Susman's Support Network

by: Denver Pols

Tue May 17, 2011 at 13:10:04 PM MST

City and Business Leaders Gather to Support Mary Beth Susman for City Council

Please join Frank Schultz, Wellington and Wilma Webb, Steve Farber, Chuck and Becky Morris, State Representative Angela Williams, Theresa Spahn, Susan Barnes-Gelt, Rick and Cathy Reynolds, Brittany Morris, and Erin Ferris at the Tavern Lowry for food, drinks, and conversation with City Council Candidate Mary Beth Susman.

What: Fundraiser to support Mary Beth Susman for City Council District 5
When: Friday, May 20th from 5:00 - 6:30pm
Where: Tavern Lowry
            7401 East 1st Avenue
            Denver, CO 80230

Folks, that list of co-hosts is a veritable who's who of influential Denver pols. If you have any fundraising event listing Steve Farber on the masthead, you're probably running your campaign the right way for a Denver city council race. Not to mention names like Barnes-Gelt and the Webb family.

Susman has an impressive list of supporters, all of whom have and will continue to raise her the money she thinks she needs to win. Don't forget, however, that Susman had this astounding network on May 3rd and still managed to lose to Steve Saunders in an albeit close race.

That raises an interesting question about what matters most to the electorate. If the race were based purely on political knack, Susman would be the clear winner. But voters have remembered Saunders from his time with 7News, and we think it's been his remarkable name ID in addition to the trust voters place in nightly news broadcasts that won him round one.  So the question is, which matters more? Susman has clear experience in governance, but voters seem to be connecting more with Saunders. If anything, Saunders has demonstrated exactly how to run a campaign against an opponent who is more experienced and better connected.

What say you, Polsters? Will Susman's network and experience carry weight with the electorate, or will voters choose Steve Saunders again in round two?  

DA Pay Raise Irks Some Council Members

by: Elliot

Sat Jan 17, 2009 at 16:45:36 PM MST

The Denver Post reports:

The issue sharply divided the group, with council president Jeanne Robb and council members Jeanne Faatz and Carla Madison dissenting from the majority...

At one point, Councilwoman Judy Montero seemed ready to vote no, too. She took exception to comments from Steve Siegel, the district attorney's director of special programs.

Siegel told the council the state picks up 80 percent of the minimum salary the state requires municipalities to pay district attorneys.

Under that formula, the city will have to pick up only $5,880 of the salary increase in 2009. Morrissey's salary also would increase by $10,000 in 2010, and by that same amount in 2011 and 2012, but again the city would pay only $2,000 each year for the incremental increases with the state paying the rest...

...Siegel noted that the district attorney in Fort Collins, which is half the size of Denver and has a lower crime rate, is projected to receive close to the same amount as the $207,000 Morissey would be paid in 2012. Other top prosecutors in comparable cities make "substantially more" than Morrissey, he said.

At first glance, it's not a bad argument--the DA gets a raise, the city only pays 1/6 of it, and the state foots the rest of the bill. Plus, shouldn't the Denver DA make more than Ft. Collins DA? This would be perfectly fine if it weren't for a few unfortunate realities.