Mayoral candidate Chris Romer’s about-face on his suggestion to eliminate Denver’s manager of safety office is a relief to former safety manager Al LaCabe and ammunition for Michael Hancock, Romer’s opponent.
The safety manager, who makes the final determination on all discipline matters in the city’s uniformed ranks, among other duties, is a political appointee who serves at the will of the mayor.
Romer had suggested the mayor take over the job. LaCabe, who held the position from 2003 to 2010, said the job is far too complex and important to add to the duties of an already heavily burdened mayor.
“To think that you can walk in and do away with the position and say to the world that you would be the manager of safety, it is just not good judgment,” LaCabe said.
Romer on Tuesday reversed his call to consider eliminating the position after consulting with former mayoral candidates James Mejia and Theresa Spahn, saying they impressed on him that there are higher priorities.
Romer said he originally made the proposal because he believes the mayor was becoming too distant from oversight on public-safety issues.
“I don’t want to insulate myself from the public-safety process,” he said. “I want the buck to stop on my desk.”
Mejia and Spahn convinced him that the discipline process could be streamlined without the city taking on the expense of bringing the matter to a vote, he said.
On Wednesday, Hancock challenged his opponent.
“If he understood city government and if he had done his homework, he would not have suggested (eliminating the safey manager),” he said. “The manager of safety is a chartered position; the mayor can propose, but the people would have to vote for it and I’m not convinced they would.”
“You don’t want the mayor to be involved in having day-to-day responsibility for the overall safety department because that would be all the mayor would do,” Hancock said.
Romer said he was angered that the Hancock campaign would question why he took advice from Mejia and Spahn before changing his mind.
“Theresa and James are two of the best minds regarding public-safety issues in Denver,” he said.
Mejia said he told Romer it would be better to save money by thinning down the safety department than by eliminating the office.
“The beauty of having the three of us talk about policy is that in deliberation the very best policy will become known as we remain open to listening to ideas,” Mejia said.
