Accountability and other matters

2011-11-29T10:13:00.000-08:00

I treasure and admire efforts which will engender in people a love and appreciation for writing, print, and books. You can include newspapers in that list.

Gail Lindley of legendary Denver Bookbinding in North Denver, has joined up with Denver Public Library to raise consciousness on what goes into bookbinding. She offers an open house at her pioneer Denver company at which folks can learn the ins and outs of creative bookbinding. I hope to get the Auditor's office over to her business soon.

At the dinner I was honored to attend on Thanksgiving, several six, seven and eight year olds lined up for fat browned turkey. I asked them if they were studying cursive in their schools. One youngster responded "isn't that where you connect all the printed letters by lines?" "Bingo," I smiled. She said she was teaching herself cursive since the school was not teaching it. Cursive is out now. Printed letters only. The promise of a great education, but cursive need not apply.

Cursive has been out for used, on the scrap heap of the politically incorrect.

A few years back, when I asked my son, Daniel Patrick, the calligrapher's son, to write neatly his ballot's signature. He irritated me as I sensed he was right when he scoffed: "Dad, if I sign neatly, the Election Department will think it's a forgery." I shot back, "Sign with your usual sloppy scrawl." He was right and he was a prophet in his own time. Hens now legally clawing away in dusty Denver yards are more legible than some scribbling I have seen. I wonder how folks at the elections department can analyze true signatures with all the hen scratching evident today? Daniel Patrick added shaking his head at my antiquated reverence for technologies from the ancient times, "Dad, you know we won't need actual written signatures anymore, we have electronic signatures on our computers." Right again, Daniel, our signatures at the city are all electronic, except for bonding documents and the like.

Dramatizing another shift in our culture to computer mediated communications there is a new public school in Denver which has no library at all. I guess this is since the students all have access to the great library in the sky in cyberspace. What was formerly a library at North High is now called The Ginn Family Learning Resource Center. I am glad the school administration finally recognized Wally and his dad's great contribution to North High and North Denver. A call to DPS notes that only ½ of the 122 libraries in DPL have librarians. The rest have teachers or paraprofessionals as available. Each school principal makes the decision. Did anyone hear this issue discussed in the recent school board election?

No more libraries? Can you hear the cheering chorus, the uproarious caterwauling by some Denver school board members, accompanied by cacophonous phalanx of DPS administrators clapping? Maybe we can eliminate all the libraries. Think of the branding opportunities. Soon all school texts will be lined up on our electronic notebooks. Will there be any books left for Gail at Denver Bookbinding to repair since you can get them electronically? Where is cyberspace anyway? Is it the great electronic library in the sky without diamonds?

So, Gail, keep up your wonderful collaboration with our Library to teach people how truly fascinating bookbinding can be. Put me on the email list. Or better yet, just tell me about it when I see you at the Safeway on 44th and Lowell.

Fr. Walter Ong, S. J., former professor at Regis University, reminds us that all technology is for the good of humanity as long as it is interiorized properly. And the new technology makes the old technology an art form.

IT Risk Assessment

2011-10-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

Our annual audit play includes specialized information technology audits. The city spends millions of dollars on computers, systems and technologies. To help with performance audits of departments done by our office, we have a technology audit team that help us determine the IT risks to the city. Risk Assessment sets up the inventory of critical IT systems. The inventory is made up of 4 main IT audit categories: IT business processes, business applications, (either existing or under development), IT infrastructure, and IT facilities.

IT audit categories are risk-related using an analysis based on objective technical process maturity score and a judgement based qualitative score. The IT risk assessment methodology is aligned with professional guidance, such as the Institute of Internal Auditors Global Technology Audit Guide on Developing the IT Audit Plan."

As Auditor I would not be doing my job well if our office did not focus on generally accepted IT governance and controls framework. In the age of sabotage and terrorists, we must continue to pay attention to these important IT risks. Check our audit plan on the Auditor's website to read the full details of this important area.

older Americans

2011-10-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Older Americans are falling into poverty in shameful and staggering numbers. I heard one older gentleman at a coffee shop in North Denver exclaim last Friday that he wished he could go down and join in on the "tent city." He was afraid his walker might get in the way.

One out of every six elderly Americans, now lives below the poverty level. Between 1991 and 2007 the number of American between the ages of 65 and 74 that filed for bankruptcy rose by 178%. The sad truth is that our state and local governments are broke. They realize there is no way they can keep the promises the made to those retired folks. Some politicians are planning on telling older people in Colorado that they will bring back the senior citizen property tax relief payments.

I told a friend of mine in the legislature, it is unethical to promise to bring that tax benefit for older people back without a funding source for those payments. Does anyone remember the severance tax. I think Governor Hickenlooper is for it. That would be a temporary source for funding for senior property tax relief. Our conservative state to the north of us has used severance tax to fund students to free higher education for decades.

A Reflection on Republican Primary Candidates

2011-10-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

As I have told many of you, every month I attend the Colorado Republican Business Coalition. At my table someone asked how I felt being a Democrat and coming to a Republican meeting? I told them I was learning lots and people were very friendly, but I reminded them I had not had as much time as I had to make as many enemies in my own party. Every now and again they say they want to discuss strategy.... and look at me. I tell them: "If I told the Democrats your strategy, they would not know what to do with it." And that last comment comes after years of experience.

A Regis student today in the library asked why Herman Cain was ahead in the polls surrounding the Republican Primary candidates. In my view, Cain is a bit of a populist. And he is against the establishment of the Republican leadership. So grass roots Republicans are giving him their support. The same pattern holds true for the Democrats. Democrats in Colorado and Denver do not like their leadership telling the rank and file for whom they have to vote. Recall the Republican and Governor candidates last time round.

Perry has asked everyone to look what he did in Texas. Let's take a minute to look at it.

1. Texas has the highest rate of poverty in the nation.
2. Texas has the lowest educational performance in the nation, almost down with Mississippi.
3. Texas is the largest polluter per capita in the nation.

I enjoyed venturing into the national sphere. I wonder if I should think about raising my profile in this area. I think I'm doing fine right here at home.

Poverty

2011-10-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

A sad bit of news from last month's headlines: The Census Bureau's annual poverty report, released last September announced that 46.2 million Americans, or one in seven of us, were poor in 2010. The prolonged recession, with high levels of unemployment, has swollen the ranks of the poor. The Bureau reported that the poverty rate in 2010 reached the second highest since back in 1965.
The numbers of Americans without health insurance stood at record highs.

And recently, I am sure all of you saw the Denver Post Supplement of Delinquent Taxes. Thousands and thousands have not paid or only paid their property taxes partially. I'll wager it weighs a quarter pound in paper pulp. It's going to take me a while to tally how many folks actually make up this list of taxpayers in delinquency. I will let you know later.

These folks were not camped out in Civic Center. They are struggling to keep a home over their heads and food on the table for the kids. These camp-ins, which should have included teach-ins on the economy, remind me of the effects of Gutenberg stumbling on moveable type, though the Chinese had invented the process centuries earlier. When he started printing hundreds of copies of the bible, little did he know he was helping bring on the Reformation. Folks could take their own copy of scripture, formerly chained to the reading desks in the chapels and monastic libraries into their own reading room away from the influence of clergy.

We are not sure what citizens are signaling with these camp-ins, we will have to wait and see if they really get organized. "Don't mourn for me, organize," spoken by Joe Hill, labor organizer, about to be shot in Utah. He later asked that his ashes be mailed to place out of Utah. He said he did not want to be caught dead in Utah.

Occupy Denver

2011-10-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

Listening to radio and TV interviews of tent colonists down at civic center here in Denver made it clear. Some of the folks were not sure what to be upset about.

Let me provide a guide to anyone who is perplexed about that is going wrong with the good old USA. The tent people were not clear as to why they were upset. The sure know something is not right.

Someone asked me what is the message of the Occupy Denver. We won't know for a while, just like it took humanity a long time to realize the revolution Gutenberg brought on with his bringing moveable type for printing bibles. Reformation anyone?

Back to my list of possible focus of anger.

1. 1% of Americans own 90% of the wealth in the country. Get your attention.

2. Medium disposable income for all Americans has gone down and not gone up in recent years.

3. You are worse off than we were 15 years ago. Starting to boil?

4. We have a 9.1 % national unemployment rate.

5. 16% of Americans are working part time and wish they could work full time to provide for their families.

6. 21% of the unemployed, underemployed as the economists call these people, have given up looking for jobs. That's almost 1 of 5 Americans.

7. 32 % of African Americans fall in the underemployed category. Starting to simmer?

8. Police, firefighters, teachers pay higher taxes than the average hedge fund operator.

9. General Electric made 4 billion dollars in profit last year and paid not one penny in federal taxes.

10. Things are getting so bad for some of the smart rich folks, Warren Buffet and Bill Clinton, are now saying they don't need the tax breaks Congress has been giving them. They want to pay more in taxes. And the last time I gave money to our Denver Treasury, it is tax deductible. The city is like a charity.

Anyone want to recite the old line from the Psalm: "To your tents, Oh, Israel."

2A is OK

2011-10-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

Referred Ballot Question 2A, sent to the voters by the Denver Auditor's Office with the gracious help of Denver City Council is OK. Please vote yes. The measure allows the auditor to appoint an employee of the auditor's office to sign city contracts in the auditor's absence.

If I go out of town, the contracting process for the city comes to a standstill because the city charter does not give the auditor authority to appoint a signatory employee. A "yes" to this ballot measure will enable me to do this with the same accountability but with more flexibility and no additional cost.

Tell your friends. "It's Ok to vote for 2A." I feel a song coming on.

Audit Universe vs Audit Horizon

2011-10-17T00:54:00.000-07:00

"Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain...." We here in Colorado know what a great horizon is. The Denver Auditor's Office also has a great horizon. We call it our "audit horizon" of planned high-risk audits which stretch over three years. That's a horizon that serves the taxpayers of our city. I am really proud of our Internal Audit Division for the outstanding, meaningful and valuable audits they have performed over the past years.

In the past our Internal Audit Division developed what was called an "audit universe." The process was cumbersome and time consuming offering analysis that revealed there are thousands of possible audits that would require tens of thousands of audit hours. The areas of possible audit were even assigned a percentage ranking in the list of all possible audits to be done. What this complicated process really communicated was that it is not possible to audit each and every city agency, activity and contract. But by telling the administration and council of audits in a universal list, we inadvertently gave the impression that areas to be audited would be audited. It might take years, but they were on the list. That approach bothered my conscience. So, with the hard work of our Internal Audit teams, we have changed.

So now the "audit universe" has taken second fiddle to what we call the 'audit horizon," as mentioned above. With common sense and realistic expectations the audit horizon approach identifies, prioritizes and manages audits determined to be critical to the city operations. Audits included in the horizon are based on available audit hours each year to ensure that realistic expectations are established and stated goals are met. The auditors build in ample hours to a plan for specially requested audits by departments, the mayor and council. The audit horizon approach gives me "lots of flexibility to be able to respond to emerging issues in a timely manner by providing high quality and responsive customer service to elected officials and operational management." That last comment is right out of our audit plan. You can read it on our web site: www.denvergov.org/auditor

We give great care in selecting the audits to be performed. We want to make sure that there is widespread audit coverage in terms of both types of audits performed, as defined in generally accepted government audit standards promulgated by the Comptroller General of the United States. A copy of the "yellow book," as it has been christened by auditors can be read on the web site of the United States Government Accountability Office, in a publication entitled: "Government Auditing Standards," and was revised last in July of 2007. By city charter our office is required to back up all our audits with the rules in the "yellow books. If we don't perform to those high standards, we will get dinged by our peer reviewers who review our work in the Denver Office every few years. I am please to report we received rave review from our last peer review by outside auditors from other jurisdictions around the country.

Who audits the Auditor?

2011-10-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

At neighborhood meetings, citizens - skeptical and mistrustful of all government operations, even the auditor's office - have often asked me, "Who audits you, Gallagher?"

This question poses and interesting matter for citizens who want to make sure that their elected auditor is performing truly independent audits and fighting for the best interests of the taxpayers of our city.

Government auditing standards dictate that audit agencies, including our office, shall have a "peer review" of our audit work every three years. In October of 2009, the Audit Services Division of our Denver auditor's office went through an external peer review of its work. The peer review team was made up of three audit professionals, three accomplished audit managers representing local government audit functions from around our country. The peer review team is selected by the Association of Local Government Auditors. We have no say on whom we get to audit our office. The team stays with us for about a week and examines all our audits and all our processes. That's how they make sure our office is in compliance with the highest possible level of compliance of Association of Local Government Auditing Standards promulgated by the Comptroller General of the United States. The peer review team members are always from out of state, so it does not even look like we have a conflict of interest by bringing in friendly auditors whom we know. In Denver our auditor's office staff wants to be held to the highest ethical and professional standards.

I am proud to report to you that the peer review audit team found the Audit Division in our Denver Auditor's Office excels in many core audit tenants and processes. The team liked that our office fostered an excellent system of internal controls necessary for compliance with professional standards. The peer reviewers determined that our performance audits added significant value to city operations. The review team identified several best practices used by the Division. These practices were a result of the restructuring of our Auditor's office due to an amendment to our city charter. The outside peer auditors congratulated our office on gaining true structural and legal independence. They noted especially the audit planning techniques used to formulate our annual audit plan. The peer reviewers commented on our use of formal risk assessment tools and project planning and budgeting processes. They noted the high quality and expansive reporting practices used by the Division. The peer reviewers agreed with our progressive management and supervisory techniques especially our decision to move to all electronic working papers. This means we save thousands of trees since this change was implemented. Who says an auditor can't be green? Our peer reviewers even said they saw techniques from our Denver Model which they wanted to take back to their home offices.

I wish to congratulate and thank our Internal Audit Division for the great work they have done to merit such outstanding praise.

Our next peer review team will visit us in 2012 for our next review. We look forward to their auditing the auditor.

it's in the air

2011-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

I told you about attending the mini conference sponsored by IBM corporation at which a analytic expert mentioned the use of social media, emails and texts by rioters in England during Britain's recent unrest. Rioters texted each other, not for social intercourse, but as to which locations should be targeted for criminal looting and burning. It's just something in the air, you say. The rioters have a new weapon, instant communication as to where to pillage, and where the police are.

Now, Republican presidential hopeful, Ron Paul, voiced his concern that the United States could see social unrest like that experienced in England. Conservative Representative Paul is hardly an alarmist. Must be something in the air, or could it be in the water?

Recently on the New York Times page one, "Protest Rise Around Globe as Faith in the Vote Wanes. Many are Driven by Contempt of Political Class." The reasons sending citizens around the world into the streets, in Spain, Greece, South Asia, Europe and even Wall Street range from corruption, lack of housing, and joblessness. In many places street protests are turning to violence. Tear gas is in the air.

Fr. Walter Ong, S. J., who once taught at Regis University, and author of many books on communication theory once reflected that all technology is for the good of humankind, as long as that technology is properly interiorized. Using electronically mediated communication to riot, pillage is not what Fr. Ong had in mind.

Arturo Jimenez

2011-10-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am supporting the re-election of Arturo Jimenez for the Denver School Board. Arturo should be re-elected because he dares to ask the tough questions which a school board member should ask. He is not afraid to confront the administration about fiscally unsound choices and poor academic goof ups.

Arturo also fights to build consensus even with the sharp divisions on the board. His ability to work with other members of the board can be seen in his colleagues electing him to the post of vice-president of the board. He has fought for transparency and fiscal accountability on the board.

And Arturo's ability to deal with parents and students who speak Spanish at home is a valuable asset for our district. This is especially important because seventy five percent of Hispanic students drop out of North High School. As a resident of North Denver, I am proud Arturo can speak to parents and students in their own language about problems facing them and their children. He brings direct feedback to a board which greatly needs that information, not mediated by the district. His linguistic ability is the envy of all the other board members. This talent makes Arturo a unifier who brings in all to the table, especially those who struggle with language issues. He talks to everybody across cultures and generations.

The other quality of Arturo's personality that recommends him for another term is his courage. He asks the tough questions to the administration about fiscal and financial mismanagement. He is not afraid to ask what needs to be asked and aired in front of the people and the board. JFK got in trouble with the Cuban invasion because all his advisors would not share with the president their doubts and misgivings about the Cuban invasion. Result: disaster. Every board needs someone with Arturo's courage to not be afraid to be unpopular and express doubts about teachers teaching to standardized tests. Arturo is that courageous advisor in this race.

Finally, Arturo is really stubborn. I have observed him work hard and never letgo until problems are solved. He is even-tempered, has a good sense of humor, another important asset to be on our school board. He is not a grudge holder and I admire Arturo especially for that. Indeed he is an inspiration to me because I sometimes forget that important virtue. Arturo is an optimist and happy in his work on the board is blest the loving support of his wife and family. Arturo has vowed he will not run a negative campaign even though his opponent's well-funded campaign has already turned personally vindictive and divisive. Allow a rhetorical intervention, that's a shame on our neighborhood.

Audit Plan

2011-10-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

It's fall, and it's that time of year, the season of cooler weather and yellow leaves. As Shakespeare put in in one of his most beautiful sonnets (from memory), fall is "that time of year when thou mayest in me behold, when yellow leaves or none or few do hang upon bare ruined choirs where late the sweet bird sang." In the auditor's office this is the time of year for reaching out to ask what steps we can take to fine tune our annual audit plan. Every year we seek input from various stakeholders in our city to help me and the audit staff determine which audits we should do for the coming year, 2112.

We ask the Mayor, City Council and the Clerk and Recorder to chime in their opinion as to areas where they see weak internal controls or areas of risk. Let's say 'amen' to the mayor and council for their suggestions.

We will meet with the newly appointed CFO, Cary Kennedy. As former treasurer for Colorado she understands how important performance audits can be to improve the city agencies. As sure as leaves turn bright yellow, we are reaching out to find out where we can best serve. Sing to us, Cary.

Looking ahead to 2113 we will seek input from citizens as well by holding public meetings to seek help from Denver's citizens about perceived risks to city agency performance. We will hit the four quadrants of the city. We hope citizens, city employees, and business leaders will bring forward their concerns. Experts have written many books about how good auditors should get out from behind their desks and get in the trenches with the citizens and city workers to find out and hear first hand what is going on. We want to be citizen centric, citizen friendly and citizen centered. We will put out the call and hope the citizens will provide the response.

I want to thank members of the Denver Audit Committee for their good work in serving on behalf of their appointing authorities, 2 from the mayor, 2 voted on by council, and two appointed by me who also serves as chair of the city's audit committee. Fiercely independent, the audit committee members ask the tough and necessary questions about the audit findings of various agencies. This is not about hurt feelings, this is about improving how our city runs and how agencies serve the taxpayers. The auditor and audit committee members here in Denver hold the administration, council and agencies accountable for how our city is running. We will do regular follow-up to make sure agencies are singing the same tune in response to audit recommendations.

And after all this, we hope the citizens of Denver will hear, not angry cacophony, not setups nor spiteful gotchas, but rather a collaborative chorus of audit recommendations marked by harmonic accountability and syncopated commons sense business practices. Can you hear those sonorous birds chirping on the ruined abbey walls in Shakespeare's sonnet?

Things I would miss if the Stock Show leaves Denver

2011-09-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

A customer in Common Grounds, Lodo, prompted this reflection when she said she would miss the smell of all the cows and horses during January. I told her the smell which oozes down to Lodo during the stock show is partly bovis excrementum, but more likely, the odors from the Purina Dog Chow plant just south of I-70 near Swansea. But this got me to reminiscing about what I would miss too about the Grand Daddy of 'em all, Denver's Ntional Western Stock Show.

1. I would miss the parade of long horns up 17th Street. The people of Denver have come to love that parade and the children especially. And it affords me the opportunity to say in response to horse pockey and bovine rounding or splashing clumps, "Stand back, everyone, I work in the Auditor's Office, I deal with this stuff all the time.

2. I would miss visiting the Grand Champion Bull with Tom Noel when the bull stays in a pen in the grand lobby of the Brown Palace Hotel. Tom and I always get our picture taken with the grand old big bull. We always wear name tags so folks looking on can tell which is the real bull.

3. I would miss the Mexican Rodeo and the Martin Luther King Rodeo.

4 I would miss seeing all the little creatures, the chickens, the rabbits and goats on full display in the exhibition hall.

5. I would miss the sellers and hawkers demonstrating vegetable crushers with the voices of auctioneers.

Technology and civil unrest

2011-09-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Mark Cleverley, a researcher for IBM corporation, originally from the "United Kingdom," as he coined it commented on the use of cell phones for texts in the recent civil unrest in England. Cleverley spoke at a mini conference at our Colorado Convention Center sponsored by IBM concentrating on use of statistics and information for cities and states in dealing with various problems. Promoters billed the conference as a class on analytics in government in solving problems and acheiving goals. In reality it was a soft sell for the IBM systems available for governmental folks in dealing with statistics and issues. I would have preferred a more direct sales pitch about programs available rather than a shrouded sales promotion. Cleverley reported to the crowd of almost 50 people that bands of lawless brigands and other folks would email and text each other deciding where and when to pillage and steal next. He shared that the English parliament is contemplating legislation which would give police authorities the power to shut down electronically mediated communications: emails, tweets and texts to try to control flash points of where rioters and urban pirates might focus their next escapade.

