It’s been five years since 5280 magazine published its 5280 Fifty of Denver’s Most Influential People issue, and its latest is bound to cause controversy wherever it’s read.
The 11-page story, which names and makes a case for who was picked, was written by Patrick Doyle, Luc Hatlestad and Max Potter, who sought input from various local notables over coffee or cocktails.
When coming up with the top 50, the reporters defined their choices through the words of President Woodrow Wilson: “Power consists in one’s capacity to link his will with the purpose of others to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation.”
The issue, on newsstands now, puts Mayor John Hickenlooper in the No. 1 spot. No. 2 is none other than the owner of this newspaper, William Dean Singleton, who won the newspaper war when E.W. Scripps elected to close the Rocky Mountain News.
The list is riddled with politicians: Ken Salazar (No. 5), Bill Ritter (No. 9), Mark Udall (No. 6), Michael Bennet (No. 7), Terrance Carroll (No. 16), Ed Perl-mutter (No. 17), Diana De-Gette (No. 43), Michael Johnston (No. 33), Scott McInnis (No. 42), Josh Penry (No. 46), as well as lawyers, including Steve Farber and Norm Brownstein (No. 4 together), Cole Finegan (No. 3) and Rob Corry (No. 26).
Why was this list five years in the making?
“We were waiting until the landscape had changed enough that it made sense to dedicate the resource and page amount,” said Potter. “We live in a different world than we did five years ago.”
Minority and female faces are few (Denver Post editor Greg Moore and new Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO Kelly Brough made the cut), but Potter knows that.
“We strive for more than anything else to make it an accurate reflection of the reality as we possibly could,” he said. “This is a power list in the present tense. It’s not two years ago, it’s not two years from now, it’s now.”
What about Westword founder and editor Patty Calhoun? That seems like a giant omission.
“Who made the list was a question we wrestled with immensely,” Potter said. “Not just with ourselves but with the people we spoke to and interviewed. Are we assessing this properly? If there’s somebody or someone we missed that seems egregious, we certainly want to know about it.”
Care to quibble? You can contact Potter at max@5280.com.
Delish.
Dylan Moore, owner of Deluxe and Delite restaurants on Broadway, is opening Deluxe Burger next to Mod Living on Colfax and Grape on Valentine’s Day.
The seen.
Former U.S. Sens. Gary Hart and Tim Wirth with their wives, and at another table former congressman turned radio yakker Bob Beauprez with wife, Claudia, on Tuesday at Ellyngton’s in the Brown Palace Hotel.
Eavesdropping
on a panhandler talking to two women in front of Morton’s LoDo: “Can you help me celebrate my birthday?”
“We don’t observe birthdays.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
