there. I hope we can expose them.”
Fred Brown (punditfwb@aol.com), retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a political analyst for 9News.