He said rioters went after such luxury items as perfume, cosmetics and the like, not food as might be expected in a time of financial chaos and monetary shortfall.

I asked Cleverley if in his research he found anyone who had studied the new media: tweets, texting and emails and had predicted the use of such in riotous violent activity. He could think of no researcher who had predicted those illegal uses. This issue should be of concern to us in Denver. Have gangs used cell phones to focus on targets for group assaults in lodo after ball games and bar closings? A Denver police representative said the department is looking into this new twist of tweets and emails.

Marshall McLuhan, the first Media Ecologist who taught for years at St. Louis University, got it right so many years ago when he wrote: "Innumerable confusions and a feeling of despair invariably emerge in periods of great technological and cultural transition." Couple this with the huge number of people out of work, the increase in forclosures and home losses and you have a witches brew which makes us think of MacBeth's old crones who cried, "Fair is foul and foul is fair." Something to think about for sure and nothing seems fair at all.

Analytics and accountability

2011-09-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Today I attended a mini conference at our Colorado Convention Center sponsored by the Performance Institute, an adjunct of the IBM Corporation. The conference had lots of good information on "analytics." There were other speakers who illustrated how good information from their analytics programs can help city agencies confront problems. There are lots of definition for Analytics but in a nutshell, this process of information gathering encourages government officials and staff workers to look at patterns statistics which can then become predictors of all sorts of activity of interest to police, fire and other city agencies.

David Edinger, Mayor Hancock's recent appointment as Chief Performance Officer for the city, the keynote speaker at the conference said he hopes to revamp program delivery, execution and performance management based on stakeholder feedback. The agenda item describing what he hopes to do mentions: "to gain citizen support and enthusiasm for government and public service, (to) reform and better utilization of tax payer dollars must be executed throughout all government entities."

One of the speakers for the conference could not come to Denver due to weather conditions somewhere in Canada. So I took a few minutes to fill in for the absent speaker to let David and the other members of city and state agencies present that I really looked forward to working with him. I told him we need his help with recalcitrant city agencies who fail to address recommendations in city audits. I gave several recent examples of city agencies who tried to deny problems in the city. I told him we need his help when agencies deny us access to records. I asked David to attend Audit Committee meetings during which members of the committee hear how audit recommendations are are being implemented.

Someone at the conference asked Edinger what enforcement power goes with his office? He said the Mayor would be the backup if an agency is not performing at peak quality. I responded briefly that the Mayor will have to call his appointees to task if they are not being accountable in running the various departments to which he has appointed them. I did add that Cary Kennedy, new CFO, gets the audit process and will help David and the mayor pull any reluctant appointees in line. One of the IBM software sales people said Denver is on the map because of the focus on performance in Denver. Unfortunately, David is the only employee of the Performance Office. This reminds us of Mike Henry, the only employee of the Ethics Department. Enough said.

So we march up the mountain of accountability at our city. And analytics is like a piton which fixes the rope deep in the stone so a hiker can pull others up to the mountain top.

2011-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

As auditor I make it a habit to drop in on neighborhood association meetings. In December the Golden Triangle Museum Neighborhood District invited me to their meeting. I always enjoy going to this neighborhood association because they have their meetings in the Byers Evans House on 13th and Bannock next to the Art Museum. It's like stepping back into the 1880's in old Denver town. I thought of William Newton Byers who started the Rocky Mountain News sitting at his desk composing copy for an edition of the paper announcing "paddle wheels leaving the Platte River docks for Omaha and St. Louis."

After Paul Fiorino, former candidate for Governor and now candidate for mayor, and president of the neighborhood group, did the minutes and treasurer's report, the members began sharing what was happening in the neighborhood.

One member reminded those present, including Carol Boigon, councilwoman at large and candidate for mayor and Josh Davies, president of the Downtown Residents Association and candidate for council at large, that the new jail releases prisoners into the neighborhood regularly and to be on the alert for problems.

The representative from the Firefighter's Museum on Tremont shared that their Christmas Tree had recently been stolen from in front of the museum. Several other neighbors reported that Civic Center Park presents a continuous stream of drug dealers selling their wares to folks passing through the park. Others commented that latrines at the large events at civic center sometimes spill into the gutters and leave odors. Some of the concessionairres leave refuse which builds up in gutters as well. During the large Civic Center events the neighborhood feels fenced off from itself because of the large fences surrounding the events. Someone mentioned the latrines in the park are often not clean. I reminded folks when I was on Council, I weekly inspected latrines at Sloan's, Berkeley and Rocky Mountain Parks. I called them latrine audits.

Residents have complained that cars have been broken into while shopping at some of the stores in the district.

The group resolved to contact the new captain in the district to see what can be done about some of the crime issues, especially in Civic Center Park.

My hat's off to the 30 folks who attended the December meeting of the Golden Triangle Museum Disctrict. They serve on the front line in involvement working to make our city the special place it is.

Remembering Hiawatha Davis

2011-01-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

On December 22, at the Doubletree Hotel on Martin Luther King and Quebec Councilwoman Carla Madison and Councilman Michael Hancock hosted the annual Hiawatha Davis Senior Citizen Lunch. It is always a great event highlighted by holiday music from the Denver Municipal Band. Students from local schools serve the waiting seniors. The officers from the local police district head quarters cheerfully chatted and assisted in serving the roast chicken lunch.

Hiawatha Davis started this wonderful community tradition many years ago and we thank the two councilmembers for carrying on this event. He served his community with distinction and humility. He represented the citizens of the district with an unruffled style that brought people together to solve issues. Hiawatha was a unifier who worked for the common good of the district and our city. We stand on his broad shoulders and quiet leadership. I will always appreciate his advice and kindness to me when I was first elected to city council so many years ago.

Sister Claudette Sweet is always there and I just wish the organizers would have arranged for her to sing. Listening to the mellifluent tones of Claudette Sweet almost fulfills a Sunday obligation. Her songs raise the spirits of all who hear her.

I want to thank Councilwoman Madison for carrying on Councilman Davis's community building event where so many good friends enjoy each other's friendship, old acquaintances and good company. It's a wonderful way to end last year with days of Auld Lang Syne and begin next year with a spirit of kindness and cups full of good cheer across the communities which make our city a great city.

Prepping Legislators

2010-11-30T09:23:00.000-08:00

When I was first elected to the legislature many years ago, Representative Jerry Kopel (D- Denver)gave me and others in my newly elected class some excellent advice. Older members of our caucus gave Jerry the accolade as sort of the uncontested "Dean" of our delegation. "Kopel knows the rules," Dominic Coloroso, (D-Denver) whispered to me as he gave me his worn book of rules. As I read some of the sage advice former legislators are sharing with the newly elected, I did not notice Kopel's common sense and simple advice. So now with his permission which I know he would give, I share it with all, even Republicans.

Jerry suggested that we find pictures of the legislators, all 100 of them from the Speaker on down. Clip out the picture and paste it on a 3 x 5 card. On the other side write in the legislator's name; home town; birth date; wife or husband and children's names; cities and towns within the district; committees assigned; schools attended; and businesses operated. Jerry always said leave space so you can write down things which come up during the session: hobbies, favorite songs, movies or latest book read. At the time I joked that we probably would not have to fill in many books read recently. Everyone has been too busy campaigning, I figured. But I was wrong on that joke. Most legislators were well read. And I was familiar with the principle of flash cards: I encouraged my Latin and Greek students at Regis to do the same for vocabulary practice. "Happy Birthday, Senator!"

I christened my picture cards: "Kopel's Legislative Flash Cards." Jerry suggested we flash them several times a day; when you get up; at lunch time; and when you go to bed. Flash the cards in the morning and flash the cards at night. "Eventually you will remember all the material on the cards and it will impress your colleagues that you cared enough to find out about them and their lives" was what Kopel told us. Dean Kopel would actually give us spot quizzes on which legislator was from where and all the rest. Our caucus developed information envy. And the points of information made for good discussion between heated arguments. The cards lowered blood pressures and made us laugh. Indeed, we shared our humanity with each other in moments of intense partisanship.

And Kopel, as usual, was right. Legislators and their spouses appreciated the human touch that one remembered little facts in their lives. I know one legislative wife appreciated my knowing her family name which I still use as a memory test. I fondly recall Senator Fay DeBerard, (R-Kremmling) a conservative west slope rancher. His wife, Beverly Burford, no relation to Speaker Bob, inspired Jack Kerouac's "Babe" in On the Road. I think it often made the Republican Assignables nervous when I crossed over to their side to sit next to her in the Senate Chamber. I would ask her if she "had seen Jack lately down at Capelli's Bar." That bar is now My Brother's Bar on 15th and Platte in North Denver, famous for Kerouac, Neal Cassidy and others sipping brews there in the Beat days gone by; gone alas like our youth too soon.

And I remember Senator Ralph Cole, (R-Littleton),who was very conservative, but always thoughtful. I once heard him argue a point from the Senate well on an issue, "English parliamentarians lost their heads over this issue. The king, and now the governor, wants to grab more power from us in the legislature," Senator Cole shouted hitting his fist reverberating on the lectern. Ralph and I did not agree on lots, but when we talked about English Parliamentary History, we were the best of friends. Ralph gave his tattered copy of English Constitutional History which has a Latin Magna Carta amongst its well-worn pages. I confess I keep this revered text from Ralph on my bookshelf near my bed for when I can't sleep. I still hear Ralph: "Don't let those parliamentarians die in vain."

Years later I suggested to leadership that we get two constitutional experts from DU or CU law schools to summarize the principles found in the US and Colorado Constitutions for the new and older legislators. They laughed me out of the room, but I still think it is a good idea. I remember one House Majority Leader in all seriousness arguing, "The Constitution really doesn't count for much on second reading." Any one remember who said that? I still believe that the Constitutional legislative teach-in could do much to cut down patently unconstitutional legislation and rhetorical blather on floor debate.

Now today with all the computers and social networks, legislators can put the faces and information on face book. Can you flash face book? But I would use face book as backup for the printed and oral comments written on the regular flash cards.

JFK

2010-11-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

I recently had a delightful dinner with a group of hungry Regis University Freshmen. We ground our teeth on exquisite Japanese cuisine and laughlingly tried to manipulate fumbling chop sticks at Domo's near Colfax, I asked some of them if they could remember why November 22, 1963 marked an important date in American Presidential history?

Several groaned with the sonorous stentorian tones of a Greek chorus, "We weren't even born then." Not one could tell me about that date. "It was the day John Kennedy was shot to death in Dallas," I told them. That day, that dies irae, a day of wrath, a terrible day came crashing down on us all like lightning bolts from Zeus himself.

Those of us old enough to remember JFK, all remember where we were when we heard the tragic news. I was a guide at the National Shrine in Washington, D. C. on the campus of Catholic University, my graduate school, I was giving a lunch hour tour to visitors. I joked that we should finish our tour by taking the stairs to the main floor. "Friends, we are taking the stairs to support President Kennedy's vigorous fitness program." The tourists laughed politely, still in church.

The tour completed, I walked over to my English class in the John K. Mullen of Denver Library on the campus. I made small talk before our professor got to the room. "Dennis, I thought of all people you would be upset the most by the news," one of my female associates chided me.

"Upset about what?" I asked her. "President Kennedy was shot in Dallas earlier today,Dennis, I heard the news on the radio during lunch." I told her,"I thought we would have him with us so much longer. He was so young."

My mind went back to when I actually had met JFK in 1959 when I was a junior at Regis in Denver. We had read he was coming into Denver to talk at the old Cosmopolitan Hotel. So I made signs "Denver welcomes Kennedy, Denver students welcome Kennedy, Good luck, JFK," in my best Italic calligraphy. A few Regis students and I drove out to old Stapleton and roamed around the airport for what seemed a long time looking for Kennedy. Finally a reporter saw us and directed us to the room where he was about to have a press conference. He came out smiling happy to see us with the signs and shook all our hands. He was amused to hear so many Irish names of the students: Dennis Gallagher, Peter Rohan, Jerry Dempsey, Larry Rice and Richard Murray. He then invited us to attend the press conference. I put my homemade signs up against the wall. "What's your agricultural policy?" Kennedy responded very well, I thought at the time. Teddy Kennedy was there standing close to Jack.

Patting me on the shoulder and looking up at me, Teddy asked if I played football at Regis. "We don't have a football team," I responded. "But we have a great basketball team," I added apologetically. Seeing our signs Teddy had us all line up with Jack. Our picture signs and all appeared in Look Magazine. I was not in the picture because I pushed Rohan, Dempsey, Murray and Rice forward. I remember thinking that day at the airport, "Kennedy's so young, I'll have plenty of time to meet him, later on in life, you know."

I told my fellow students just to tell folks were were young democrats. I suggested we could just leave out that we were from the Catholic and Jesuit college. Then I Jerome Dempsey told a reporter we were all Irish Catholics and we came out to root for our Irish candidate or something like that. I turned to the reporter, "We are not denying the faith, but can't you write that we are just young Democrats from Denver." Regis did not have a Young Republicans or Young Democrats at that time. We would have two wait years later for Ed Feulner to change all that.

The reporter winked and said, "I understand what you're saying Gallagher. I'm Irish and I went to Fordham." He put his pen in his trench coat pocket. The secret conspiracy smoldered. We would meet again when the battle was lost or won, when the hurly burly was done. We would have more time with JFK because he was so young.

Marian Rossmiller, a friend of my fireman father and a Democratic Captain whose brother was a Jesuit in Rome, told us to come to the Democratic Dinner that night. She said we could be her guests. She thanked us for bringing the signs and showing support for JFK. At the dinner, I confess I was actually shocked at how partisan Kennedy was toward the Republicans. He could not find a good thing to say about any of them. Friends, let me assure you, I am no longer shocked.

Dempsey recorded the speech but for some reason the recorder did not work, so JFK's words that night are gone with the wind of his breath. What a great memorable time we all had. We would never forget meeting him and we will never forget where we were when we heard the news of his death.

Of all the words at JFK's death, the words I remember most were those uttered by Daniel Patrick Moynihan as he heard the sad news: "There is no use in being Irish, if you don't know sooner or later, the world will break your heart." And that day the world broke my heart and I thought we would have him with us for a much longer time.

More Ciruli and the last election

2010-11-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, kings and generals came to the Oracle at Delphi to seek out predictions for the future. Today we turn to pollsters to find out which trends might forge the future. One Greek general asked the oracle: "If I go into battle, will I win the battle?" The oracle responded, "If you go into battle, a mighty kingdom will be destroyed." The general lost, but the oracle still spoke only the truth. She forgot to mention the destroyed kingdom was his own.

Floyd Ciruli, Colorado's top poll taker pointed out recently in a talk at City Club that Ken Buck lost the campaign for Senate in the last two weeks of the campaign. Buck underperformed his statewide ticket. Floyd said that lots of voters turned in their ballots early. He joked that those early voters were probably women voters who know in which drawer in the desk has the stamps. He believes men usually wait until later during the campaign to vote.

Floyd speculates that the Bennet campaign conjured up a good strategy with the ads announcing Buck was too extreme for Colorado. Buck was ahead in polling in August and September leading Bennet by 5%. However, the Bennet campaign saw a vulnerability, especially with women voters, after Buck's disastrous shooting himself in his foot on a national TV interview. So Buck gave the voters evidence that he was too extreme for Colorado and it resonated with voters. Floyd said he thinks women voters are a large percentage of the small number of votes, 14,000 votes, which put Bennet over the top for the Senate seat here in Colorado.

Bennet topped Buck in women voters in an October 21, 2010 poll by 53% to 40%. In that same poll, Independents favored Bennet over Buck 46% to 44% not much of a difference. This poll back up Floyd's previous speculation.

That crazy Governor's Race

2010-11-17T07:10:00.001-08:00

I had the inestimably valuable professional opportunity to listen to Floyd Ciruli, Colorado's top pollster, talking about what happened in the recent election. As always Floyd, a Pueblo native, offers us insights based on good solid evidence and speckled with good humor. Let me share with you some of his highlights and insights.

Floyd starts off his comments by telling us something we all already knew, "Hickenlooper is a lucky guy." Ciruli told the Denver Post in late October that Hickenlooper had "the benefit of not having to deal with just one Republican opponent and has kept a low profile, eliminating the chances of making and starting controversies."

Floyd's analysis of the polling figures showed how Hickenlooper kept rising in the polls. In August the mayor was at 43%, Tancredo, the American Constitution candidate, at 18%. And in September the mayor gained two points to go to 45%, while Tancredo jumped to 34% showing some considerable momentum. And on October 30th Hickenlooper was at 47%, another two point gain, and Tancredo peaked at 44%. Floyd's handout (available on his website) shows the final figures with the mayor finishing with 51% of the vote to Tancredo's 37%, down 7% from his polling figures. Polling figures for Dan Maes, the real Republican candidate, showed an August figure of 31%, and an over 50% drop in September to 15%. The October 30 poll showed Dan with 6% showing strength on the west slope. Maes ended up with a vote percentage of about 11% which means the Republicans will still be an actual political party for the next partisan election cycle.

Floyd's reporting of the top counties for the three candidates revealed lots. Hickenlooper carried Denver, San Miguel, Pitkin, Boulder and Costilla over 70%. Tancredo carried the high plains counties, Elbert, Washington, Lincoln, Morgan and Yuma at over 50%. Maes carrid Dolores, RioBlanco, Archuleta, La Plata and Baca by over 20 and 30%.

Ciruli told the Washington Times that "Tancredo is the best known Republican in the state." Floyd added that Tancredo "is the most easily nominated Republican in the state." Floyd believes Tancredo helped broaden his appeal in the race by showing up at the debates and letting voters know he can actually talk about topics other than immigration. But Floyd also points out that Tom had the highest negatives of those polled concerning their feelings about him. And it is clear that Tancredo is not going quietly into the good night as we see by his recent criticism of former Republican Bill Owens for betraying the Republican cause by serving on Hickenlooper's transition team.

For those readers who want to check our Floyd's more in depth comments, simply google: Ciruli Associates 2010 and you will get sites showing his encyclopedic details of what happened in this crazy election. Let me know what you think as to why people voted the way they did in this last election.

Billions

2010-11-15T08:14:00.001-08:00

The word "billion" has appeared in newspapers a lot recently. The Denver Post carried a story that scientists now determine that there are "billions" of earth size planets out there in space. We can see now why the ballot proposal in Denver got so many votes to set up a welcome committee for greeting space aliens when they land in Denver or Colorado. A friend in Adams County said space aliens were much more likely to land in Adams County than Denver. When I asked why, "We have so much more open space." She smiled at me as she answered.

Our own federal government has shared with us for the first time the amount of tax dollars spent on intelligence activities: $80.1 billion. The National Intelligence Program has been awarded $53.1 billion in fiscal 2010 so far. And thus far our government has dished out $42.6 billion to the State Department and foreign operations. Uncle Sam's wallet has spilled out $3.5 billion for Iraqi intelligence operations. Some ask why we spend so much and know so little?

In another article a few days later the paper shared with readers that $5.7 billion has been paid out if its total 2010 appropriation to US Immigration and Customs to send back 392,862 undocumented immigrants from the United States. They must be using first class fares. Estimates are that it would cost $80 billion or more to send back all the undocumented aliens in the country to their country of origin. We know nothing will happen on this front as the pressure for fiscal restraint sinks into the next congress. That figure assumes we know how many undocumented aliens are here in the country. We simply don't know.

Floyd Ciruli, Colorado pollster, told me recently that over $4 billion was spent nationally in the last weeks of the campaign. He thinks lobbyists, advertisers and consultants dumped over $50 billion into Colorado races. Much of this money is unaccounted for and we will never know who actually paid for what.

We will probably continue to see the word "billion" a lot more in the news

Keeping in Touch

2010-11-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

Greg Moore, editor of the Denver Post, visited the Auditor's Office recently. Our staff reviewed the many changes and improvements we have made to the Auditor's Office permitted by the passage of charter changes to our office. We talked about the charter changes enabling our office to do performance audits, and the many benefits from an independent audit committee. We shared with Moore the highlights of our Audit Plan for 2011. Readers can review the plan on our website. I hope you will check it out. Let me know what you think of the plan.

Because Greg Moore came to The Denver Post from many years of service at The Boston Globe, our conversation invariably turns to the rough and tumble but always interesting and entertaining politics of Boston. Moore repeatedly tells a favorite story about former Boston mayor, Ray Flynn when we have met with him. Flynn was very outgoing and the word on the street said that Mayor Flynn had personally met a large percentage of the people of Boston. So The Globe commissioned a survey to see how many people had actually met and talked with the mayor. The report reported to the Globe that over 90% of the people of Boston had personally met Flynn.

