Denver Councilman Chris Nevitt said he thinks he has the votes among his colleagues to ascend to the presidency of the City Council on Monday, and some council members predict his selection will foster divisiveness.
“He’s breaking the china before he’s sworn in,” said Councilman Charlie Brown. “He’s got some of us a little bit concerned.”
The controversy stems from Nevitt’s expected decision as incoming council president to merge council committees, a move that means some council members will lose their chairmanship status, Brown said.
Jeanne Faatz, a fiscal conservative, has held the Finance Committee chairmanship for six of the past seven years. She recently used her authority as chairwoman to table an effort by Mayor John Hickenlooper to sell Cableland, donated to the city in 1988 for use as an official mayoral residence.
Faatz said she received a telephone message from Nevitt on Thursday warning her that as the incoming council president, he was making some changes and that she wasn’t going to be happy.
Brown said he thinks Nevitt, who has strong ties to labor unions, is rewarding his supporters on the council and punishing those who have supported Councilwoman Marcia Johnson for the presidency.
“This is like what happens when they pick the leadership for the pipe fitters at the union hall,” Brown said. “It’s not the way to govern a city.”
Nevitt said merging some of the 11 council committees would make them operate more effectively. He said fewer committees would mean more council members would attend committee discussions.
“If everybody ends up being a chair of something, it ends up being more of the privilege or power of City Council members as individuals,” Nevitt said. “I’m more interested in the power and effectiveness of us as an institution.”
A largely ceremonial role, the president runs council meetings and makes committee assignments. The president also meets weekly with the mayor.
Selecting Nevitt upends past precedent. Typically, the council coalesces around the pro tempore as the next president.
Johnson, who had been the pro tempore, thought her colleagues would pick her. Instead, it appears as though seven of the council’s 13 members backed Nevitt ahead of the selection Monday, she said.
Newly elected Councilwoman Paula Sandoval became the swing vote, Johnson said. Sandoval was not available for comment.
Johnson said her recent decision to not run for re-election is unrelated to her apparently failed bid for the presidency.
Although the pro tempore usually becomes president, that doesn’t always happen. Former Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie didn’t become president when she held the pro tempore post.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
