The clash that led the Denver City Council to defy Mayor John Hickenlooper to boost pay for city employees boiled down to business vs. labor.
In the end, labor claimed victory, walking away with a 4.25 percent increase in base pay for city workers next year, up 1 percentage point from what the mayor proposed.
The mayor was unable to sway any of the nine council members who voted Monday to amend his budget to give city workers $2.6 million more in pay next year than the $7 million he thought was fiscally prudent. He vetoed the measure Thursday night, and the council overturned him Friday afternoon by a vote of 9-3.
Downtown business leaders got involved late in the process after labor already had locked down support.
In a mass e-mail sent after the council amended the mayor’s budget Monday, Tami Door, president and chief executive of the Downtown Denver Partnership, encouraged businesses to target Council President Michael Hancock and Councilwoman Peggy Lehmann.
“The business community has consistently expressed support for the mayor and his leadership team and believes that their solid financial stewardship is reflected in the original budget,” Door wrote.
Her e-mail drew a sharp rebuke from Hancock, who e-mailed Door back Friday, saying he was “disappointed” in her tactics
“At the very least I wish you would have called to get our perspective on the issue,” he wrote.
Lehmann said she found the lobbying attempt by business interests too late and unpersuasive.
She noted that labor leaders lobbied her weeks ago, flooding her with information. Labor – notably the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – also persuaded Hancock. He said Monday during the amendment vote that he had met with city employees who persuaded him to come to their side .
Other forces were at work in addition to labor.
Denver Councilwoman Carol Boigon, the catalyst for the pay-increase plan, secured the support of city Auditor Dennis Gallagher early on, said Gallagher’s spokesman, Denis Berckefeldt. The mayor never tried to sway Gallagher, who could have provided ammunition to the mayor’s argument that tight finances should restrict city salaries.
Hancock, Boigon, Lehmann and fellow council members Rick Garcia, Judy Montero, Paul Lopez, Chris Nevitt, Marcia Johnson and Doug Linkhart would not budge on the issue.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