People often ask me why I go to so many events, visit neighborhood meetings, attend religious festivals, visit with neighbors in our city's many different coffee shops, lunch at senior centers and synagogues, and our city's recreation centers. Last year during Librarian Appreciation Week, I visited every Denver Public Library, and delivered flowers and cookies to city librarians.

At the end of Moore's visit to our office, I told him I am trying to match or better Mayor Flynn's percentage of personal contact with Denver residents.

To me that's what public service is all about: being accessible and available, trying to keep in touch to let people know what the auditor's office is trying to do to bring accountability and improved performance among our city agencies. I appreciate hearing what Denverites tell me is going on with them and our city government.

Like Mayor Ray Flynn and Tip O'Neill, I look forward to visiting with you in one of Denver's many great neighborhoods.

TV and the Power of Political Parties

2010-11-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

In 1964, Marshall McLuhan, the renowned Media Ecologist, predicted in his book, Understanding Media that TV would do away with the power of political parties. Politicians no longer need the endorsement of political committee people or party captains to get into office. They can go directly to voters in their living rooms on their TV's. He goes on to say in his chapter on "Television, the Timid Giant," that "with TV came the end of bloc voting in politics." People don't even need a political party at all. Consider the case of Tom Tacredo now running for Colorado's governor.

I heard Mike Rosen on the radio talking with Tom Tancredo earlier about the suggestion that he re-register with the Republican Party if he wins for governor. Tom registered with the American Constitution Party to get on the ballot since the Republican slot was already taken by Dan Maes whose popularity slips daily in the polls. McLuhan explains the phenomenon this way that since TV: "Instead of the voting bloc, we have the icon, the inclusive image. Instead of a political viewpoint or platform, the inclusive political posture" we have" the icon , the inclusive image."

"Gone are the stag line, the party line, the receiving line, and the pencil line from the backs of nylons," McLuhan adds.

And with Facebook, email, and all the rest, McLuhan's insightful prediction, in my view, exacerbates the final phase in the decline of the power of political parties. Just like after Gutenberg's printing individual copies of the scriptures, why did we need a church or clergy telling us what various parts of holy writ meant? We had our own copy of the bible in our own room. We did not need to go to the chapel and check with the hand-written copy chained to the lectern to read something and get clarification. We did not need to check to see what father thought. Religious loyalty was gone, and thus came the Reformation.

With TV, McLuhan said "So great is the change," with TV, "in American lives, resulting from the loss of loyalty to the consumer package in entertainment and commerce..." And I believe if McLuhan heard on radio Mike Rosen's suggestion that Tom drop his American Constitution Party registration and return to his former Republican registration, he might say, "I told you so.". In answer to Rosen's suggestion Tancredo said something like "Awe, shucks, Mike, I am still the same old Tom I've always been, regardless of which party to which I swear allegiance." One could almost hear Tom's cowboy boot scrape the floor of the radio studio.

Can anyone tell me what any of the main points in the American Constitution Party's platform for Colorado? It doesn't really mean much these days with TV and the new media politics. Party loyalty is dead. Comes now the new political reformation. But let's please not be too quick to say, "Long live TV."

Changes that Cost

2010-11-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

I heard Ed Nichols at City Club talking about the new building on Broadway which will house the new History Colorado, formerly the Colorado Historical Society. I am experiencing cognitive dissonance on this new name change. Stand in line, the Colorado Historical Society is not the only Colorado organization to hire a "branding" expert who does focus groups to try to figure out how an organization can change its image in the community. When I hear the word "branding" I think of hot irons in a fire at our stock show ready to burn rancher's letters onto the quivering backside of some little doggie tied up with rope. Have you checked out the cost of focus groups lately. Just ask Floyd Cirulli how much those doggies cost.

Even Denver went through a branding change here at the city. I think we had focus groups and experts from back east to help us figure out what we need to show about ourselves to make folks want to come to Denver. We now have a new logo on city stationary which has a big bank building as our central symbol.

Some years back, the University of Colorado hired a branding agent and changed its motto from Classical Greek into English, "Let your light shine." That phrase actually springs from scripture. Emblazoned in Classical Greek letters the motto was not noticed. Now that CU's official motto on their escutcheon prints out in English, I am surprised the ACLU has not taken the University to court on the separation of church and state issue. Again, I wish it could have been printed in both languages Greek and English.

Can you imagine the costs accompanying this change. I'll bet now one at CU will admit the thousands of dollars it cost in new stationary with the new English motto.

I told Betsy Hoffman the president of our mother ship university at the time, that no good would come of the shift from classical Greek to modern English. And just look what happened. The gods were not happy with this change. The football team went to hell in a hand basket and then the whole fiasco with Professor Ward Churchill dominated the headlines and talk radio for years.

Regis University, who did it all without a football team, is not without sin in this area of unnecessary change. Some years ago Regis went from a Latin diploma to an English diploma. I believe I was the only faculty member to vote no on this change. I thought to be fair to our classical roots, at least give the students a choice, Latin or English. But no, like a rule change from Rome, the diplomas were in English only. I suggested an English copy on the back of the old Latin diploma for the thousands of students who actually got through Regis without the inestimably valuable Latin education. I guess these linguistic changes fit in since Colorado by constitution is an English only state. But it was very expensive to have all the new diplomas printed up in specially engraved copperplate letters. I thought I saw a tear on the cheek of the statue of Ignatius Loyola on the Regis campus near Carroll Hall when this change was thrust on the students and faculty. "quo usque tandem abutere patientia nostra. How long, oh, how long, are they going to abuse our patience."

We don't need to waste money on logo changes and branding experiments. In Denver, if we are delivering services to the taxpayers which are fiscally accountable and not wasteful, we don't need brand new names and new branding. We only need a watchful auditor willing to tell truth to power. And if universities deliver to their students an outstanding educational experience, we don't need to waste moneys on new fancy stationary and diplomas.

And the brand new "History Colorado"will continue to save our states history and make it available to the taxpayers as it did named the Colorado Historical Society.

Send in the Clowns

2010-10-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I was pleased to welcome The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus to town. A large crowd of trainbuffs, kids, and neighbors gathered at the intersection of York Street and E. 47th Avenue, a leaping lasso of a street crossing on Swansea's east side. A huge and ancient Union Pacific steam engine pulled the circus into the intersection. Whistles blue and smoke and steam filled the air. The circus train is billed as the longest and heaviest train in the world, stuffed full of animals, performers and most importantly, the clowns.

Jonathan, the full-voiced and mellifluent circus ringmaster, introduced me with a flourish, just after he told the crowd about the clowns. When he mentioned "clowns," his hand innocently gestured in my direction. I welcomed the circus performers and told them I took no offense in Ringmaster Jonathan's waving toward me as he brought up the subject of clowns. I told the crowd that the mayor and council wanted to be there but they were in a weekly meeting. A sarcastic wag in the crowd shouted, "Send in the clowns." The people laughed.

I felt like I was at the Newt Gingrich talk with all the tea party and no one world folks shouting and protesting.

"Some may wonder where Barnum neighborhood got its name," I asked the crowd. "With over 300 days of sunshine, the original P. T. wintered many of his circus animals here and P.T. bought land over in west Denver. The city fathers were so happy that Barnum, a genuine easterner, would bring economic development and attention to our fair city, they named part of west Denver for him. I don't believe they used tax increment financing for the development. Barnum loaned younger lion and bear cubs to Mary Elitch for her Zoological Gardens on 38th and Tennyson."

I think Denver has always had a bit of an inferiority complex about things. We are not happy with the way we are. We always seem so delighted when some clowns, I mean, developers, commercial groups or entrepreneurs want to bring some new unusual enterprize into town. We can't wait to give away the farm. Remember the millions the Grand Prix was going to bring to the city coffers? How many times have we been told as Denverites that this event or this enterprize will finally make Denver a first-class city? These venues are often billed as "public-private partnerships." That means the public pays while the private partner leaves town with the money after the circus has its run.

Let's try to remember Denver is already a first-class city. We don't need to feel inferior about our town. We have the stock show. Got your red nose piece? Send in the clowns.

That Time of Year, Again

2010-10-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite time of year.

One of Shakespeare's Sonnets puts it almost like this: "That time of year when thou mayst in me behold, when yellow leaves or none or few do hang upon bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang..." From memory, so I may be off a word or two. But in the lines Shakespeare celebrates the beauty of autumn in the form of yellow leaves hanging on the ruins of a destroyed cloister, possibly wrecked by Henry VIII and his rapacious hoards of philistines. He recalls a happy memory of the echo of birds singing amidst the signs of the pending winter.

Well, it's that time of year in Denver again.

It's Dollar Dictionary Drive Time. Interneighborhood Cooperation celebrates its 15th anniversary of collecting funds in 2010 which provide a free dictionary and invaluable thesaurus for all Denver Public School third graders. Since the program started, INC volunteers have handed over 225,000 books to over 100,000 Denver students. This program is counter culture. My son, Daniel Patrick, told me once when I introduced him and my daughter, Meaghan Kathleen, to the Oxford English Dictionary in the Regis Library, "Dad, I don't need a dictionary, I have all this on my computer."

That's true, but the Oxford English Dictionary, now even available on a disk, gives you the joy of etymologies, when the word was first used in our language and several quotes by famous authors using the word in context. Steve Nissen and Cathee Fisher, co-chairs of the drive, are to be congratulated for their years of service to Denver's children.

What computers and the Internet are doing to books and dictionaries in our lives makes hand held, old-fashioned books, covers and all, artforms to be kept and saved. In a book dictionary, you can make a small red mark next to a word you've looked up. The second time you look it up, as Sr. Carlos Marie at Holy Family School often reminded us word finders, "One should be embarassed into remembering a word with two or three marks by it."

Send in your donations and checks payable to Dollar Dictionary Drive, PO Box 18347, Denver, Colorado 80218. Tell your friends. Bring some warmth and joy into the lives of third graders in Denver who face the pending winter possibly more content armed with their own personal dictionaries.

And I'm upset. The Regis Library has moved the Oxford English Dictionary to a new place in the Reserve Section.

Change is not easy.

Sunday Reflections

2010-10-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

A recent Sunday seemed to be a day which brought lots of relection.

At 10:30 am I arrived at Babi Yar Memorial Park on the edge of Denver. The memorial to the vicious murder of over 32,000 people in a ravine near Kiev in Ukraine was to begin at 11. I got there early as I wanted to find a shady spot. I sat in a shady row on the right side of the audience and when I stood to greet Larry Mizel, I turned around and an older Russian woman had placed her purse on my chair. So I ambled over to the other side and found a semi-shady spot.

One speaker reminded us that those who perished in the murders at Babi Yar died twice. the first time when they were shot and killed and the second time in that the little bit of earth above them bore no markers as to their names. Just a mass grave with thousands ;upon thousands crowded in together. I thought of the many mass graves in the west of Ireland in County Clare. No markers tell the names of those who starved in the famine. They died twice too.

Many older members of the Russian and Ukrainian Jewish community attended and I tried to speak what little Russian I remember from my 4 years of study. I can rattle off poems and prayers. An pianist of Armenian ancestry played three selections for those who died at Babi Yar. I met her later and thanked her for her beautiful compositions.

A young woman recited a prayer in Hebrew for the dead.

I am pround that 12 Regis students attended the ceremony and I could tell they were all moved and they took Alan Gass's tour of the site, as students did last year. They mentioned they did not know about it prior to this event. Dr. Victoria McCabe reports this from many students over the years. The sun was hot and beat down on the crowd gathered for the solomn event.

Letters vs Numbers on the Ballot

2010-10-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

At a neighborhood meeting recently at New York Deli in southeast Denver on East Hampden where District 9 Democrats meet every 3rd Saturday of the month, a citizen asked me what is the difference between the number proposals and the alphabetic proposals on the ballot?

Referenda proposed by the Colorado legislature are designated by an alphabetic lineup, a letter.

Initiatives proposed by citizens who have gathered signatures are given numbers.

One wag announced a simple way to figure out the ballot this year: "Vote 'yes' on the letters and 'no' on the numbers." I, however, hope you will study the issues, letters and numbers, and then make up your mind based upon logic and reflection. Remember democracy is a participatory and serious game.

At the end of the meeting I told the owner of the New York Deli that he really needs to work on his waitresses. "They are too nice to the customers, not like New York at all." He responded tongue in cheek: "You can leave anytime, schmuck, I need your seat." And we really need a little humor to get through this election cycle, don't we?

happy Birthday league of Women Voters

2010-10-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

last week I attended the 90th birthday of the Colorado and Denver League of Women Voters at the Governor's Mansion.

Attendees congratulated the members of the League present because the League of Women Voters remains a vital part of public discourse.Judge Bob Kapelke lead a chorus of women singers who entertained with frolicksome songs celebrating the League and women voting.

And I remember my mother and grandmother, not members of the League, discussing their "official" sample Democratic ballot which committee people delivered to our house the week before election. These ballots prepared by Dolores Dickman, our long-time Democratic Captain had what she called "circling" parties. People were asked to bring a red marking pen to circle the issues on her "official Democratic Ballot" which she passed out in the precincts.

My mom and grandmother enjoyed reading the election pamphlets prepared by the League of Women Voters of Colorado Education Fund. They liked it that the League gave arguments "for" and against" the proposals. Sometimes Dolores would include the League's analysis of ballot issues. My mom and grandmother enjoyed being good citizens and reading up on the ballot proposals, though they put their trust in Dolores Dickman's recommendations. After my mom studied up on the issue she would inform my dad on how she was voting. He told her he would have to check with Local 858 of the Firefighter's Union to see what they were recommending. Voting gets complicated, doesn't it.

The League has issued another pamphlet on this year's 2010 ballot proposals and they can be obtained at the League Office, 1410 Grant St., B-204 here in Denver. And you can check their website www.lwvcolorado.org to get more information on the League, which accepts men as well.The League has a voter hotline as well: 303-863-VOTE 8683 which you can call as well.

So educate yourself on the issues, reflect, and vote. Voter turnout is important for the neighborhood. The capitol and city hall know which districts turn out the vote. The powers that be pay more attention to neighborhoods which turnout a high number of votes in an election.

Economic Contradictions

2010-10-07T06:54:00.000-07:00

Listening to the radio last week, two news stories presented back to back, offered listeners simple contradictions. The stories stoked more heat than light on public discourse.

Story one: a libertarian candidate for office harshy condemned laws which mandated certain conducts aimed at personal safety among citizens. The libertarian candidate railed against the tyranny of the nanny state. Remember when mom always said: "Don't forget to wear your coat to school."

Story two: a gubernatorial Candidate Tom Tancredo reacted on radio to his being hit by a driver while riding his motor cycle. Tom confessed to the papers that he had chosen not to wear a helmut. Like the monk knight guarding the holy grail in the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, said of the character who selected the wrong chalice: "He chose poorly."

Now candidate Tancredo, with his retired congressional health plan. would probably never want if his accident had left him more seriously wounded. Though he mentioned the pain from the accident was considerable. What should bother us about all this is that lots of people in our country cry "tyranny" when asked to practice simple common sense safety measures. But serious brain injuries of people who don't wear helmuts while riding motor cycles often eventually become economic tax burdens to the general citizenry if their insurance benefits run out.

The state should not have to encourage citizens to practice safe and common sense measures, to make good choices in life which protect health and life. I think lots of people would agree that the real and ultimate tyranny is the many years of health bills taxpayers have to pay to maintain those who made bad choices.

Start with yourself: make good choices which will keep your bad choices from becoming unfair tax burdens to others. Think of it as being patriotic and choose wisely.

Special Advisory Reports

2010-10-07T06:51:00.000-07:00

The Denver Auditor's Office has initiated a special service for city agencies which can provide information based on a limited review or time-critical assessement. Special Audit Advisories are not in full compliances with auditing standards, they are non-audit services which can further the accountabillity of the city by providing a reporting vehicle that is flexible, timely, and focused on a singular issue.

Our staff recently issued a special advisory report to the administration of Denver International Airport. The information provided in the report was developed during a a performance audit of the Department of Aviation's safety culture.

The report emphasized the importance of a holistic approach to safety. The report defined safety culture as "those aspects of the organizational culture which will impact on attitudes and behavior related to increasing or decreasing risk." A footnote in the reprot identifies this quote to G. W. Guldenmund in an article in Safety Science entitled "The nature of safety culture, a review of theory and research."

The report's research showed light on two important elements for estblishing an effective safety culture. Firstly senior management must embrace and make a long-term commitment to safety. Second, the report pointed out that employees are an important source for safety ideas. The participation of employees, those on the front lines of action at the airport are crutial to making sure a safety culture is maintained at the highest level at the airport.

Additionally, the research "revealed insights into the importance of training, the best ways to develop leading indicators of safety performance, and how the organizational structure should reflect a commitment to safety."

Citizens can read the SAR Special Advisory Report on the Auditor's webpage: www.denvergov.org/auditor.

Special Advisory Reports serve as great tools, like picks and shovels to an archeologist, to help change the culture at the city to one of accountability. I often wonder if I should not have majored in anthropology in order to be a better auditor, a better cultural change agent in our city. But studying Classical Languages, as I happily did, certainly gives anyone a good foundation to understand and change organizational cultures.

We look forward to picking away at apathy and shovel away obstacles to organizational accountabillity at our city.

Unintended Consequences

2010-10-07T06:48:00.001-07:00

In December 2009 I wrote an answer explaining why now Denver taxpayers
have to send their tax payments to Dallas, Texas for deposit. Lots of
small business owners button holed me in their stores, in coffee shops
and on the streets asking why they had to waste all that time to send
their taxes and fees to Dallas. They said this was not very business
friendly for Denver to do this to their business folks. Some said they
thought their payments would be late.

A friend, trying to renew his burglar alarm permit just wrote me that he
was "hesitating to mail my check to Dallas, Texas. I figured it was
some sort of scam. Why in the world would the Denver Manager of Revenue
have a Dallas P. O. Box?" At first I too thought it might have been
some cruel hoax perpetrated by an egregious hacker.

But city council staff answered that "a decision was made last year to
decommission the mainframe that housed the program used for burglar
alarm permits. A 'Request for Proposals' was issued and an evaluation
committee identified a solution offered by PMAM Corp., to administer
burglar alarm permits. The City uses lockbox services provided by the
City's primary bank, JP Morgan Chase, to process checks and the Treasury
Division assisted Excise and Licenses in setting up a lockbox to receive
alarm permit fees and tines. The location for large volume lockbox
processing by the bank is also located in Dallas."

Marshall McLuhan, renowned professor of Media Ecology at St. Louis
University, coined the phrase, "the medium is the message." That phrase
helps explain the unintended consequences of the Texas lockbox.

In the eyes of many Denver citizens the message of the medium of the
Dallas P.O.Box for their taxes now bears the stigma of being a possible
scam. The hiring committee at the city did not imagine the spam
connection with their decision on the Dallas lockbox.

When my friend got this answer, he wrote back: "I am always reluctant to
send money to Texas."

When this contract comes up for renewal again, I bet council and the
mayor may look for a provider with a Denver address on tax and burglar
alarm payments. And as long as the policy change has no unintended
consequence and is competitive in price that is.

Stimulus Fund

2010-10-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

You might recall a long time ago,last year, I went to Washington to lobby our Colorado Congressional delegation to put additional audit staff at state and local levels to make sure auditors could monitor the stimulus monies properly. Regrettably no moneys were added for audit staff to monitor the stimulus moneys. So local land state auditors and recipient agencies dealing with millions in stimulus dollars have the increased burden to monitor those funds with the same amount of staff before ARRA funds. Now the cows are out of the barn.

Now an inspector general report on the Recovery Act notes that job shortages in federal sectors present problems.

Here are some examples:

Energy department officials pulled staff from other areas to deal with recovery grants but they "lacked financial experience and failed to get key information from grant seekers." USA Today, September 8, 2010. The result for Energy was even more delays.

FEMA has experienced grant delays and decreased oversight due to lack of knowledgeable staff to review it.

Energy complained the money was flowing to their agency and no one was there to manage it.

This is just as I predicted. And I am very proud of John Carlson and our whole Audit Staff for their participation in the recent Mountain and Plains Audit Forum Conference on Auditing Simulus Moneys. I was honored to co-chair the event. Over 120 attended the conference and we all learned lots about the risks to federal stimulus dollars mentioned above. In Denver we are trying to alert departments in our city receiving stimulus moneys of potential risks and internal control issues. Hope you heard me on Colorado Public Radio talking about it. We have issued several audit alerts related to the city's handling of stimulus grants.

St. Rocco's Procession

2010-10-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

Last year you might recall my blog this time of year on St. Rocco's procession at Mt. Carmel Church in North Denver gave us a hint on how the recession was affection the economy in our city.

