The last official count of Denver City Council District 8 candidates is 38. Twenty-three showed up Tuesday night for the second forum of a campaign so abbreviated it may as well be a round of speed-dating.
Hello, my name is Albus Brooks, and I’d like to be your council member because . . .
Time’s up.
My name is Karen Brown-Gerdine, and . . .
Next.
This is only a slight exaggeration, and it is not a knock against the North City Park Civic Association, which hosted the forum with graciousness and efficiency. But it is what it is. Too many candidates. Not enough time. As most of you know, the voters and candidates in District 8 find themselves in this unfortunate position as a result of circumstances no one wanted. Councilwoman Carla Madison died of cancer April 5, one month before the election. Not enough time to trigger a special election but just enough to allow for write-in candidates, the first of whom filed their paperwork two days after Madison’s death. With this many candidates, a runoff between the two top vote- getters will most likely be needed.
This many candidates, and any forum is bound to be an exercise in frustration. By my count, each of the 23 had four minutes to introduce themselves, declare their positions on medical- marijuana laws, fees for trash pickup, the reinstatement of restrictions on where people on probation can live, the lifting of the pit-bull ban (yes or no) and the addition of more dog parks (yes or no) and, finally, to list the district’s top three priorities.
In most cases, brevity from a candidate is a gift. But District 8 has a deep bench, and a lot of its talent is on display here. Teachers, lawyers, community organizers, small-business owners, executive directors, all with so many ideas that Clara Sims, a resident since 1957, added at least three more possible candidates to her list.
The situation has become so ludicrous that the candidate making the most sense identifies himself on his home voice mail as Bubbles. If elected, he vowed, he’ll quit so that a special election could be scheduled giving voters more time to vet the candidates.
“This is an awful way to run an election,” declared Tom Morris, a.k.a. Bubbles, his granddaughter’s name for him. “Whoever wins this crapshoot will be the representative of District 8 for the next four years.”
District 8 is a sweep of territory stretching roughly from East Colfax Avenue north to East 40th Avenue and from one corner of the Central Business District east to Holly Street. It’s a wonderful, rich, storied collection of people and neighborhoods that range from the eclecticism of Capitol Hill to the early champions of integration in Park Hill to Five Points, which is slowly re-emerging. It has been a place of tremendous change, and with that change have come the struggles of identity and community — a booming Latino population, a diminishing black population, gentrification, poverty, struggling economic development, thriving spiritual and religious life.
You couldn’t find a candidate Tuesday who didn’t agree that the district’s residents deserve a more thorough discussion of its future, though none joined the call for a special election.
These are the cards we were dealt, candidate Wil Alston tells me later, and a runoff will buy more time.
“In the absence of substance,” Alston said, “voters will have to choose based on character, integrity and work ethic and then hope the person they choose will be a good representative.”
The deadline to cast a ballot is Tuesday. Candidates are pounding the pavement. Well, most are. Morris says he won’t campaign for a job he promised to quit, but he did talk to his neighbors.
“I think I’m going to carry Madison Street,” he says.
Tina Griego writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-2699 or tgriego@denverpost.com.
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