Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher is likely, in the next few days, to back down on his refusal to sign a city contract with a non-profit that recently hired a top city aide.
Gallagher was merely trying to make a point about what appears to be a conflict of interest, his spokesman, Denis Berckefeldt, says.
We’ve had our disagreements with Gallagher over the years, but he has a valid point in this case. The way things evolved between Seedco Financial Services and Peter Chapman, formerly a top economic adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper, just doesn’t look right.
It’s unfortunate because Seedco’s mission to help revitalize Denver neighborhoods is laudable and Chapman’s skill in economic development is admirable. Yet, the situation leaves you wishing it had unfolded differently.
Here’s why: Chapman, appointed by the mayor in 2003, was a key player in creating the partnership with Seedco, which aims to redevelop troubled parts of the city, and he was a strong advocate for the program before the City Council.
Within months of approval of the partnership, he ended up taking a job running Seedco’s Denver operations, which has a contractual relationship with the city.
This turn of events came with the blessing of the city’s ethics board, which apparently thought the good he would do for the city outweighed its ethics code. That code would have required Chapman to wait six months before being hired by any business he so closely worked with while employed by the city.
We disagree with the waiver. Revolving door rules are meant to offer reassurance to the public that the stewards of their tax dollars aren’t conducting public business through the prism of self-interest. These rules are important for reasons of both perception and reality.
This position is not meant to denigrate or impugn Chapman’s work or his commitment. And it should be noted that he was above-board in asking for a waiver so he could take the Seedco job.
Furthermore, Chapman, who visited the Denver Post editorial board in February to explain the mission when he was still a city employee, is a compelling advocate. He spoke about how the partnership with Seedco would allow the city to get more “oomph” out of its federal block grant money because Seedco would bring capital and know-how to the table.
Together, the city and Seedco would finance projects to create jobs and stabilize distressed neighborhoods. Seedco is a well-known company in community development circles and has a track record in other cities.
There was a lot to like about the program then, and there still is today. Recently, Seedco announced its first three loans, including mixed-income condominiums and small-business development.
But the element of trust is an important one. The city must do everything it can to give people a reason to believe their government is acting in their best interest.
We would like to see the city examine its revolving door policy and the process by which waivers are granted. The city must make sure its practices live up to its rhetoric when it comes to ethics. To do less is to risk the public trust.