Each August, the Potenza Lodge of Mt. Carmel Church hosts the bidding of the carrying of the statue of the saint through the neighborhood around the church at W. 36th and Navajo. Many people who came to Colorado from Italy, came from Potenza. This last Sunday was the annual Procession of the Statue of St. Rocco. Marie Lava Clayton was there, the Italian Consul was there, Dutchess Iacino Scheitler was there along with the Casagranda's and the LaNegro's all the way from Boulder. I was there, Tony Lombard and his mom were there and several hundred other people from all over were there. Tom Tancredo did not make it. This year the band with lots of trumpets and trombones enlivened the march along the streets of North Denver. The procession brought smiles to the people who come out on porches to watch.

Last year families from the parish bid slightly over $2,000 to carry the statue. That figure was down from previous years which I took as a sign of a tough economy. But this year the bidding family topped over $5,000 which prompted my cousin, Captain Brian Gallagher of Denver's Police Department, to speculate that the high bid may be a good sign that the recovery is around the corner. I argued that it was probably more generous parishoners, not economic recovery.

After the procession through the neighborhood during which two young women dressed as angels handed out flowers to all the women along the parade route, the people made their way to Potenza Lodge across from Leprino's Cheeze Offices on West 38th. Experts say the feast serves the best sausage and green pepper sandwiches in the city.

Finally, friends, amici, this procession is what truly separates Denver from the suburbs. This is community building at the best. This parade is what makes Denver a great city. You just don't get something this special, old-world, ethnic, loveable and meaningful in Cherry Hills Village.

Art and Calligraphy as Economic Development

2010-10-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

I am sure it never crossed the minds of the patient monks on the Island of Iona off the coast of Scotland whothe year 800 A.D. penned what we now call the Book of Kells that their work would be viewed by over 500,000 visitors a year. But that is what has happened to this Latin copy of the gospels.

After Viking raids and much pillaging by the same, the Irish monks and pious calligraphers decided to move inland on Ireland to the town of Kells. There the text rested until the Cromwellian days. Cromwell wanted to destroy it because it was a papist text and contained pagan symbols and even the renderings of animals.

In the 11th century Gerald of Cambridge saw it and declared it the work of angels and not of men.

We don't even know the names of the several monks who wrote these magnificent words of the four gospels because it would have been showing pride to put their names on a page.

I guess what I am saying here is that Denver and Colorado can do more to promote the arts as a means of getting us out of this recession which is taking longer to get out of than we thought.

History and Myth as Economic Development

2010-10-07T06:39:00.000-07:00

I returned recently from my class in Ireland with Regis University students. One of the many areas of Irish culture we study is how the Irish appreciate good stories and myths. And the Irish have turned history and myth into a very prosperous tourist industry. Myth as tourist attraction is particularly evident at Blarney Castle. Every year I stand in amazement as I watch my students line up to kiss the famous Blarney Stone. The myth and history reports that an ancient king who lived around Blarney Castle had a terrible problem, he had a slight speech hesitation, he stumbled when he spoke, he fumbled with his cloak when he gave speeches to his people. He feared giving a speech more than going to war. The Blarney attraction brings in millions in economic development, stone, wool sweaters, restaurants and the like.

One rainy day, which seems like every day in Ireland, the king came upon a whithered crone sitting near the gates of the castle. The soft rain was washing down down upon her wrinkled face. The king took pity on the old woman and gaver her his cloak to cover her from the rain and chill.

She thanked him, I beleive his name was McCarthy, and she wished to reward him for his kindness. She told him to go up to the top of the Blarney castle and kiss this particular stone below one of the overhangs of the castle. If he did so, she told him, he would be cured of his speech hesitation, his speech stumbling and fumbling and his fear of giving a speech. If he kissed the stone, he would be granted the gift of "eloquentia perfects" perfect eloquence.

The king did so and miraculously received the power of perfect eloquence.

So now thousand upon thousands of visitors line up at the castle in hopes they will be able to overcome their fear of giving speeches. Did you know that the fear of giving a speech is ranked as the number one fear by a vast majority of people who are asked People pay good money for this mythological service. I don't think we have anything to compare with the Blarney story which is several hundred years old.

I guess the closest we in Colorado come to such history and myth as tourism compared to Blarney are places like the Great Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde. Local history attracts many hundreds of visitors to a lesser degree Buffalo Bill's grave and Leadville and Central City. And the holy water at Mother Cabrini's Shrine near Golden has been reported to help cure physical and mental ailments. These old and some ancient sites have lots of mystery and mythology surrounding them to appeal to enough of our human foibles to encourage us to want to visit such places. Tragedy can be a source of visitor interest: consider Sand Creek and Ludlow massacres here in our state. Bothe sites are remote and off the beaten path. It takes special efforts to find these sites. Though I fear our civic memory has diminished the tragic in our history as well. Only one of my students on the Regis Ireland trip could tell me the year JFK was assassinated.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that we should not discount myth, history and legend as sources of potential economic tourism. We must continue to think outside the box if we are to recover from the fiscal crisis which engulfs us. Otherwise we can kiss recovery "goodbye," like the thousands kissing the Blarney stone in hopes of perfect eloquence.

In as pirit of full disclosure I must report that I have never kissed the Blarney Stone. I am afraid it might recharge and fall from its lofty place on the top of the castle roof.

Literature toursim

2010-08-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Here in Dublin large but tastefully illustrated brass markers highlight literary events which happened in the city. Brass markers all around Dublin record the paces of Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's epic novel, Ulysses, on June 16, 1904. The event is a world wide celebration of literature. People have christened it Bloom's Day and thousands of readers of Joyce gather in Dublin the celebrate the book. So every June 16th, an economic boom hits Dublin. Students on our tour have been out taking pictures of the markers.

Denver has no equivalent. I guess the closest we could do with our short literary history is to commemorate Jack Kerouac's watching baseball at 23rd and Welton or remember his drinking a beer at My Brother's Bar. Perhaps we could find out where Mary Chase imagined Harvey living in Denver from her play by the same name. And while we have many fine writers who use Denver as the backdrop for their stories, we may have to wait awhile for the city to recognize literature as an economic development tool.

And remember Denver has torn down much of it's history. Gone are buildings of historic note which played out the lives of some of our important literary and historic characters. In Dublin if anyone tries to touch a building mentioned by Joyce in any of his stories, the whole nation gets into an uproar. It is not uncommon for the president or prime minister to intervene in such economic decisions.

Was it Moliere who said: "True art knows no bounds?"

2010-08-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

Professor Matt Daly, Director of the Business Division at Regis University, and fellow faculty member on our Regis student tour approves of the business technique used by inn owner Rory O'Conneely on Inish Oirr. Inish Oirr (pronounced 'ear,' is the smallest of the Aran Island chain off the coast of Galway. Rory and his wife Anna operate Tig Ruari, meaning 'Rory's House' in the Irish Language. Foreign languages spoken on the island include English. Our Regis tour stayed there with Rory and Anna last week for two days on our literary and history tour of this country.

When Rory sees you he shakes your hand and says, "Welcome Home." Professor Daly is the expert on business techniques and he and I agree this personal, eye-to-eye, heart to heart communication is the best for long term business alliances.

Cicero summed it all up so well so many years ago when he said: "Cor ad cor loquitur. Heart speaks to heart." And isn't that the best communication for any relationship. We can learn from Rory and Anna and their 'mi casa es su casa' business theme.

Irish Sports

2010-07-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

The Irish seem to have more fun than we do when it comes to needling opposing teams. The counties Kerry and Cork reside geographically right next to each other and sports rivalry between the two counties spills over in interesting and clever manifestations. The colors for Kerry flame out a bright green and yellow. Sheep farmers from Kerry cross over to West Cork and paint sheep yellow and green. Farmers from Cork have been known to paint Kerry sheep red because Kerry's colors are white and red. They only paint the sheep red because the white sheep don't show the white paint. I am informed the friendly rivals use water based paint which helps the wool growers.

County councillors do not trade challenges or barbs as do the governors of Colorado and Nebraska around football season time. So politicians seem to stay out of the rivalry. However,this morning in our accomodations, our Kerry hostess forgave John Donovan, our bus driver for being from Cork. I told her that my grandmother was from Cork. She said she forgave me too. This is all is good fun, but it squares jokes and competition between Colorado and Texas.

Here in Ireland, the county flags fly over most homes in a county. Tribe and family takes preference over national symbols. The oral tradition trumps the printed word. And the flag of the USA is everywhere, because we are, afterall, the next county over.

But in the two counties, the economy takes precedence over sports. The two counties have formed a tourism board to make sure visitors come to their particular counties. We in Colorado can learn from that.

Ireland

2010-07-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Every year around this time, as you may know, I take a little time to take Regis University students to Ireland for a historical and literary tour. I am pleased to report that the land of my ancestors is as green as ever but, like our own country, the economy stands in marked contrast to last year's trip. Let me share some examples which Professor Matt Daly of Regis Accounting Department shared with me which may give you an idea of how things are here.

The exhange rate favors the dollar so this is good for us. The cost of tours is not up and remains about the same as last year. The rates for our bus is about the same.

Our accomodations at Trinity College in Dublin is down this year compared to last year. Trinity College ranks high on the scale for places to stay in Dublin. The rooms share the campus with the renowned Book of Kells, an 8th century Latin copy of the gospels. Thousands of people a day from all over the world walk through the darkened chamber sheltering this magnificent manuscript.

The cost of buses on Inish More, the largest of the Aran Island Chain off the windy coast of Galway, were down. And Regis students reported to me that cab drivers in Galway city thought the students were tipping too much. And I experienced the same. The driver said he was pleased that so many Americans were visting in the country and trying to help the economy.

Mary and Sheila Gallagher, no relations that I know of, manage the Nora Barnacle House Museum in Galway and they report their attendance is down but their Bloom's Day celebration on June 16 of this year was a rip roaring success with over hundreds of readers. Every June 16th readers from all over the world read selections from her husband's book, James Joyce's Ulysses. And my cousins, Benedict and Bernadette Gallagher, inform me that the price of sheep is holding steady for folks still courageous enough to ranch and farm in this world. Alicja from Poland who operates the Internet Shop here in Dingle in County Kerry where I am typing this blog shared with me that her business in 50% below what it was last year.

Despite this people remain optimistic and hope that times will get better. A woman in a church here in County Kerry whispered to me that candle sales remain slightly up. That means people are lighting more candles. I lit some for the Auditor's Office and for our city of Denver. May righteousness begin to flow like a mighty stream and our economy return to happier days.

Prevailing Wage

2010-07-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

At a recent neighborhood meeting someone asked what has the Auditor got
to do with prevailing wage?

The Denver Auditor's Office enforces Denver's Prevailing Wage Ordinance with
contractors who work on city projects. If we find a company which is
intentionally violating the prevailing wage laws in fulfilling the
contract they have with the city, the Auditor can recommend debarment, or
barring the company from ever doing business with the city. Debarment
would only be applied to those companies which have intentionally
violated some part of the prevailing wage ordinance. The vast majority
of companies doing business with the city shine as examples of
law-abiding citizens. However we had one company recently against which
we initiated a debarment because the company was flagrantly violating
the prevailing wage ordinance. They were telling the city they were
paying the workers with checks and in reality we found they were
underpaying the employees with cash. I regret to tell you the debarment
did not make it through the city process used for such action. Often
the city is afraid to enforce accountability and responsibility. That
is part of the culture I am trying to change as auditor.

On the brighter side, the Auditor's Office has started giving awards to
businesses which have excellent compliance records. We present
these awards at our quarterly meetings. One business owner received my
invitation to attend our award ceremony because he had an exemplary record.
When he saw the auditor's return address on the envelope, he threw it in
his drawer, worried that he had done something wrong, owed the city
money or the like. When he eventually opened the letter, he realized what it was about and called explaining why he missed the awards ceremony.

Now I send the invitations in a plain white envelope.

I want to thank
our outstanding prevailing wage staff in the Auditor's Office for their
excellent enforcement of our prevailing wage laws.

Wall Street Regulation

2010-07-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

You probably read or heard that the Congress has just passed the Dodd-Frank bill which tries to bring Wall Street and financial interests into accountable and responsible practices. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal recently compared the reform bill to Sarbanes-Oxley of a few years ago in response to another panic and noted that the new bill is 30 times more complicated than Sarbanes-Oxley which mandated only 16 new regulations.

One Wall Street law firm announced the new bill will include 243 new rule makings.

And if anyone thinks the new rules passed by Congress will keep us from having another financial panic in the future, don't count on it. The new rules and regulations are also supposed to prevent another government bailout of unscrupulous financial manipulators. Folks always seem to find a way to get around old rules and new rules no matter how many ethics classes they may have taken in college.

The Wall Street Journal editorial was as skeptical as you and I about these new reforms. Only time will tell if the new rules and regulations actually work as intended.

Wonderful Audit Staff

2010-07-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

I am very proud of our City of Denver Auditor's staff last week the
staff, the Internal Auditors, presented to the Audit Committee an
overview of the Denver Auditor's Office Fraud Prevention Program. The
Association of Government Accountants predicts that 7% of the ARRA funds
will be pigeonholed into the abyss of fraud and waste. That's $60
Billion - see the two ARRA Audit Alerts which our office has released to
the Administration and council on ARRA Funds coming to Denver http://www.denvergov.org/Auditor/AuditAlerts/tabid/434248/Default.aspx. We must
do all we can to be vigilant to make sure Denver does not fall into that
7% category.

I thank all in the Denver Auditor's Office who are helping us fight on
the front line in the battle for accountability and responsibility at
our city.

SLAVES WHO BUILT U.S. CAPITAL BUILDING HONORED

2010-07-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

African-American slaves sweated in the summer heat and shivered in the winter's cold while helping to build the U.S. Capitol. Congress took note of their service and sacrifice Wednesday by erecting commemorative plaques inside the Capitol in their honor. Lawmakers said the memorials will ensure that the contributions of slaves in building one of the world's most recognizable buildings will never again be forgotten.

Democratic Rep. John Lewis, a former civil rights leader from Georgia, who chaired a congressional task force that studied the contributions of slaves to the Capitol's construction, told onlookers that the plaques help reveal a part of the Capitol's history that has been overlooked by many. "Imagine, in Washington's oppressive summer heat and humidity, to chisel and pull massive stones out of a snake- and mosquito-infested quarry," Lewis said. "Imagine, having to fight through the bone-chilling winter in rags and sometimes without shoes. Just imagine, the United States government paying your owner, not you, but your owner $5 a month for your labor. This Capitol, the most recognizable symbol of our democracy, was not built overnight, it was not built by machines. It was built through the backbreaking work of laborers and slave laborers." Historians have discovered that slaves worked 12-hour days, six days a week on construction of the Capitol. The federal government rented the slaves from local slave owners at a rate of $5 per worker per month. Besides working on the building, slaves worked in quarries extracting the stone for the Capitol. Other slaves provided carpentry skills, and still others worked at sawing stone and timber. Slave women and children were used to mold clay in kilns.
"In remembering the slaves who labored here, we give them in death some measure of the dignity they were so cruelly denied in life," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said at the plaques' unveiling. The plaques read: "This original exterior wall was constructed between 1793 and 1800 of sandstone quarried by laborers, including enslaved African Americans who were an important part of the work force that built the United States Capitol." Lawmakers have been looking for ways to honor the slaves who were used in the construction of government buildings, including the Capitol and the White House. These plaques, in their own right, will serve as a symbol of their sacrifice and will be seen by visitors who enter the building forevermore."

Civic Center Fireworks

2010-07-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare opens his play, Twelfth Night, with the line, "If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it." Saturday night, the night before July 4th, Civic Center played host to the Colorado Symphony in a rousing concert of American patriotic favorites and we had a joyful excess of music. The place was packed with people from all parts of the city. I believe I saw every neighborhood represented in the enthusiastic crowd. Citizens brought folding chairs and picnic dinners forming small circles of friends as they waited for the concert. The Mayor mentioned that city hall was awash in colored lights and the sunset, rosy fingered, as mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, streamed brilliantly across the heavenly backdrop behind our City and County Building. Someone said they saw a rainbow in the sky earlier, a good sign. And Councilwoman Robb asked all to turn and see the sun glancing off the golden dome of the State Capitol.

One of the melodies played by the orchestra had to do with a typewriter. As the syncopation of a typewriter played from the concert stage, I heard one child ask his mother, "Mom, what's a typewriter."

The mother responded that she would take the child to the museum and show her sometime soon. Or she could bring her by the Auditor's Office and I could show her my typewriter. When the last Smaldone passed, I noticed a garage sale at the house where he lived. I looked through all the books, and could find no signatures or any other relics with identifiable markings. So I bought the typewriter and someday it might be worth doing an audit of the old ribbon which still adorns this old relic of personal printing.

At the concert and the next day, I received many comments of support of the Civic Center Concert on Independence Eve. I received two calls saying the fireworks were outstanding. One call was from Capitol Hill and the caller indicated she could see the fireworks from her from the front window of her apartment near the Capitol. Many people hope that this might become an independence holiday tradition. Given our City's short budget, I hope we can find enough sponsors next year to continue this celebration.

July 4th

2010-07-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, every July 4th Tom Noel and I lead the reading, or better, indeed a proclaiming of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence at Denver's Historic 4 Mile Park. Every year we pass out about 250 copies of the document to those who want to help us read the declaration aloud. Every year, I lead the crowd in a cheer: "Down with King George. No royal titles here." This year's crowd responded very enthusiastically between the various grievances penned against King George.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette and Liberty Day generously gave us the copies of the Declaration. The Constitution is included in the small pocket sized booklets. I keep my copy in my suit coat inside pocket right over my heart. Senator Robert Byrd did the same and I bet he had a copy in his coffin as he was buried last week. I think of the booklet as 'my contract with America,' not some partisan scheme thought up in a smoke-filled back room in a think tank in Washington, D. C.

This year a Lincoln lookalike recited the Gettysburg Address while the Denver Municipal Band played the Battle Hymn of the Republic. It was inspiring. Some said it sent chills up their spines. The people stood as Lincoln recited his lines.

Thomas Jefferson, played expertly by Jack Van Ens, started the reading and he gave away copies of his book, "How Jefferson Made the Best of Bad Messes." We could use a Jefferson now to clean up our economic mess.

Tom and I always try to engage the children in the reading and this year we assigned sections to those interested. Mandy and Ilona, too shy to read alone, decided they wanted to read together. They recounted how King George made his judges bend to his will alone. The crowd cheered these two young patriots as they read before the crowd of several hundred. Their young voices, a gathering and swelling chorus, fired the crowd's indignation as the king, unfit to be a world leader. Lots of other boys and girls joined in on the public reading - Brave patriots all.

John Stewart, Denver lawyer and historian, joined in on the reading. He was joined by Judge Larry Bohning who vigorously read Jefferson's lines with meaning. The crowd cheered, "Down with King George."

At the end of the reading finished by Jefferson, Tom Noel asked the crowd that if they agreed with the Declaration to raise their hands. The enormous crowd all raised their hands in affirmation of Jefferson's call for independence. He asked if any disagreed. Two younger folks meekly said they were from England and felt they had to defend the royal family. We cheered them too, but reminding them our Constitution allows for Congress to grant no royal titles.

I closed with the famous line of Ben Franklin who when asked what kind of government did we now have after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia replied: "A Republic, if you can keep it."

I hope everyone will read the Declaration again this year. And I hope you will contemplate the historic principles which are contained therein. The Declaration ties directly into our Bill of Rights. And let's hope we keep our Republic. Down with King George, and Up with our Republic.

Biennial of the Americas

2010-06-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

Boulder will get some competition from Denver this year in hosting its
renowned annual (happening once a year) International Affairs
Conference. The Boulder Conference was inspired by legendary Howard
Higman, who reminded folks he did not have a Ph.D. Howard's daughter,
Alice Reich, taught with me at Regis for many years. But this summer
Denver plays host to Biennial of the Americas, its own international
affairs conference.

Biennial should not be confused with biannual which means something
happening twice a year. Semiannual is a good synonym for biannual.
Biennial means something happening every second year. These words were
confused at a recent neighborhood meeting discussing this month long
event.

The headquarters of the Biennial's central exhibits is in the McNichols
building on the north edge of Civic Center. I have fond memories of this
classical building because it housed the old Carnegie Library. I spent
my life there in high school. Like all Denverites, we relish the
magnificent Corinthian leafy Greek Columns adorning the edges of this
architectural treasure.

Planners have scheduled contemporary artists from Argentina, Brazil,
Chili, Mexico and Peru. The purpose of this celebration is to encourage
communication and collaboration of the 35 countries of the Americas.
The events will include workshops on art, dance and music of the
Americas, with concerts and performances all over our city by different
cultural groups based in the Americas. And finally there will be a
series of Roundtable and Summits designed to inform us about issues
facing people who live in the Americas. These events will be at the
Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

The events occur during the whole month of July. The website tells all:

www.BiennialoftheAmericas.org

I predict citizens will enjoy these mind-expanding events. Or you can
drop by the McNichols Building between 10am to 8 pm beginning July 1
through July 31 to find out all about it. There are monthly fees ($35)
and individual fees ($9), family fees ($20) and senior citizen fees ($5)
for various events.

