The recent fight for the multimillion-dollar parking contract at Denver International Airport included intense behind-the-scenes maneuvering of political heavyweights looking to protect their supporters and interests.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Councilman Charlie Brown said of the lobbying, including some from people he has counted on in the past as some of his top supporters. “They were coming after us like moose in mating season.”
At a possible maximum price of $85 million over as many as seven years, the contract became a magnet for interests throughout the region.
The contract ultimately ended up going to Cleveland-based Standard Parking, the firm that airport staff had recommended as the best qualified at the lowest cost. But before Standard emerged as the winner, other interests buffeted the council and pushed for another outcome.
Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb weighed in, looking to protect local minority jobs. Employees of the original contractor, Ampco Parking, worried about rising health-care costs, petitioned the council and lobbied against Standard. An influential west-side political power also stood to get some work if the contract remained with Ampco.
And a host of high-priced lobbyists, some with key friends on the council, pushed competing proposals.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s top political consultant, David Kenney, got involved, though on the opposing side of the mayor.
Webb lobbied council members, including President Michael Hancock, whom Webb once hired as a mayoral intern.
Webb, who did not return calls seeking comment, was reportedly upset because Standard Parking hired an out-of-state firm to handle a set-aside portion for minority subcontracts.
Webb talked to at least two other council members, Chris Nevitt and Carla Madison, about the issue.
“He was concerned,” said Madison, who parted ways with Webb and voted with the administration.
Meeting sparked criticism
Nevitt and Councilman Paul Lopez had other pressures.
They joined Councilman Doug Linkhart in a previously reported closed-door meeting involving labor interests and officials with Standard Parking, which sparked criticism and divisions on the City Council.
Lopez and Nevitt have strong ties to labor groups, and the employees of Ampco Parking, which had held the contract since 1997, had been petitioning the council to stick with Ampco.
The employees feared that their health-care costs would rise under another firm. They were represented by the Service Employees International Union — the same union where Lopez had once worked as a labor organizer.
Lopez and Nevitt both initially voted against the airport staff’s recommendation but switched sides for the final vote after it became clear the contract would go to Standard.
“These things are always many tangled webs,” Nevitt said. He added that the closed-door meeting mainly dealt with introducing labor to the presumed new vendor.
“The irony is that our purpose had nothing to do with changing the outcome,” Nevitt said. “It only had to do with improving the relationship between a new contractor and the existing workforce. And yet lobbying to change the outcome was all the rage.”
Business owner Willie Kellum, who had talked with Webb about the potential lack of local minority hires, teamed up with two companies competing against Standard. Those firms had promised to hire Kellum, owner of Kellum Enterprises Inc., to handle the minority set-asides.
“We try to keep as much of the business here in the city as we possibly can,” said Kellum, who said he now hopes Standard will carve out some of the minority work for his firm, too.
Paul Sandoval, a west Denver politician and the husband of state Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, also weighed in.
Active lobbying denied
Ampco had promised Paul Sandoval’s firm a portion of the minority subcontracts. Getting that work would have added to the two other contracts — employee parking and a fast-food concession — he already has at the airport.
Paul Sandoval denied actively lobbying, but he said both Councilwoman Judy Montero and Lopez told him personally, unsolicited, that they weren’t supporting Standard.
“I didn’t call them. But look, word gets out,” Sandoval said.
Nevitt said he never knew of Sandoval’s involvement.
Montero said she told Sandoval she would vote against Standard. She said keeping some of the work local was also a top concern for her because construction of DIA was pushed as a local economic generator.
Councilwoman Carol Boigon also became a top critic of the Standard recommendation. She said she thought that the way the request for proposals had been developed and then the bidders ranked after those proposals were submitted was flawed.
Unknown to the public, Boigon had a close family friend pushing for the contract to go to a competing firm.
Five Star Parking hired David Foster, along with Kenney, to lobby on its behalf. His mother, Joyce Foster, gave Boigon a job in her office when Foster was a city councilwoman and, along with that job, an entry into city politics.
Boigon denied that her relationship with David Foster factored into her decision.
“This is all about what kind of place are we going to be to do business,” Boigon said. “And I think the process needs to be clear, fair and transparent.”
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
How council members voted on the parking pact
The Denver City Council on April 14 voted 10-3 to approve a contract for Standard Parking to handle parking at Denver International Airport.
Voting in favor: Council members Charlie Brown, Doug Linkhart, Chris Nevitt, Rick Garcia, Paul Lopez, Jeanne Faatz, Jeanne Robb, Carla Madison, Marcia Johnson and Peggy Lehmann
Voting against: Council President Michael Hancock and council members Judy Montero and Carol Boigon Who switched sides? In initial votes, Lopez and Nevitt had sided with the dissenters.
