Denver’s mayor has every reason to be at the Super Bowl when the Denver Broncos are playing, and it is not a problem that taxpayers are footing his bill as well as for a handful of staffers to join him.
Sure, some people will grouse about almost any public money that goes to pay for official trips out of state because the practice is so easily abused. But in this case, the potential benefits the city gets from having the team and its mayor at the nation’s biggest sporting spectacle far outweighs the minuscule costs to the budget.
Two years ago Mayor Michael Hancock was rightly criticized for accepting a trip to the Super Bowl that was paid for by the Metro Denver Sports Commission funded with donations from businesses with city contracts, including Comcast.
The $40,000 gift paid for Hancock, his mother and city staffers to watch the Broncos’ unfortunate loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
In 2014 the ethics board decreed Hancock didn’t break any rules, but that was more a reflection of Denver’s lenient ethics provisions (which have since been somewhat tightened) than a reasonable assessment of the actual conflict in accepting the gift.
In any event, the appearance of conflict should have been enough to point the mayor in a different direction.
Thankfully, Hancock this time has taken a different tack. The airfare and hotel stay for his wife and daughter are being paid out of his own pocket. City funds are being spent on the mayor, two staffers and two security officers. The Broncos are providing tickets.
This is legitimate. The city’s mayor should be there to represent Denver as well as take advantage of opportunities to promote it.
Moreover, Denver’s city attorney also requested an advisory opinion from the ethics board.
Gov. John Hickenlooper is also planning to attend the game and will pay for the trip himself. That too is the way it should be. Hickenlooper is independently wealthy. It would be unseemly if someone with his means were using taxpayer money to pay for a trip to a sports event, even if he will be touting the state, too.
Hancock doesn’t have that type of personal resources. He works hard for the city, has been a Broncos supporter since his youth and will promote the city and tourism while he is there.
This time, Hancock is making all the right moves. Let’s hope the Denver Broncos do the same.
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