I hope you will join me at some of the exciting events planned to
broaden our appreciation of the arts in our lives. And borrowing from
James Joyce who never traveled to the Americas, I hope this July we will
joyfully forge on the smithy of our souls the uncreated conscience of
our different tribes. And I know this event will be a success because
the city has brought in the capable and accountable Donna Good to
oversee the whole operation. For the older or old fashioned Americans
among us, the phone number for Biennial of the Americas is 303-892-1505.

Auditing the Fed

2010-06-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

Aristotle tells us that change comes in small increments.

Recently the Senate showed some courage by unanimously approving a small
change with an amendment to their Wall Street Reform Bill to audit the
emergency spending at the Federal Reserve. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT
wanted a full blown and ongoing audit of the Fed, a big change, but
settled for this watered down version, a smaller change, with an audit
of just the emergency spending. The audit scope will cover the period
when the Fed used its resources to help prop up the already failing
financial institutions and megabanks.

Why is this small change a step forward? Why is it important to audit
the Federal Reserve?

Because the Federal reserve is the unelected central bank of the U. S.
and enjoys a monopoly over the flow of our nation's money and credit.
The Fed has never operated in complete transparency and accountability
since its creation in 1913.

During the current economic crisis, Congress, the Treasury and the Fed
have put the American people on the hook for over $12 trillion in
national debt. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke has refused to disclose which
institutions have received trillions in bailouts. Bernanke has also not
shared with the representatives of the people in Congress the details
about what deals have been made with foreign banks.

So congratulations to Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, for reminding us of
the truth of what Robert Frost said about banks: "A bank is a place
where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back
again when it begins to rain." Perhaps this small audit of the Fed may
bring enough sunshine in to lead to big changes and fuller audits later.

Shared sacrafice

2010-06-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

Recently I heard David Sirota, radio host and journalist, and author of books and articles on current economic and political affairs. He did sort of an existential examination of where we are as a people and nation. Let me share some of his thoughts and my reflection with you about his insightful comments on party, people and the nation.

He reminded the audience that James Carter was the last president to ask the American people to do shared sacrifice for the nation. John F. Kennedy asked shared sacrifice of us in his famous line from his inaugural speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for our country." He criticized the current attitude of people "what is the government going to do for me today?" He chided those who cry "Me first," attitude my selfishness and my greed. He referenced FDR who asked workers, business and the people to take cuts during the Second World War. I thought of our most recent military action in Iraq and Afghanistan in which a president said we are at war and here are your tax breaks.

Sirota did not comment on the recent legal fuss about the White House offering Andrew Romanoff a job if he would drop out of the Senate Race. He said that action shows that the leadership in the Democratic Party has become so arrogant that it thinks it can dictate who will run for office in the party, not the voters, not the rank and file, certainly not the people. These disturbing kind of actions attack the very democracy which the Democratic party says it supports. He said: "Democrats can't be against democracy." He did not use the word hypocritical in describing such actions, but I will. To me it sounds unAmerican.

He reminded us that we have to hold our elected officials accountable about what kind of government they will work for. Sirota advised the audience further that the relationship between politicians and citizens in our country cannot be based on whether we like the politician. It has to be based on issues and whether we agree or disagree with the stance of the particular political official. He said he like to see politicians fearful of what voters can and might do to them if they do not serve the common good.

I thought Sirota hit the mark and so did lots of others listening to his comments. And the outcome of the elections in our state with lots of angry voters will be the proof in the pudding of his challenging comments.

Literature as Economic Development

2010-06-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I had lunch with Art Hutchinson, Superintendant of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Superintendant Hutchinson shared lots of information about the myths and lore surrounding this mysterious part of San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado. He answered the parent of one of my students at Regis who once bemoaned his daughter wanting to major in English Literature. "That won't help her earn any money anywhere," he puffed and snorted like one of the web footed horses roaming across the sands of the dunes.

He asked why so many Germans want to visit the San Dunes? Only Professor Tom Noel knew the answer: the historical novels of Karl May, a prolific German late 19th and early 20th century writer, who glorified life in the American west. He shared with us that Germans can now come to Denver on Lufthansa and many buy their parks passes at Great Sand Dunes for access to all the US parks. Karl May writing about our west did almost as much as Buffalo Bill Cody did for making Europeans interested in our west though his wild west show.

Art shared some of the legends about the Sand Dunes: that wild horses can be seen galloping across the dunes with webs on their hooves; that the Spanish hid lots of gold there in the dunes; and at night one can hear wailing and singing coming from the sands. He reminded us that the tallest dune, the tallest in the U.S. is taller than any of our downtown sky scrapers, 750 feet...coincidently and appropriately called the "High Dune."

And the dunes boast their own unique beetle, the Great Sand Dunes Tiger Beetle, the Cincendela Theatina. That's Latin for the Theatine Beatle. Fr. Bernardo Rotger, the Theatine pastor from San Luis found the beetle and asked that it be named for his religious order, the Theatine Order. The excellent Visitor' Guide lets visitors know that they can splash in the ocean-like waves of Medano Creek, when it has water. The waves are called a 'surge flow.' Lucky visitors may see the elk herds on the many acres of grasslands, yellow-bodied red-faced Western Tanager, a little colorful bird found in forest land, short-horned lizards, and of course, our Colorado state fish, the green back cut throa trout.

So I know one place in Colorado I want to visit this summer: The Great Sand Dunes.

And the next time someone says literature has no relation to economic development, remind them of the story of Karl May whose writings, long in the past, encourage so many Germans to visit Colorado and the west.

Danke, Karl.

Colorado Foreclosures

2010-06-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

Everyone keeps saying, "The recession is over and Colorado is fairing better than other places." The recession is hardly over for the thousands of Colorado families who have filed for foreclosure. A small sign of improvement can be seen in first quarter filings this year which were down 4.3%. So things seem to be getting better according to a report issued by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs' Division of Housing.

Sam Mamet's recent newsletter from the Colorado Municipal League gave statistics on page 5 which I wish to share with you. The sentences below are from the CML newsletter and are also found in the Local Affairs report:

New foreclosure filings rose to 11,136 in our state during this years first quarter and that's up 6%. 2010 first quarter total for foreclosure sales at auction was highest since the third quarter of 2007. Driving the large number of foreclosure sales were the record-high totals of new foreclosure filings experienced during the second and third quarter of last year.

Since the first quarter of 2009, foreclosure filings have fallen in Adams, Denver, El Paso and Larimer Counties. Mesa County reported the largest increase among metropolitan counties during the first quarter with new filings increasing 126.9%.

Weld reported the highest foreclosure rate among all metropolitan counties with 178 households per foreclosure sale at auction during the first quarter. There were 192 households per foreclosure sale in Adams County, and 234 households per foreclosure sale in Arapahoe County. In Denver County, there were 329 households per foreclosure sale.

Boulder County reported the lowest foreclosure rate among metropolitan counties with 605 households per foreclosure sale during the first quarter of this year.

Many Colorado families are being helped to avoid foreclosure by calling the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline.

So thanks, Sam Mamet, for helping inform us on foreclosures in Colorado. For the full report visit dola.colorado.gov/app_uploads/docs/2010%201st%20Q%20Foreclosure%20Report.pdg. Bet you are going to make a mistake on this one.

So things seem to be looking better, unless you are a family which is in foreclosure.

2010-06-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

In his magnificently probing book, The Gutenberg Galaxy, Marshall
McLuhan asks readers to probe the following question: "What will be the
new configurations of mechanisms and of literacy as these older forms of
perception and judgment are interpenetrated by the new electronic age?"
With the rise of TV and the Internet we are seeing the new configurations which for establishments and institutions almost seem to twist into gargoyles and grotesques.

In his next book, Understanding Media, McLuhan predicted way back in the
1960's that television would change politics in America forever. He
prophesied that television would eventually diminish the power of
partisan party bosses in America. Voters no longer needed the
recommendation of party as to whom to vote for because candidates could
come into everyone's living room on the TV screen. Candidates bypassed
the party bosses and talked to voters directly, electronically. He
foretold that TV would eventually push people away from voting the
"party line."

I can remember people actually calling Dolores Dickman, our North Denver
Democratic Captain, asking for her marked official Democratic sample
ballot so they knew whom she recommended for the primaries. That showed
true party discipline. And if one of the committee people did not hand
out the sample ballots before election, voter turnout was diminished in
that particular precinct. This trend reflected the truth of the
communication theory which says: "Lack of information equals
uncertainty." Without their sample ballots, like the cell phone user in
the TV spot talking with his girl friend: "Was it something I said?
Did she hang up?" The phone's battery could have simply died and
perhaps she did not hang up, but the lack of information led the caller
to great angst and romantic uncertainty. And uncertain voters often
stayed home.

The Internet dragon breathes fear and trembling among China's government
officials. Like church officials after Gutenberg's press the church
could no longer control the messages to the faithful. They now had
their own copy of scripture.

China's current leaders do not know it yet, but the Internet has
transformed its blossoming online population, now over 400 million, into
one big buzzing national electronic caucus. The Colorado based DaVinci
Institute, which analyzes media future trends reports that China's
Internet has morphed its society into a national digital forum where
citizens can communicate and "express their opinions in a way rarely
seen in a country where traditional media are under strict government
control." They don't know it, but it is too late for the party bosses
to try to stop Internet communication. Even Chairman Mao couldn't put
the toothpaste back in the tube.

We can see the trend away from party discipline in the Colorado
primaries this year. Andrew Romanoff top-lined 60-40% Michael Bennet at
the Colorado Democratic State Convention last week. Democratic
establishment from President Obama down through Gary Hart had endorsed
Bennet. Dan Maes, the anti-establishment candidate top-lined the GOP
establishment Scott McGinnis, not by many points, at the Republican
State Convention the same weekend. In earlier times, in a print
culture, top-line designation by the party assemblies and conventions
meant more to the party faithful than it does today. Top-line
designation could mean up to 10% of a vote. Newspaper endorsements mean
less now due to the electronic media. Remember the embarrassment
suffered by Ken Salazar in his senate bid? Salazar had the Democratic
Party establishment behind him, but Mike Miles, the unknown candidate, a
fiery gargoyle, edged him out and got top line from the party rank and
file.

"Politics: the only game for adults." Dolores Dickman

Gallagher Amendment a hinderance?

2010-05-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

Colorado's Office of Economic Development tells businesses which want to settle here in paradise in Colorado some very positive messages. They tell potential business folks that the Harris Poll ranks Colorado as the 4th most preferred state to live in. And I agree, I thank my great grandparents for settling here in Colorado. Who would not want to live here?

On percentage of sunny days, Colorado is 6th in the nation. Some others are a lot lower and hotter and more humid.

Colorado ranks first in private employment, largest in space economy.

Colorado's percent of population with a bachelor's degree or more ranks 3rd. Lots of these folks have moved here because our schools certainly are not graduating this work force. I wonder if the COED tells folks that 50% of kids in DPS do not graduate.

Colorado is 5th in scientists and engineers as a percent of the workforce. We are 10th in per-capita income. We are second in patents per 1,000 workers and we are first in average elevation.

And in the April 26th issue of Denver Business Journal we read that the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranks Colorado as the nation's 10th best state-tax environment for entrepreneurship and small business.

Even the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council gave Colorado second rank as a state with "responsible spending and competitive tax rates."

So take cheer, Colorado, We did this all even with the Gallagher Amendment. Better not mention that to any one.

What Nixon/Kenndy can teach the Brits

2010-05-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Marshall McLuhan, first Media Ecologist, shared his most probing and relevant insights on the political effects of America’s first TV presidential debate in 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. And in my view there are still lessons which our British friends can learn as they wend their way through the labyrinthine ways of the medium of television debates.

In his book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, McLuhan pointed out in 1964 that the cool and blurry and shaggy texture of JFK won hands down in the debates over the sharp intense image of Nixon. McLuhan castigates Theodore White in his analysis of the TV debates in his book, The Making of the President 1960. White seemed more interested in the content of the debates which McLuhan said meant little in the new medium of TV. White gave the win to Nixon because he gave more content than Kennedy. JFK, the cool personality, looked more comfortable and at ease, more presidential than the hot personality of Nixon. Nixon looked like a politician, and folks felt there was something there they did not trust when they saw him. On TV anyone whose appearance strongly declares his role or status in life is wrong for TV. Nixon’s hot and nervous content meant little on TV. Kennedy, undefined, did not look like a rich man, a teacher, or a doctor which is great on TV.

And Kennedy looked at the camera while Nixon looked at Kennedy. JFK knew he could look at Nixon all night and he would never get his vote. JFK looked at the voters in TV land and his forelock slipping down over his forehead asked every mother and daughter in America to help him brush that curl back. “Let me help you brush that lock back, Jack.” I could hear the votes clicking off for him in the precincts across America as I watched those debates. Nixon’s too closely cropped haircut, the clean cut American look, and his sweating nervously did not play well on TV. He was too high definition. JFK, at ease with his TV image, was not too precise, and Nixon fidgeted and appeared uncomfortable with his TV image. JFK was not too ready of speech as to spoil his pleasantly tweedy blur of countenance and outline. Tanned and relaxed from a weekend at the Kennedy Compound in Cape Cod, JFK looked great on TV even in black and white. Nixon refused to allow any makeup to color his sickly and flapping jowls. He came across as very pale and sickly (which he was) and weak, eager to fill up time with content which is not effective on TV. Kennedy’s cool humor helped him go from palace to log cabin, from wealth to the White House in a pattern of TV reversal and upset.

Everyone agrees the TV debates put Kennedy over the top in the campaign.

So as British politicians learn not to be too content oriented on their TV exchanges, as they try to be cool and blurry for their TV viewers, and as they try to remember to look at the voters and the cameras, McLuhan speaks eloquently to us and them on how to use TV to best advantage trying to get votes with fur and fuzz and blur and buzz.

“Debt is the slavery of the free.”

2010-04-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Publius Syrus declared, “Debt is the slavery of the free.”

Earlier I mentioned the ancient Athenian Ephebic Oath which every 18-year old had to swear in front of the assembly in order to become Athenian citizens. In that oath, young men, swore: “My native land I will not leave a diminished heritage but greater and better that when I received it.” Modern Greek and American political leaders should consider taking this oath. It was a civil and a military oath to defend the “altars and hearths, single-handed or supported by many.”

As Greek political leaders wrestle with the catastrophic economic mistakes of their recent past, and as American political leaders struggle with the our burgeoning deadening debt, we hope that our leaders will take the words of the Athenian Oath to heart and make the tough choices to leave our nation in better economic shape than we found it.

“To preserve their independence, we must not let our rules load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.” Tom Jefferson.

Audit Trends

2010-04-28T08:06:00.001-07:00

Kip Memmott, our director of Internal Audit here at the Denver Auditor’s Office, proves the truth of what Will Rogers opined so many years ago: “Even if you’re on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Kip recently attended the Institute of Internal Auditor’s General Audit Management conference. Kip has never been one to just sit there.

Kip reported back to us that national trends show that auditors are now expected to perform more work in areas of enterprise risk management, effective governance, resource maximization and strategic planning. Speakers reported that audit work is less counting widgets and ensuring compliance. I wonder whatever happened to my green eyeshade.

Auditors now must understand the business side of operations to be truly effective and add value to audits. I am pleased to tell you that these are true of the performance audits we do in Denver.

Kip shared that internal audit functions are ideally positioned to lead organization culture change Chief Audit Executives should proactively raise organizational expectations for the internal audit function and then deliver. I often say, I am interested in bringing long term systemic change to the city of Denver, not just a series of audits which contain ‘gotchas.’

There is a movement nationally toward integrated auditing where auditors are expected to have financial, performance and IT audit skills. The Denver Auditor’s office has a whole team of auditors who are expert at auditing and analyzing IT needs. The value of that team is demonstrable to all who have contact with our IT auditors.

Effective audit risk assessment and root cause analysis practices are critical for adding value. And the more our auditors here in the Denver Auditor’s Office do their excellent performance audits the more city agencies, the city council and even reluctant administrators see value in those audits.

Audit functions trends show that those functions should automate internal processes, perform issue tracking and implement data analytic tools and techniques. We are totally green in our audits. All our audit papers are now retained digitally. We are saving thousands of trees, and saving lots of money.

Audit reports should be widely distributed. We do this digitally and some printed copies placed around the city.

Finally, perhaps the most important point discussed at the conference is audit independence. And I vow to you we will maintain, protect and defend the professional independences of our audits and the same is true for our city’s audit committee.

Kip shared with us that our office is conceptually aligned with all the thematic areas from a strategic perspective. I wish to thank Kip Memmott for helping me move our office with vision and hope forward in all the above areas. The Denver taxpayers are the winners in this effort.

Poverty in Denver

2010-04-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Denver's Agency for Human Rights and Community Relations has just issued an excellent profile on poverty in Denver. Did you know that in 2008 11.4% of Colorado's population lived below the federal poverty level? In 2008 18.4% of Denver citizens lived below the 2008 poverty levels. Being below the poverty level means you earn less than $21,200 for a family of four and 10,400 for a single person.

In the section on older Denverites, 10,000 of the nearly 70,000 live in poverty.

The Picture of Poverty Report is available in PDF format at www.denvergov.org/humanrights for quick access and downloading. Or if you are computer challenged, call the agency 720-913-8450 as they have a few printed copies.

So get informed and tell your friends and neighbors about what's really going on in our neighborhoods. Many of the statistics will upset you. The report contains excellent action items and recommendations which citizens and community leaders can push to help solve this important issue.

Responsive Chord

2010-04-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

For many years I taught an Introductory Mass Media Class. I used as one of my texts, The Responsive Chord by Tony Schwartz. Schwartz, an old-time radio ad man, is remembered most for the famous Daisy Spot which helped put Lyndon Johnson back in the White House.

The spot only showed once on the popular Sunday Night Movies, the Sunday evening before the election. The ad raised a big fuss because it played on a responsive chord playing among citizens who had been hearing Barry Goldwater declare for months that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" The implied threat by Goldwater told voters that he would press the nuclear trigger first against the Russians and Communists.

Here's how Schwartz laid out the ad. The opening scene shows a little blond girl in a field of daisys. She is pulling the petals one by one, like "loves me" or "loves me not." But with each petal pull, a voice-over counts down from 10 to 1. Then a nuclear bomb destroys everything, the little girl and all the daisys in the field. President Johnson's voice concludes the ad with something like, "you better be careful who you vote for president." The line implied that Goldwater would start a nuclear war, "just let me get my index finger near that button."

Even Colorado went for Johnson in that election. Republicans fumed over the Daisy Spot, saying it was untrue and unfair. The Democrats cleverly responded that they did not even mention Goldwater's name.

The American Lung Association asked Schwartz to come up with an anti-smoking ad. He did not show damaged lungs, seared fingers, or folks spitting up blood. Schwartz showed two kids in a house playing in the attic. The little girl puts on the white wedding veil from grandma. The little boy puts on the top hat and black coat from grandpa's wedding. The final shots show the kids walking toward the sun shining through the attic window. A voice then says: "Kids love to imitate adults. Do you smoke?" The Association reported they got more calls on how to stop smoking from that ad than any other. Schwartz hit the responsive chord among even smokers that they smoked but they cared about their children and did not want to see the kids take up smoking.

So campaigns can learn lots about hitting the responsive chord. But trying to find out what themes hit the responsive chord with the voters is the question. Republicans tried to build up a base for a responsive chord against the recent health care legislation, but polls show that they have missed the mark.

I left a copy of Schwartz's book at Regis Library. See if you can hit a responsive chord.

Royal Trappings

2010-04-14T07:52:00.001-07:00

The founders nurtured a great fear of royalty and royal titles, and royal trappings. Fearful that the British or some other royalists might try to set up a king in the former American colonies pushed the founders to ban congress from granting royal titles altogether. Article I, Section 9, last paragraph first sentence could not make it clearer how the founders detested the royalists: "No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States." This sentence is one of my favorites in the whole constitution. Royalty never did any good for my family nor anybody else's in my view. Can you imagine the costs of keeping kings and queens and princes?

Thomas Jefferson championed no royal trappings in governmental functions. In 1797, he almost skipped his own swearing in as vice president because it reminded him of ceremonies too close to royal coronations he had seen in Europe. An important anniversary is coming up for our country. In preparing for his own inaugural on March 1 1801, Jefferson prepared by studying how his predecessors handled their inaugurals. He asked his cousin, Chief Justice John Marshall to administer the oath from the constitution as his presidential oath. Marshall had his own doubts as to how well Jefferson would do as president, but said he would be happy to do so. Marshall did just fine reading the oath and Jefferson did not have to be sworn in again like Obama listening to the oath read by a nervous and bumbling Roberts.

Jefferson studied how Washington handled his inaugural. He had a fine coach with six white horses, wore his uniform and sported his trusty military sword. Adams knocked the horses down to two. He wore a simple broad cloth suit. Adams wanted to be a "republican president in earnest." Jefferson wore a simple suit, no powered wig, no sword, and skipped the horses and carriage, decided to walk everywhere on his inauguration day. In his inaugural speech Jefferson paid homage to Washington. Jefferson called him "entitled." But not royally titled and remember some wanted Washington to be crowned king and thankfully he refused.

America still harbors a lot of royal sympathizers in our midst. I guess we could call them "closet monarchists." Remember the uproarious hurrahs greeting Queen Elizabeth II when she addressed the Virginia Legislature on a visit to her family's former colony. One could feel a movement back to England in the chamber. "Tell us what to do, your majesty, we are ready to line up," seemed to capture the royal love feast.

Now what has this got to do with the Denver Auditor's Office? This question is probably asked lots about many of my blog entries.

Firstly, auditors have to continually fight the attitude in many government employees, appointed and career service, that they are special and entitled to the trappings of their office. "I'm special, I'm entitled, I deserve my government car etc." You ought to hear the arguing over how many horse power vehicles are allocated to various agencies. People argue over desks, size, placement. Who has a window or not? It's like my kids shouting "shotgun" when we got in my old Buick.

So auditors should stand four-square with the Constitution, "No title of nobility." We must continually fight the culture of the special, the important, the puffed up, and the entitled. It saves taxpayers money to look for ways to change the culture of the special treatments afforded some government officials entitled to their special benefits thanks to the taxpayer's dime. I think this is why folks are so hopping mad at Congress. They are important and entitled. Check their health plans and their pensions. You will get my drift.

Peer Reviews

2010-03-31T06:43:00.000-07:00

Someone at a neighborhood meeting recently asked who audits the auditor?

Here is the short answer to this excellent question.

Every three years our office go through what we call a "peer review." The Association of Local Government Aditors sent 4 auditors to review our office, how we are doing our audits; how we measure risk for audits to be performed; and compliance with rules and regulations of the Comptroller General. I am pleased to report that the Denver Auditor's Office gave us the highest ratings and noted a significant number of 'best practices' in their report. These auditors were from out of state and from some of the finest audit shops in the country. They were impressed with the Denver Model for Auditing for which our office is being recognized nationally.

I want to thank all our auditors in the Denver Auditor's Office for their outstanding performance in enabling our office to get this rating.

Common Virtues

2010-03-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

Auditors normally measure business and financial processes. But recently, at Regis University’s Evergreen Room, I heard a controversial talk by Dr. Tawfik Hamid, billed in the Highlander, the Regis paper as an Islamic reformer and ex-Jihadist. After his talk I introduced myself and told him he is a lot like an auditor, he is trying to tell truth to power and the powerful do not want to hear it. Auditors tell truth to the powerful in an organization. If the powerful are not happy with the message, they are not happy with the auditor.

To an audience of about 125 people, mostly Regis community, neighbors, Hamid related how his first encounters in a mosque in his Egyptian medical school encouraged him to hate, suppress his own conscience and critical thinking. For a while, Dr. Hamid bought the hard line. But he confessed to us that in the end, his own conscience would not allow his to follow violent attacks on others.

He went through and alphabetic prescription for reform of Islam which he has been preaching for over 20 years, and admittedly without much success. He wants all mosques to announce on their websites and on their buildings what he calls his A, B, and C’s of reform. He wants believers to say “no” to the A, B, and C’s on his list. A) say “no” to killing of converts from Islam to another religion; B), say “no” to beating and stoning of women; C), say ‘no” to calling Jewish people monkeys and pigs. D), say “no” to declaring war on people of other faiths; E), say “no” to enslaving people; F), say “no” to fighting Jewish people; G), saying “no” to hanging people of different sexual preferences.

Dr. Hamid said that if folks won’t say “no” to these A through G, you can bet they are not being accountable to civilized society. Some folks at the end of his talk said we needed more dialogue and they would hold a meeting to talk about the Hamid talk and principles. I wish him well in his mission. Others told me his life has been threatened many times because his is trying to hold religious folks accountable and they don’t like the basic truths he espouses in his alphabetic list.

And auditors are all about holding people accountable to their actions, financial and organization processes.

Asking for the vote

2010-03-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

Thomas (Tip) O'Neill, beloved former speaker of the US House, one of my heroes, shared some good advice with candidates who are looking to run for office. I have spoken before about this issue in a previous blog entry. In America,the candidate "has to ask for the vote and the support." It's like going to the Valentine's dance, you have to ask. I don't think any of us like to be taken for granted. Simple political courtesy and etiquette surely still lists "asking for the vote" in the list of things candidates should do to run for office. This is the season for asking for support. At the recent District 4 spaghetti dinner at North High School, a candidate recently asked for support to which I said "Yes." And then she asked if she could use my name on a support list she was publishing. I told her, "Yes." A few with plates of spaghetti passed by nodding approval.

A few times candidates have put names down on support lists, and they had never even asked. To me this is a big mistake in politics. Luckily one of the candidates who once took me for granted and listed me on his list, I really was supporting so the mistake was not that much of an issue. I let it go, but I did give him hell for doing it. I gave him the lecture you are now reading. I marked it down to the innocence, enthusiasm and inexperience of the candidate, the one who put my name on his list without asking. Not asking showed a sort of charming part of his personality, a simple naievete, which actually became a plus in the campaign. He reminded me of Bill Ritter, you know, charming. It smarts when one is trying to stay out of a particular race and then you are listed after saying to both candidates you are staying out. And if you have told one person you intend to stay out and the other candidate puts you down for support, it makes you look like you are playing both sides, And then you feel obliged in fairness to say something good publically about the agrieved candidate, the one who did not put you down as a supporter as promised.
I always really admired Mike Pomponio, the long time North Denver Democratic Captain, for a Denver district inclusive of what is now House District 5. When I was first getting involved, I showed considerable innocence by not dropping by his headquarters to alert him that I was hoping to run for the House. Since he was the captain for the next district over, I did not think it important to alert him of my intentions. I had already discussed my candidacy with Dolores Dickman, our beloved Northwest Corner of Denver captain. And Dolores supported me.

As I look back on it, I made a mistake. I should have told Mr. Pomponio I was running. It would have been the courteous and respectful thing to do. I would be upset with myself if I had shown that lack of civility to myself. And Mike pulled out all the stops to defeat me. He told people I was leading students at Regis in campus riots. But there was not doubt where he stood. He was against you. I remember some folks tell you they will be with you. And you drive by their house and you see your opponent's sign in the yard. And they did not even tell you they had switched sides and hoping you would not drive by the house. If you change sides, you have to tell.

So let us hope this season of asking is blessed with lots of direct and clear lines of communication as to who is supporting candidates or not. Do ask, do tell.

2010-03-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in a previous blog that I wrote a copy of Abraham Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby on the loss of her five sons to the Civil War effort. The letter is part of an exhibit on Lincoln at Denver's Blair-Caldwell, African American Library.

At the opening of the exhibit, I saw Mrs. Claudette Francoise Sweet at the exhibit. She told me she was just telling people around her at the exhibit "Lincoln's handwriting sure looks a lot like yours, Dennis."

I then shared with her that I made that copy for the exhibit.

And I hope you will all get over and look at the exhibit. And don't forget my Lincoln/Bixby letter copy which I gave to the library.

2010-03-05T07:02:00.001-08:00

Recently our internal auditors have reported to me that they are still getting lots of pushback from city agencies about our access to information on audits.

One agency says we cannot see files because our auditors might release names of clients served by the agency.

Never mind that the city charter, recently changed by the voters to allow us to do performance audits, insists that we follow the rules and regulations of the Comptroller General of the United States in performing our audits. These rules are called "The Yellow Book." The Yellow Book instructs our auditors that we cannot release confidential client or patient information. They do not trust the Denver Auditor's Office and our professional auditors with classified information. I know, and we all know, the Denver Auditor's Office is a nesting ground for future Denver Mayors. This auditor is not running for mayor. I am not out to show the administration, "I gotcha."

Never mind that this same agency has signed a waiver allowing federal auditors to get copies of their classified personal client information. This is perhaps the worst cut of all. This agency simply does not trust our auditors with classified information. But they will allow Federal Auditors to get copies of their classified information.

Never mind that the agency's intransigence is simply a bad business practice blocking our auditors from processes and information which may lack internal controls and leave the city at risk.

We will continue to fight the agencies who try to deny us information essential to our audits. It will take time, but we will make it up the mountain of accountability here in our city. Our internal auditors will lead the way. And I hope we are all in 'amen corner" on this issue. Do I hear an "Amen?"

And interestingly enough, in serving 16 years on the state legislative audit committee, the more an agency performed poorly, the more defensive that mediocre agency got. The same is true here at the city of Denver, unfortunately.

Someone at a neighborhood meeting recently asked "Just what does the auditor of Denver do?"

I answered "I tell truth to power, and much of the time they don't want to hear about it."

Internet Manifesto

2010-03-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Did you know that people now use the Internet to write messages of grief on the departed's face book? The new media are changing everything.

I know a grandmother who calls her grand kids' cell phone and she never gets a call back. As soon as she texts a message, the grand kid texts right back.

We all know how the Internet and other technologies have influenced television, the music business and publishing companies. The Internet has turned every computer user into a publisher, a songster and a movie maker.

Everyone with a cell phone with a camera becomes a journalist taking pictures of accidents; forest fires and lightening strikes.

Just as Gutenberg had no idea what he was doing to society with his printing press, the new media are certainly foggy about what they are doing to our society and our culture. An interesting book by Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy, tried to put it all into perspective as society moved from monastic calligraphy for texts to mass printing of texts. In Gutenberg's time, the process moved somewhat slower than today's speedy media, and that makes it harder to pinpoint what is exactly happening to us.

One web site which tries to help journalists through the thickets of confusion surrounding the Internet is http://www.internet-manifesto.org. This site lists 17 declarations which the framers have reasoned are important to all users of the Internet.

Point 1 declares that "The Internet is different." They ask media to adapt their work methods to today's technological reality.

Point 4 states that "The freedom of the Internet is inviolable." Blocking the Internet "endangers the free flow of information and corrupts our fundamental fight to a self-determined level of information."

Point 9 reminds us that "The Internet is the new venue for political discourse." And our print media are finding this out first hand.

Point 13 says "copyright becomes a civic duty on the Internet." Owner ship entail obligation, to goes on to say.

I hope you will check the Internet Manifesto. Do you agree with the points trying to clarify the new media journalism? There is a comment section, write down what you think about the manifesto. I was puzzled not to see a point on the digital divide which continues to separate those who have access to the new media and those who do not.

So take out your pocket sized media empire and let folks know what you think about all this.

Outwitting history

2010-03-02T08:58:00.001-08:00

I have just finished reading a most interesting book, Outwitting History, by Aaron Lansky. The book tells the story of the author and his adventures to rescue Yiddish language books. He now surrounds himself with over one and a half million Yiddish books at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

A friend gave me this book for Christmas because she hears me tell the story over and over about a librarian we had at Regis University here in Denver who decided one day to throw out all books which had not been taken out in 20 years. Mishoogenah. Shelf space, the library needed more shelf space, already. Does this story sound like the opening of a story by Isaac Beshevis Singer?

I dumpster dove in between my classes and students would often help me cart books down to my office at the far eastern end of Loyola Hall. The librarian would laugh and point at me from his perch on the second floor of the library, laughing at my feeble attempts to save the texts. I had so many books piled in my office that the facilities manager for the building said I did not need insulation in my cold room the windows of which often froze on the inside in winter’s bitter chill. Outside my office window I could see a small hare which lept trembling through the frozen grass.

Among the items I rescued were copies of Latin and Greek classics; early French editions of Jesuit theological texts; lots of Spanish books; and many others which I can’t list here as I don’t want to make this blog too long. One day I passed the library and saw about 200 feet of books lined up like good soldiers in front of the library. What books are those I inquired of a librarian? Those are the chronicles of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, at least 150 books. I called libraries, colleges, history professors and many others looking for a home for these important items. These history texts would now fit in with Dr. Dan Clayton’s, Second World War research and history projects. No one wanted the books, so the high school students, on campus at that time, came over removed all the covers and the high school tossed the shivering texts denuded of their bindings into a big truck and took the books to Friedman Paper Company downtown for recycling.

Fr. Jim Guyer, S. J., Regis history Professor, told me he rescued two tomes which were printed by Jesuits in Japan in the 18th century. He shows them to his Asian History classes regularly. I still have quite a few of these reprieved books snatched from the dumpster at Regis. I believe we have a librarian now who likes books and will not throw them out.

I remember Vartan Gregorian, former head of the New York Public Library, telling a conference of librarians in Denver that when he became head of the NY Public Library that librarians came to him one day saying they needed more shelf space. There they go again, I thought. They suggested throwing out all the old telephone books from Eastern Europe which graced shelves. He saved them from the dumpster thinking someday they may be needed. “Un ver vet ibermishn gele bleter. And who will turn these yellowed pages?” Today, these old phone books are viewed by people whose relatives and the lives and memories of them were erased forever in the holocaust of WWII, that’s who. The old phone books show the street on which their families lived in Europe.

Some people think I am a bit eccentric to check the dumpsters near our Denver Public Libraries. I still check the dumpsters at Regis too. The Regis librarian moved on to another college. You too can check library dumpsters and let me know what you find. I wonder if we could call that auditing the books or simply outwitting history right here in Denver.

So it’s a great story that Lansky’s tells in his book about saving books and a language everyone thought would perish. It’s “geshmak, delectable” as the cover says. Yiddish is experience a bit of a renaissance. The University of Denver offers several classes in Yiddish. Let me know what you think about Outwitting History.

Final thought: One day our Dean, Bill Hynes happened to be in my office. He saw all the books lining my floors and walls. He did not see me behind all the books on my desk. He said, and I think fondly, “That Dennis Gallagher, he thinks every book is a moral obligation.” And I do. And more than that, I add a line from the book: “Di bikher zenen geven lebedike nefoshes. The books were living souls.”

2010-02-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

Marshall McLuhan, the famous media consultant, indeed the first media ecologist is noted for a famous saying:” The medium is the message.” Scholars have speculated ever since on what McLuhan meant when he said this probing quote. In my view I think McLuhan was saying that the message has to be couched in a way which will peak the readers interest. An example: a few years back my son and I were watching a program on television, a black and white television in the basement. After a while my son said he liked the program and wanted to go upstairs to the television upstairs and “watch it for real on the color TV.”

I recently attended Inter Neighborhood President’s Annual Dinner and it is always a treat to learn what creative leaders in our city are doing to meet the challenges of living in our City. I email lots of my newsletters electronically because it saves paper and money. The name of the newsletter is Accountability Update. The update lists information about important audit findings reported by our Internal Audit section. We included information on the first ever performance audit of IT controls for the city’s PeopleSoft program. The update highlighted the Economic Development Office contract with Seedco, a national economic development company. Based on our findings, the mayor and council decided not to renew that contract. We reported on the Peer Review conducted by the Association of Local Government Auditors. They gave their highest ratings to our office for best practices. The update informed about how our office is being recognized nationally for the reforms we have made and for the cutting edge performance on audits. The citizen gave no comment on the content of the Update only on the form of the message which gets us back to McLuhan.

At the INC dinner I handed out some printed copies of the Update. I have 1500 copies printed so I can hand the Update out at senior residences, community meetings and dinners like the INC last week. A citizen emailed me that the newsletter should have been printed in black and white to save money. Not a word of comment about the substance of what information was in the Update. I do hope the person eventually reads it. There will be a quiz on it when next I see her in the city.

I wrote the citizen back quoting McLuhan and reminding her that if I had printed the Update in black and white, a Xerox copy, no one would read it. People want a readable and inviting newsletter so they can read it. I promised people effective communication with the office. I want them to engage with the office and our work. So I will continue to put out the Accountability Update, so people in Denver can be informed of what our office is doing to change the culture of accountability and transparency at our city. Let’s read The Update for real with a little bit of color.

2010-02-12T07:38:00.000-08:00

Well, here is a headline which should make your blood run cold, your blood pressure rise, and your temper flair. The February 2, USA Today headline printed partly in big red numbers showed: “Since 2003, 65,000 US flights with maintenance problems have taken off anyway.”

NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting system allows airline employees to report incidents of maintenance problems confidentially without out mentioning their airline or the flight. Are you angry yet?

Turn to page 2, and USA Today tells us that: “Airlines contract about 70% of their maintenance work to repair shops in US and abroad where mistakes can be made by untrained and ill-equipped personnel, the Department of Transportation Inspector General says.” US airlines save money by contracting out airline maintenance to some foreign country’s lower paid poorly trained workers who may not be able to follow the repair kit instructions. Are you getting more upset? Have you asked to what country you are talking when you try to make an airline reservation? I have been able to practice my Sanskrit and Tagalog talking to airline contractors from India and the Philippines. Are airline executives saying this is work American workers won’t do. Fair is foul and foul is fair in this industry.

2010-02-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

When I was in high school, Denver’s Urban Renewal launched a project which included tearing down the old Tabor Grand Opera House, and grand it was right in the middle of downtown and it would be a crown jewel in the crown of downtown if the grand dame of theatres still stood. Old stage hands with whom I worked at the Auditorium Theatre, Central City Opera, and the Elitch Theatre told me that The Tabor Grand “had the finest grid of any theatre in Denver.” The grid was the rope drawn fly sets which could be lowered by stagehands pulling ropes for the canvas and wood backdrops for stage sets.

I sent a letter to the papers and The Denver Post printed it. I reminded my fellow Denverites that to lose the Tabor Grand would be a tragedy and a waste of resources to our city and a loss to our history. I suggested that we start a fund to save the grand old theatre. My letter was the only letter to appear in the papers. No group rallied, no historic preservationists came forward to save the theatre. The wrecking ball crashed in the walls lined with cherry wood from Japan, smashed the historic box seats, ripped out the best grid of all the theatres in Denver. City fathers called it progress.

Last week I attended the Colorado Preservation Inc lunch where Walter Sedovic, noted preservation architect from New York, spoke about what preservationists have to do to make sure that truly historic buildings are preserved. We have to connect conservation of infrastructure with the preservation movement. He chided the process used for federal ARRA moneys sent to cities for “shovel ready” and “cash for caulkers” projects. He reminded us we got lots of roads with a narrow focus on construction companies but not much in long term thoughtful sustainability. He asked the 900 preservationists, the largest preservation group among all the states, to demand more from the stimulus moneys, not just caulking. Preservation is being truly “green.”

Architect Sedovic then congratulated the metro region for having the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District. He thought this organization has done much to keep our cities resting in the flood plains of the great American Desert from flooding. I remembered we have had several 100 year floods in my short lifetime. He showed a slide of the Paris sewer system which welcomes tourists. And the Paris system still works today. He continued with an example of sustainability from Philadelphia, an old power plant which will be revived to provide power for the city. Ben Franklin designed the pipes going to and from the power plant.

He asked all to read Nicholai Ourossoff’s book, Reinventing America’s Cities which I hope our Denver Public Library has a copy. I can’t wait to read it.

Someone at the conference asked me, “Why should an auditor be so interested in historic preservation?” I told them, “Because it saves money when we can retool and use older buildings. That’s why.”

2010-02-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Jim Karagas, cultured gentleman and owner of Brother's Bar at 15th and Platte, usually closes his doors on Sundays. When I see him I think of Anthony Quinn and "Never on Sunday." But Sunday, February 7th, Jim opened the door of his historic establishment to celebrate Neal Cassady's birthday. And today Cassady and Kerouac aficionados filled the back room and spilled over into the bar section. Two of Cassady's kids, John and daughter Jamie, came in from California for the first Denver Cassady Birthday celebration. San Francisco has hosted a Beat Birthday for Cassady for some years now, at the Beat Museum, across from City Lights Publishing.

Cassady chummed with Jack Kerouac and mentioned lots of Denver sites in their writings. James Joyce described sites and used actual Dublin addresses in his books. In Dublin if a developer applies for a permit to tear down a building where something happened in a Joyce story, the whole nation gets involved in an uproar and the government usually steps in and preserves the building. Joyce has done more to preserve old Dublin than all the historic preservationist committees together. The preservationists argue that tearing down the historic structure would hurt tourism. Joyce readers around the world want to come and see his buildings. But sadly 7 Eccles Street, where Molly and Leopold Bloom devoured the innards of animals and slept head to toe in Ulysses, felt the stinging blows of the wreckers ball and has been scraped off the Dublin skyline for many years. A slight consolation, one can see the front #7 door in the James Joyce Museum on the North side of the River Liffey, Dublin's Platte, and a mighty river it is.

Organizers of Sunday's happy event kindly asked me to give a welcome on behalf of the city and share stories. And I did.

I told John and Jamie Cassady that they could be related to Bill Clinton because Bill's mom was a Cassady and not spelled the usual Cassidy. Cassady faithfully served mass at Denver's Holy Ghost Church when he wasn't trying to drag his dad out of various Larimer Street beer joints. He attended Ebert school which is still on Park Avenue. But despite Cassady's dad having the awful Irish curse, the drink, Cassady loved his dad and always capitalized "Father" when writing about him. I thought of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds..." Just because your Dad is a raging alcoholic doesn't mean you don't still love him. I reminded the crowd that God made whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world. I shared that the Gallaghers had lots of drinkers in the family and we could be spiritually related. I guess we relate through the family suffering.

Like James Joyce's alcoholic dad, Cassady's father a Denver barber,drank away the family money. It is said he never missed a day's barbering, but on Saturday nights spent his earnings at local Larimer bars. But Joyce got the lucky chance to go to two Jesuit schools: Clongow's Wood College in Kildare and Belvedere College in North Dublin. Cassady, by contrast, spent 10 months in the Colorado Reformatory in Buena Vista for stealing cars. He wrote a letter from the reformatory to a Denver friend asking him to drop by Paul's Place, now My Brother's Bar, and pay the bartender $4.00 owed. In the next sentences he talks about new books and authors he wants to read. I added that if Cassady has the luck to end up at Regis Jesuit high school instead of the reformatory his stories might be preserving endangered historic buildings here in Denver.

All things considered, it was a great afternoon and John and Jamie read a poem about their Dad to the beat and rhythms provided by the gathered throng.

Next year the organizers want to have a three day conference on Cassidy and Kerouac. They mentioned an event at The Mercury Cafe. Maybe next year I will tell the story about my conversations with Beverly (Babe) in Kerouac's On the Road when she visited me in the Senate Chambers.

2010-02-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

Property tax issues are surfacing around the nation.

Last Saturday's Weekend Edition of the Wall Street Journal noted that Indiana is wrestling with rising property taxes and the homeowners are protesting at tea parties. The mayor of Indianapolis was ousted in 2008 because of increased property taxes on residential properties.

Under consideration now is a change in the property tax laws limiting property taxes to 1% of the assessed value. Business at 3% of the assessed value.

In Iowa the legislature is telling its local school districts that the district must exhaust cash reserves before and property tax raises can even be considered.

Sound familiar? The Colorado legislature will be wrestling with these issues this year as it tries to figure out what to do about the fiscal crisis.

Bring on the alligators.

2010-02-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

Were you as upset trying to listen to Obama's State of the Union Speech as much as I was?

The applause wreaked havoc with my concentration and I found it hard to follow. Like Macbeth with sleep, Congress murdered the speech. Almost after every sentence, Congress jumped up like clapping seals hooting and hollering and slapping their hands for and at the president. Sadly the applause was aimed at the American people and in my humbled view, distracted all our ability to follow the speech. I felt like I was watching a re-run of and old Saturday Night Live show. The applause reminded me of canned laughter on a TV comedy show, insincere, not real, and equally distracting. Do the Congress folks really think the American people will raise their opinion of them if they shout and stomp at every other sentence of the president's speech?

Next year the Speaker ought to consider handcuffing the Congress’ hand' behind their backs and place tape across their mouths. This will do much to cut down the applauding and the incessant shouting and yelling. The White House should have offered the American people a televised copy of the speech with all the applause and shouting cut out. But we have become so used to the distraction of Congressional shenanigans it would become an new medium in an unfamiliar ground.

I don't think things will improve in the State of the Union speeches. Next year, I will wait to read the speech from print in a quiet room somewhere shut off from Congressional hurly burly and their sound and the fury.

2010-02-01T06:48:00.001-08:00

My old chum, Bill Himmelmann, former city Councilman for District 7, "a little bit of heaven," as he always said of the district, has sent me an email which comments on the Supreme Court’s latest decision. Readers will remember that is the decision which allows corporations to give unlimited contributions to political campaigns.

The email humorously suggested that now with no limits to contributions, the corporations are considering running for Congress themselves. The ‘onion’ type press release from a PR firm in Maryland backed up its rationale with the comments: "Business of America is business. And after the court opinion, business is the business of democracy."

The best line in the light-hearted email reasoned that the Supreme Court has now cut out middle-men in the whole election process: Before corporations had to rely on campaign contributions and influence peddling.

Himmelmann told me that someone suggested that if corporations can run for Congress, the United Auto Workers Union could run for Congress from Michigan.

In my view, all kidding aside, voters must look to see which candidates are taking exorbitant contributions from corporations. People have to tell their candidates how they feel about the issue. This week certainly points out the truth of the quotation hanging on the wall of Dolores Dickman's house, our beloved Democratic Captain, "Politics, the only game for adults."

Caucuses

2010-01-27T07:05:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, I spent the evening listening to 6th graders at Jefferson County Court House, the Taj Mahal, as some call it. The students had researched various parts of the constitution and gave two minute talks on what they found in that special document. I really enjoyed the experience and I actually got a plug in for everyone to attend their precinct caucus. 'While I don't find the word, 'caucus' in the Constitution, I encourage everyone to attend their neighborhood caucus meetings this year,” I said.

It is at the caucus where people registered with a party meet to elect delegates who will select who runs for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all Colorado House members and half of our Senators.

I asked the crowd of youngsters what night is caucus night? I told them if any one youngster can answer I would give him or her a dollar. I could tell by the expressions on their faces that this was an unfair question because tonight we were only talking about the US Constitution, not what a caucus was. One student answered correctly "March 16." "Correct," I shouted, you can remember because it is the day before St. Patrick's Day. Caucus meetings are usually held at local schools. Perhaps their school will host some.

I told the students to pick a caucus and attend even if they are not old enough to vote yet. Senator Ron Stewart of Boulder County, perhaps the youngest Democratic chair ever, ran the Longmont Office when he was just 14 years old. Senator Stewart always was precocious.. That's how he got his start, so age is no barrier to being involved in civic life. "Precinct caucus attendees will be delighted to see you," I told the 6th graders. I encouraged them to get involved in campaigns as well. Campaigns need volunteers of all ages to help out. .

So call you party's headquarters and find out where your caucus is this March 16. You’re your friends, bring the family and bring the youngsters, they might actually learn something.

Stand Up and Be Counted

2010-01-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

The month of March 2010 has been set for the Denver Census 2010 and you should stand up and be counted. Historically, every ten (10) years, the United States counts its people nationwide, including people of all ages, citizens and non-citizens, races, and ethnic groups. The bottom line is that the results of the Census are utilized to determine the needs of all U.S. communities.

Constitutionally protected and confidential personal information and data are gathered by respective Census Bureau or its representatives. This means your sensitive information and data are strictly protected by the U.S. Constitution from any accessibility of all kinds. Your answers to questionnaires are protected by the U.S. Constitution. The Census Bureau or its representatives are legally forbidden to disclose or share your sensitive personal information with IRS agency or Immigration department, or use your information against you in any form to garnish your salaries, collect alimony, child support, and delinquent taxes, or cease your welfare and services, or investigate your immigration status, arrest warrant and traffic violations.

Financial Implication of Census 2010 for Denver Community
The Federal Government pays $826 for each person residing in Denver, each year for ten (10) years (or $8,260 per 10 years) in Federal funds, if you’re counted. Historical data revealed that Denver community has lost $74 million since the 2000 Census because some Denver residents chose not to be counted. Each year, the Federal Government allocates roughly $435 billion to U.S. communities in federal funding and the amount of money allocation basis to each community is associated with the Census data collection.

Conservatively, approximately $435 billion in federal funding is allocated to communities in the U.S. each year and the Census data determines the amount of money given to each community. In the past, Census counts have provided many benefits to the citizens of Denver through funding for community colleges, K-12 school funding, health services, public library construction, senior services, student loans, road construction and maintenance, alcohol and drug abuse, head start, women, infants and children programs, children’s insurance programs, housing and community development, unemployment and more.

Define Performance Auditng

2010-01-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

I am very proud of the performance audits which our audit teams are doing for the city of Denver. When I am at neighborhood meetings people often ask me what is a good definition of performance auditing? This week at the Auditor's Office we asked ourselves that very same question.

Let us consider one definition of performance auditing offered for our auditors during a recent training session held for our Internal Audit staff.

"The systematic assessment of ongoing performance for advising management whether its objectives are carried out throughout a disciplined and independent appraisal that focuses on managements important objectives."

Let's talk about this definition. Performance auditing looks at management's systems. The audit assesses the performance of a department or agency to see if the entity's system follows the best business practices in serving its mission for the citizens of Denver. Notice in this definition the assessment of performance the appraisal has to be disciplined. I take that to mean a competent appraisal based on analysis by trained auditors.

The independence of the auditor's office is essential to any effective performance audit. The auditor's office must have unfettered access to all documents and city employees in working on their audits. We have had some recent examples where agencies have tried to limit our access to information essential to good performance audits. In some of our city's agencies there appears to be a tone from the top of the agency saying; "Don't tell the auditor's office anything." This definition insists on clear, concise and comparable information applicable to any audit situation.

The Yellow Book, the nickname for the rules and regulations of the Comptroller General of the United State back up all our audits in Denver. That independence and systematic backup, one of the strongest for any local government in our nation, is set in our city charter.

Performance audits can help city agencies focus on the core question: "Here is why we exist now and here's where we want to be." And these important core questions have to apply to our Auditor's Office as well.

We are all in this together

2010-01-20T07:19:00.001-08:00

I attended many events this last week as part of the commemoration of Martin Luther King’s Holiday Celebration. Denver does more than any other city in the country to celebrate and teach us about Dr. King. I was reminded again how we are all tied together in the struggle for racial equality.

The Blair Caldwell Library hosted a reception on Saturday evening for the Commission which oversees the King events. The library currently houses the Abraham Lincoln Exhibit commemorating his 250th anniversary. Earlier I copied a copy of Lincoln’s letter to Mrs. Bixby of Boston who gave five sons to the war effort. Some say Lincoln did not write the letter, but its eloquence could only be Lincoln’s own. My letter is in the last cabinet on the south wall on the second floor. I wrote it on home-made paper with home-made ink made from gall nuts and iron the recipe from Lincoln’s time. Claudette Francois Sweet told me at the reception that when she saw the letter and she mentioned to herself that “Lincoln’s handwriting looked like Dennis Gallagher’s.” I hope you will visit the library to view the exhibit.

Saturday the ‘Marade’ in King’s honor got off to a great start down Colfax to Civic Center. Thousands and thousands of people marched. And speakers reminded us that King died fighting for the rights of union garbage workers in Memphis and there were lots of union workers there to march as well. The weather blessed us this year compared to two years ago when everyone froze. Vern Howard mentioned there was talk two years ago of cancelling due to the cold. Howard responded that Dr. King took years to get civil rights for all of us and we could surely spend a couple of hours in the cold. Recordings of Dr. King played before the hour long speeches and singing began.

Monday evening The Stock Show presented its usual MLK Rodeo featuring many African-American riders and performers. The show reminded us of the roots of African-Americans in Colorado and the West. Many African-Americans served in the army and the west as one can discover at the Black West Museum, one of the best kept secrets in Denver. More Europeans visit the library than Americans. Let’s turn that around this year. We are all tied together in this.

I thought of the Irish the last week. Signs in windows in New England greeted their arrival on the shores of America: “Help Wanted, No Irish Need Apply.” As Noel Ignatiev in his book reports when the Irish went south to work on plantations the owners told the slaves, “If there is anything dangerous to be done, let the ‘paddies’ do it.” He records one slave owner writing in his journal the prayer of a slave pleading with the Lord to not let his master treat him as though he was Irish.

These stories put it into perspective for us. As Martin Luther King said, in his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” we are all inextricably tied together in this struggle.

oracles

2010-01-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

I have always admired people who try to predict the future. Governor Richard Lamm looked for trends which might give an indication of future consequences of legislative actions.

In my studies of the classics I recall much discussion of the Oracle at Delphi. Generals would go to the Oracle and ask her: "Should I go into battle against the Persians?" She would answer like this: "If you go into battle, general, a mighty kingdom will be destroyed."

The general went into battle and his enemies destroyed his kingdom. The oracle always tried not to be too specific on her predictions. She just did not mention that the kingdom to be destroyed was the general’s own.

I visited Delphi once, stood on the questioning stone and closed my eyes and asked if I should run for higher office. A British voice near me, high pitched and Oxford nasal warned, "Son, be careful, don't climb too high, you might fall." I felt like the Oracle had returned and I should be careful about what office I should seek. I looked and of course, it was not the oracle but a British mother speaking to her son.

I am happy I ran for auditor. I am having a grand time telling truth to power and working at helping power listen to reason, good judgment and best business practices.

Comes now an oracle, a predictor of the future, James Chanos, who unhesitatingly and boldly predicts the future. Chanos names names. He gives details in his predictions, contrary to the two-edged answers at Delphi. He warned about troubles with big banks, Boston Market chain and Tyco International.

Chanos has been saying for some time that China will be the next economic disaster to hit the world economic future. In the New York Times, Chanos warns China's fall will be "Dubai times 1000."

He accuses China of giving all the signs of a meltdown: cooking their books and not being truthful about their 8% growth rates. In the same article in The Times he answers skeptics for the signs he looks for in companies and countries pointing to disaster. He looks for "companies that appear to have overstated earnings, like Enron; companies that were victims of a flawed business plans, like many Internet firms; or have been engaged in 'outright fraud.'"

And remember what Shakespeare said: "I am Sir Oracle, and when I open my lips, let no dog bark."

When Pigs Fly

2010-01-15T07:10:00.000-08:00

Recently, former State Senator Ron Stewart and I served as panelists at a meeting sponsored by the Everitt Real Estate Center in Longmont, Colorado, a part of CSU. The title of the Conference was "Gallagher Revisited." Steve Laposa, director of the Everitt Center, issued a 40 page report as the conference opened, so panel members did not have a chance actually to see what the report said. Susan Kirkpatrick, executive director of Governor Ritter's Department of Local Affairs noted that without the Gallagher Amendment to our state's Constitution, residential taxpayers in Colorado would have paid $14.4 Billion more in property taxes. When asked by an audience member if Colorado had the will to change the tax structure, Tabor, Gallagher and Amendment 23? Kirkpatrick responded that we could not expect a first term governor to tackle the issue with all the other things on his plate.

Billed as a way to open up dialogue on a subject that is still evolving, Don Marostica, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, did not serve his appointing authority Governor Ritter as well. Instead of trying to reason together about the Gallagher Amendment, the caustic Marostica opened by saying the Gallagher Amendment was "ugly and it didn't matter how much lipstick you put on it, it was still a pig." Marostica then wondered with mock priggishness: "I don't know what you guys were smoking back in 1982," when Senator Stewart and I worked on the Gallagher Amendment.

There Marostica goes again, sloppin' around in the rhetorical pig pen.

He then read a letter from someone who was looking at opening a business in Colorado but decided not to settle in Colorado, a place some of us call "paradise." Instead the business he quoted huffed and puffed and punished us by saying they were looking at settling somewhere in the deep south or back east where homeowners paid more so his business, an airline, would pay less. The air line couldn't wait to settle somewhere else, a far off purgatory, where the summers roasted their employees like spits of high humidity, where huge traffic jams added hours to employee drive time, where hurricanes destroyed everything the employees owned, where winter ice storms disrupted commerce and the lives of their long suffering employees regularly. I wonder if the company might be trying to find a place in Red China, our new bankers for their company where slave labor is still legal?

Senator Stewart politely castigated Marostica by saying his wild rhetoric did not serve the dialogue of the day well. I was surprised that Marostica would adopt a line from his fellow Republican, Sarah Palin, since it did not serve her well after all.

Senator Stewart said "I don't think there are a lot of residents clamoring with their pitchforks to have their property taxes raised."

And I concluded that the nub of the issue could be summarized in one question since Gallagher is securely ensconced in our constitution and voters will have to vote to change it: "Will Colorado residential taxpayers vote to raise their home taxes so business interests can pay less?" Put that apple in the roasted pig's mouth and see if that pig will fly.

I suspect Director Marostica thinks his sarcastic comments are the "silver stake" in the heart of the Gallagher Amendment. But that's not what Stewart and I heard hardened commercial realtors and developers say after the panel was finished. Folks thanked Senator Stewart and me for stepping up to the leadership plate to solve a problem, certainly not perfect, but we aren't in heaven yet, only a place I think of as paradise, Colorado.

2010-01-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

A Denver citizen recently inquired why he has to send his Denver taxes to a Dallas, Texas address. And the post box in Dallas has three 6's in the address, so maybe the devil has something to do with it.

The city's bank is JP Morgan Chase. Since November of 2009, the majority of sales, use and excise tax payments sent to the city go to Chase which has located its processing center for large payment volume processing in Dallas, Texas. Ready for more confusion: Chase changed to Texas because the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, with a branch located here in Denver, decided to clear checks in Dallas and would no longer perform the function in Denver.

From Denver's Treasury fact sheet on this subject:

"Why has the City implemented this change to having my payments being mailed out of state?

The City bank processes payments in Dallas, Texas. Previously, payments were mailed to a Denver post office box, and a courier transported the payments to the airport where they were flown for processing in Texas. The payments were returned to Denver after processing via air transportation. In order to streamline and reduce the costs of getting the payments to the location for processing, payments mailed through the U. S. Post Office can be received directly at the processing plant faster and more efficiently. This also diminishes the possibility of a box of payments being misplaced or other delays in accurately crediting payments to appropriate accounts."

The fact sheet from Treasury mentions that occupational taxes are included in this new process, but property taxes are not covered at this time. I wonder if the Auditor's Office should look into this process to see if Chase Bank sending everything to its new processing location in Dallas, Texas really is the best business practice for citizens and the city?

Where's Andy Jackson, now that we may really need him? Even our public electric and gas utility has places you can pay your bill around town. You wonder why I voted against Branch Banking when I served in the Colorado General Assembly?

2010-01-11T06:52:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine recently showed me a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle which he brought back from a conference he attended in that hilly and crowded city. The paper monitored how long it took for the city to fill a particular pot hole; repair that sign; fix that light; check this abandoned house or car. The report included the person at the city government responsible for repairing or fixing whatever was in the column. The date the issue was reported to the city was included in the short square. Imagine the following in the Denver Post: "Day 234, for pot hole going unrepaired corner of Colfax and Monaco." That is one way print journalism can help put pressure on elected officials and city agents to correct a particular problem reported to the city. I just thought I saw Frederick Bonfils pass through my front room.

Funny, you should say?

Comes now an article in Business Day of the New York Times: "News Sites Dabble with a Web Tool for Nudging Local Officials." The article by Daniel Slotnik reports that The Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Connecticut wanted to increase hits on its website. The story then goes on to relate that SeeClickFix helped the newspaper with problems in the city. Check out EveryBlock.com and Reports.com. Another site of interest mentioned in the article FixMyStreet.com could be a site that Neighborhood Inspection Services might consider for Denver. And an added plus could be the accountability trail involved in dealing with troubled properties in our city. I have had complaints from Denver citizens who mention that enforcement on dilapidated properties seems irregular and records get lost and no one at the city ever seems to remember what is going on at a troubled site. You don't have time for my stories along this theme.

So check January 4, 2010 New York Times to find out how the digital media are changing politics by putting pressure by alerting local officials in the excellent article by Daniel E. Slotnik. I assure you I will pass this one along to the Mayor.

Denver's Mountain Parks

2010-01-06T01:59:00.000-08:00

Whenever friends or relatives came to visit the Gallagher’s in Denver from anywhere outside of Colorado, the first place my father took us was to a Denver Mountain Park, Buffalo Bill’s Grave and Museum. My dad spent his early years growing up in Tabernash near Winter Park and a fisherman from youth with all his gear and tackle and trim, he knew every great fishing hole in Grand County. He loved Colorado’s mountains and streams and always caught his limit of those rose moled and all in stipple and speckled trout. He would sometimes catch some for other fishers. My dad enjoyed telling visitors the story of Buffalo Bill Cody’s passing and how the city of Cody, Wyoming named for him, threatened to come to Denver and steal his corpse and bury him at his ranch in Cody. Cody knew a good tourist attraction when they saw it. So the city fathers buried Bill under 5 tons of cement so those Cody body-snatchers could not rob him from the rightful grave right here in Colorado. His wife, who weighed over 300 pounds, was further buried on top on him. All this encouraged my father to joke: “Old Bill’s going to have one hell of a time getting out of that grave on the final day, getting through all that’s buried to keep him in Colorado.”

Encrusted like jewels in the crown of the Queen City of the Plains, Denver’s Mountain Parks boast unbridled beauty unmatched by an other American city. Mayor Robert Speer had the vision and started the acquisition of mountain sites to be official Denver Parks way back in 1912. Speer wanted people from Denver to be able to get away from the hurly burly of the city and escape to the treasures of mountain parks beyond the city limits. Today, Denver has 46 mountain parks affording visitors fishing, picnic sites with grills and shelters, bird watching, buffalo watching; hiking trails; horse shoes; geologic sites explained and marked; spectacular views and camera opportunities. Mayor Speer wanted the old Interurban Street Car which snacked its way from Denver to Lakewood in Jefferson County to be expanded to reach some of our early Denver Mountain Parks. But Jefferson County objected to all those Denverites trudging through their county even if they were trying to get to land owned by the city.

2010-01-04T03:07:00.000-08:00

On my way home from the office last week I remembered that the generous folks at Z Cuisine's on West 30th Avenue just east of Wyandotte near Tejon were hosting a night for The Elitch Theatre. All the monies for the event went to the interior rehabilitation of the theatre, the longest running summer stock theatre in the United States.

I have meany happy memories of Elitch's and the Theatre. The Gurtler family allowed Holy Family High to put their spring musicals on at the historic theatre. Our musical director loved Gilbert and Sullivan and there is a troop trudging across the boards at various stages in Denver still polishing up the handles on the big front door. "If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it," Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, opening lines.

When in College at Regis, I was lucky enough to be hired as a stage hand with Local 7, International Association of Stage and Theatrical Employees which had the contract with the theatre to set up the productions. The Actors were all in the union as well. It was a "union house" according to the buzz among my fellow stage hands. Once a scene was set, my colleagues would go for a beer between scenes at the Tracadero not far from the stage door. I stayed to watch the actors and the play. I thought I was in paradise, to be paid to watch great actors performing the summer stock listings at the theatre. "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," Jacques, Act II scene 7, As you Like It.

Most of the actors stayed with families in the neighborhood and I remember Grace Kelly living with a family (The Coleman's) a block from me on Raleigh Street. And one weekday morning she sat in the front pew at the mass which we students attended weekly. My fellow students tell me that I stood transfixed like someone experiencing a vision of the Blessed Virgin herself. My gaze was rudely interrupted by one of the nuns who finally came up the aisle and angrily said to me: "Dennis, it's time to kneel. You can talk to Miss Kelly after the mass." I think of Sonnet 116, :Love's not Time's fool..."

Some say the old theatre is haunted by Mary, Grace, Fairbanks, We don't really know which one is haunting. But as long as the building stands they will have a place to bother us with costumed appearences and stage whispers. I never saw any, but some of the old stage hands said they did.

The Historic Elitch Theatre Foundation will be hosting lots of other wine and foie de canard on crackers events for the theatre. If you wish to contribute before then, send you donations to 3927 West 32nd Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80212. "We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep," Shakespeare. So send in your donation before you can only haunt the old theatre.

2010-01-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

Marshall McLuhan the great media ecologist wrote many years ago that the “Medium is the Message.” So if, let’s say, your post person drops off a piece of mail that looks like junk mail, the credit card companies know you will most likely throw the mail away. Please be careful of the latest scam foisted on the American people by credit card companies which are now sending notices of your account in the form of junk mail. You can opt out of the increases but you have to respond and you won’t do that if you throw out the junk mail notice without reading it. Clever! And the companies probably paid some advertising company millions for this scheme for their greed, the root of all evil. So read even the junk mail. Think of it as a part of purgatory.

Why are the credit card companies playing this trick on their customers? Because in February, 2010, finally, Congress, timidly set limits on certain onerous credit card gouging practices. Congress gave them months to wage economic war upon us. One customer reported recently that his credit card called him and told him the company wasn’t making any money off of him because he did the right thing. He paid on time and avoided higher penalties and higher rates. So McLuhan, the prophet in the mid-1960’s prediction has finally come true: that cash or money would become the poor man’s credit card. Someone tried to pay cash recently at a store and had to show her driver’s license. Just a joke.

Dante in his Inferno condemns those who a guilty of greed to the 4th rung of hell. They are condemned for all eternity to push with their chests huge bags of coins, up a mountain. Shouts of “Why do you squander?” fill the dry mouths of the greedy fight with the prodigals whose howls loudly scream “Why do you squander?” They are condemned to fight with each other for all eternity. They can’t understand each other.

I just wonder on which rung in hell Congress will end up for not acting to stop the companies before February of 2010?

Thoughts on Christmas Day

2009-12-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 20, at the Downtown Sheraton Hotel, I attended the 28th annual Fr. Woody Dinner and Present give-away. This event, organized by Holy Ghost Church, downtown, and lots of folks from Regis University, inoculates me for the rest of the holiday season as to what this season of the year is all about. I feel better just knowing that several thousand families, lots of children this year, got a great turkey dinner and an individually matched present based on age, size and gender. For the past few months students at Regis University wrapped the thousands of presents. I had been assigned as an elf to bring presents to the tables, but they had enough, so they said, "Just be the good auditor that you are and go around spreading smiles and good cheer." So I did and I had a great time. To smiling mothers holding babes in arms I said: "Tu sonrisa es bonita." "Your smile is beautiful," and they smiled all the more.

Out of the corner of my eye I spied Fr. Michael Sheeran, S. J., President of Regis University, kneeling beside a table full of eager youngsters as to what presents they might like. You just don't get that at some of our public universities. And seeing so many former Regis students who were volunteering for the event, brought back happy memories of my teaching days at Regis. Many still call me "Senator" which I was when I taught many of them. Lovey Shipp, Holy Ghost parishioner, wished everyone leaving a "Merry Christmas," to which many guests replied, "Thank you." She said, "The thanks goes to you for being here."

A chorus of older but radiant women sang many old time favorites which raised everyone's spirits. Fr. John Lager of the Samaritan Shelter directed traffic in his brown Franciscan robe. Fr. John waved people to waiting tables with the authority of a traffic patrolman.

The luncheon fare boasted roast turkey breast, big slices, potatoes and gravy, dressing and all the trimmings. The plates heaped high equaled the sumptuous feast served the day before Thanksgiving at Rescue Mission.

Denver's famous Rescue Mission in downtown Denver plays host to thousands of Denver's homeless and needy by serving an excellent turkey dinner, supplemented with salad and rolls. The Governor, Mayor and lots of Council Members also help serve the individual lunches for the people at the mission. Tom Noel, Dr. Colorado, and my brother Tim serve a shift and it is always great fun.

At North High School gym, Councilman Paul Lopez, sponsored his annual food box packing event. I bet a thousand neighbors from North and West Denver lined up in long rows to fill boxes full of oranges, apples, canned goods, bread and vegetables. Did I mention a box of dressing topped the stuffed boxes donated by Coors Brewery. Mayor and Council took their spots in line to fill the boxes delivered to families in need and many older people.

Let us hope that our nation moves to long term systemic changes that will lower the need for food lines, lunch lines and box give-aways. And let us be thankful that there are Americans who still care enough to pitch in to help their fellow citizens in tough times.

Debate

2009-12-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

When I attended Holy Family High School in North Denver, Sister Marie Catherine Pondorff, S. L., my freshman English teacher, noted that I had the gift of gab and enjoyed talking lots. She encouraged me to join up with the forensics club at our school. "The medium is the message," as Marshall McLuhan, said, and the message from Sister was sign up "it will be good for you and debating will help build your confidence, teach you to be a leader, you will travel on Saturdays and meet interesting students from other schools, and you will learn lots about the debate topic." I believe the topic that year was a guaranteed annual income for all American citizens. Underneath the positive messages of confidence building, leadership, and helping forge myself on the smithy of my soul nested another message: "Sign up for debate, Dennis, or I will make your life miserable in my English class."

Because she was a great persuader with a contagious and jolly laugh, and I knew I would enjoy debating, arguing, verbally scrapping. So I happily and eagerly signed up for all the extra work on evenings after school and debate meets on Saturdays all around our state. I confess I enjoyed every minute of it. It changed my life. Debate made me confident. My grades improved and I did well in Sister Marie's English class.

I thought of my debating experience in high school and college the other day when I received a report from NAUDL, the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues. This organization announced that their association has expanded services to over 150 new schools this last year. NAUDL is now in Denver.

I hope the newly elected school board will look into bringing more speech and debate classes into the curriculum. Those classes will change the student's lives as it did mine. Debate will get them ready for college; help with their career choices; and give them leadership skills.

I plan on sending another donation to NAUDL by checking the website: www.urbandebate.org/support. Tell your friends. Check out the free movie from the Denver Public Library, The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington. This captivating story will persuade you of the importance of debate teachers in our lives and in our schools.

And if the school board really wants to improve the curriculum; change students' lives; give them a sense of history and language; they will vote to bring Latin back into the curriculum. Debate was great for me in school. But studying Latin was even better. Smile until my next blog about Latin. Tu ne cede malis.

FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN – BEN BERNANKE

2009-12-21T01:37:00.000-08:00

The overriding story of 2009 was the economy, so I’m not totally surprised that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who helped steer the U.S. economy through its darkest days since the Great Depression, was recently named Time Magazine’s 2009 Person of the Year. The magazine said the Federal Reserve chairman's foresight and success at preventing a second Great Depression -- the history that wasn't made this year -- drove its choice. This mild-mannered man has been credited with taking extraordinary measures to prevent the U.S. credit crisis from turning into an economic depression but he concedes that the Fed, among others, failed to spot the crisis before it struck.

Professor Bernanke of Princeton is a leading scholar of economic history and the Great Depression. He knew how the passive Fed of the 1930s helped create the calamity – through its stubborn refusal to expand the money supply and its tragic lack of imagination and experimentation. Republican Bernanke, was first appointed by George W. Bush and reappointed by President Obama, was determined not to preside over Depression 2.0. So when faced with the worst global financial crisis in decades, he conjured up trillions of new dollars and blasted them into the economy; engineered massive public rescues of failing private companies; ratcheted down interest rates to zero; lent to mutual funds, foreign banks, investment banks, manufacturers and others; jump-started stalled credit markets and more. His aggressive steps have exposed him and the Fed as an institution to criticism from all directions. He’s been called “Bailout Ben’, the patron saint of wall street greed, the unelected czar of a fourth branch of government. But Bernanke knows the economy would be much, much worse if the Fed had not taken such extreme measures to stop the panic.

Bernanke has made subtle changes in the Fed since taking over for his predecessor Alan Greenspan. He has pushed for more transparency and clarity. He has worked hard to explain his actions to the public, holding town hall meetings, writing op-eds and testifying before Congress a record 13 times this year.

Now that Obama has decided to keep him in his job, Bernanke has become a lightning rod in an intense national debate over the Fed and its role. A Senate panel approved the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to run the nation's central bank for another four years. The Senate Banking Committee voted 16-7 to send Bernanke's nomination to the full Senate for consideration. Before the vote, some of his critics poked fun at Time magazine's decision to name him "person of the year" for 2009. Bernanke "may wonder if he really wants to be honored by an organization that has previously named people like Joseph Stalin, Yasser Arafat, Adolf Hitler, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and Vladimir Putin as their Person of the Year.”
Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who voted for Bernanke, argued, "I happen to believe had he and others not acted . . . at a time of critical importance of our country, we'd be looking at a very, very different and far more dire situation in our nation than is otherwise the case." Although the 56-year-old Bernanke appears to have enough votes to win a second term, some senators are lining up against him. They blame him for not spotting problems that led to the financial crisis, failing to protect consumers and supporting Wall Street bailouts. With Bernanke's re-appointment clearing the committee, it now moves to the full Senate for a final vote. The Senate is not expected to vote on his re-appointment until after it reconvenes after a holiday break on January 19. It is expected that Bernanke's re-appointment will face some stiff resistance on the full Senate floor. Some Senators have even flat-out stated that they will try to delay the nomination process for as long as possible. Bernanke's current term expires on January 31.

Ultimately, Time magazine says it selected the Fed chairman because of the immense power he still has to shape the global economy: "The decisions he has made, and those he has yet to make, will shape the path of our prosperity, the direction of our politics and our relationship to the world." Bernanke supporters--and there are plenty of them in the financial community--have long said it's tough to get credit for something that didn't happen. But Time has decided to do just that in naming Bernanke its Person of the Year. Now we wait to see if Congress will sign off on him keeping his job for another four years.

2009-12-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, last week I attended the KPMG Roundtable on Risk Assessment for Audit Committees. One of the most interesting sessions of the meeting came when the presenters wanted to know what positions those in attendence held. The group was composed of 13 audit committee members; 34 audit committee chairs; 9 directors not on the audit committee; 19 members of management; and 26 other attendees. Most were members of private industry and I was the only elected official and a chair of a city audit committee present.

They presenters then asked the attendees: "When will the U. S. economy return to the pre-crisis growth in terms of investment, employment and productivity?"

The answers by the attendees were very interesting and I pass them along to you to compare with your prediction of when the economy will return to "pre-crisis growth."

Only 2 people of the 101 in attendance answered: within one year.

8 ventured a guess: within two years.

56 answered: within three to four years. This was over 50% of those in attendance.

19 said: within five to six years.

15 said "will not return to pre-crisis growth for foreseeable future.

These pessimistic predictions should give us all concern that the vast majority of those on local Denver and Colorado corporate audit committee members, audit committee chairs and others in attendance facing the risks of a risky economy believed we are in trouble for the long haul on the economic recovery. These predictions do not mesh with the rosy pictures painted by some in Washington. Where is Nostradamus now that we really need him?

2009-12-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

Last week I attended the KPMG Roundtable sponsored. The roundtable brought to mind some interesting civic memories. The title of the discussion was “Going Forward: Reform and Recovery.”

KPMG, Denver’s former outside auditors of a few years back, picked up on risk assessment issues with Mayor and Council on what the Denver Auditor’s Office should audit. And for a brief time, the Mayor’s so-called Financial Experts Committee, given the charge of suggesting how our city charter should be changed to reform our city’s audit committee, came up with some very poor ideas for reform.

It started when KPMG picked up on comments from Mayor and Council that the administrative and the legislative branches wanted more input on what audits were to be done in Denver. Remember the Auditor’s Office hosts a nesting ground for future mayors. “More input” meant limiting the independence of the auditor to select which audits should be done. They were worried about audit politics. Many a Denver Auditor has lusted to be mayor. And many an auditor running for mayor has made the life of many a mayor miserable in the pursuit of unbridled vaulting ambition. Thank you, Macbeth.

I look back with humor now, but at one point in the negotiations with Mayor and Council concerning Auditor’s Office reform which eventually made it to a charter vote, the Financial Experts Committee would have mandated that the Auditor make an appointment with Mayor and Council and bring a little tin cup and beg leave to do an audit. Most discussion centered on the membership of the city’s fledgling, motley, and not independent audit committee. At that time the Mayor made all the appointments to the audit committee, including two members of his cabinet who could cushion issues for the press where lack of internal controls were found in various departments. Thankfully, the mayor appointed the Auditor to the audit committee, good judgment on his part. I vigorously and clearly informed the mayor, council and the financial experts, that the Auditor has to be free to exercise independent judgment free from administrative or legislative influence. And we needed a fully independent audit committee, and if we did not achieve these to important principles, I would see them all in the precincts of Denver campaigning against them and these Enron-like attitudes. I am happy to report they did not want to see me in the precincts working against any charter change eating away at auditor’s and audit committee’s independence. I just kept repeating: “Does anyone here remember Enron?” And that strategy worked.

But the negotiations hinged on another important point. In my view good politics is often about good relationships. Because of a long-term collegial relationship, keeping it civil and agreeing to disagree, the mayor and I worked out the reforms for the independent auditor’s office. For the city’s audit committee, the mayor and council each make two appointments, and I make two appointments and serve as Committee Chair. The mayor gave up power, appointing all the committee members and the auditor’s office gave up payroll and accounting, which we should never have had in the first place. But in 1906, who knew? We now audit payroll and accounting. This has worked out just fine.

On risk assessment and how the auditor’s office determines which audits to do, the charter asks the auditor to seek from Mayor and Council, for information purposes only, which areas and departments need audit help. So each year, while not mandated in charter language, Kip Memmott, the director of Internal Audit, take the extra step to reach out and get feedback. We interview each appointed department head, the mayor, and council to get input and feedback of risks which might be raising their heads across the city. This enables us to get firsthand feedback as to problems in the departments. Mayor and council can suggest audits, but cannot dictate which audits should be done. The auditor’s office is totally independent of administrative and legislative influence as to audits in the lineup. This is working out just fine.

The 2010 Audit plan can be see on our website. I hope you will look at it and let us know what you would like to see audited for next year.

WILL AMERICA’S MIDDLE CLASS SURVIVE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS?

2009-12-07T01:23:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine an America without a strong middle class? If you can, would it still be America as we know it?

Over the past generation, signs of middle-class distress have continued to grow, in good times and bad, in recession and in boom. Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the bank bailouts points out in a recent column that, “Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed or just plain out of work. One in nine families can't make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion from pensions and savings, has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put ten million homeowners out on the street. “

America today has plenty of rich and super-rich. But it has far more families who did all the right things, but who still have no real security. Going to college and finding a good job no longer guarantee economic safety. Paying for a child's education and setting aside enough for a decent retirement have become distant dreams. Tens of millions of once-secure middle class families now live paycheck to paycheck, watching as their debts pile up and worrying about whether a pink slip or a bad diagnosis will send them hurtling over an economic cliff.

Policies to strengthen the weakened middle class will certainly include the creation of jobs, helping families to build assets and reduce debt, making higher education more accessible and affordable, and addressing the healthcare crisis.
America without a strong middle class? Unthinkable, but the once solid foundation of our nation has certainly been shaken.

Wrestling With Moses

2009-12-04T00:21:00.000-08:00

Wrestling with Moses, Anthony Flint's book does not discuss the
Israelites crossing the desert from Egypt.

Wrestling with Moses tells the gripping story of how Jane Jacobs took on
New York's Robert Moses and changed the American city forever. It is
more the story of David fighting Goliath, the humble and lowly neighbors
locked in combat against their own arrogant politicians and city
planners. Jane got her start by leading the fight against the Lower
Manhattan Expressway expansion into her neighborhood: Washington Square
and Greenwich Village.

Jane was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and moved to New York armed with
her high school diploma. She moved to New York City in 1934 and hoped
to break into journalism. After all she did have a few months
experience writing for her hometown newspaper, "The Scrantonian." She
wanted to progress to higher education and applied to several school but
because of her lackluster high school record, Columbia's college for
women informed her she would have to take additional courses to be
accepted. She walked away and decided to educate herself. She
researched the founders of the constitution spending hours upon hours at
Columbia Library.

She met and married a Columbia architect, Robert Hyde Jacobs, and they bought a townhouse at 555 Hudson in the Village. Every year on the
anniversary of her death, people bring flowers to the address,
unfortunately now a business of some sort.

Readers will remember her magnificent book, The Death and Life of Great
American Cities, published in 1961. The Random House publishers put the
following headline on the advertisement for the book: "The City Planners
are Ravaging Our Cities!" I had just graduated from Regis and I agreed
with Jane as I watched my parents and neighbors in North Denver fight
I-70 plowing through Berkeley Park, Sunnyside, Globeville, Elyria and
Swansea and Northeasterly neighborhoods. I-70 laid waste to thousands
of homes, torn off their foundations, thousands of families disrupted
and removed from their neighborhoods. Northwest Denver is finally
beginning to recover from this disruption caused by the federal
bulldozers. But the fragile neighborhoods of Globeville and
neighborhoods east of there are still struggling.

Jane's book hit a responsive chord with me as I watched Denver Urban
Renewal tear out the heart of our city by destroying hundred of historic
structures in downtown. After reading Jane's book, we all mourned what
Paul Goldberger, architectural critic of New York Times, the "unrelieved
plainness and basic dreariness of what turned out to be nondescript, big
red boxes." Any one wonders why folks like LoDo so much. It the part
of downtown where urban renewal left off. It is not healthy when
neighbors pray for a recession to block certain excessive developments
around town. Does God hear such prayers?

Let's cut to the end of the story, Jane won. She beat back Gotham's
Goliaths that won in many cities across our nation. Jane and the
neighbors beat back the plans for expansion of the Lower Manhattan
Expressway. But her book changed city planning in America forever. I
actually saw a copy of Jane's book in the Denver Planning Office not too
long ago.

Are there still wrestling matches to be waged across the neighborhoods
of Denver? What would Jane say about our city's new zoning code? Would
Jane "ooh" and "ah" over the Union Station plans? Wrestling with Moses
inspires me to get Jane's book off my shelf and remember why Denver can
be a great city. "To your tents, Oh, Israel."

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

2009-12-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

Colorado Recession Watch published by the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute reported that the recession figure for unemployment in October dipped to 6.9%. That dip, slight blip that it was, prompted the bloggers for Governor Ritter to announce that employment in Colorado has fallen below 7%. I hope you will check the two recession sites mentioned in my first sentence. Statistics do show a trend and this recession is the longest since the great depression which my folks and grand parents fought to survive.

A recent report from the city administration marked the 2008 unemployment rate for metro area was 5.1% but for Denver it was 5.7%. And as I have said before in a previous entry, if you check the unemployment rates for Globeville, Elryia and Swansea and Northeast Denver, the rate will get up around 20%.

These statistics mean little when you have been out of work for months. A former student and now a friend, has been out of work for months, has applied for thousands of openings and is about ready to lose her home. She is desperate and has applied to work as a guard at the city buildings. She wonders out loud why she got her BA from CU.

Speaking of blips in statistics, did you read where there is actually an address to which you can send money to spend down our national debt? I will check this out to let you know if this is another fund congress can raid to add more to the deficit. The report said the fund is supported by many immigrant Americans who show how grateful there are to be living under the blessings of our constitution. That's why they donate to lower our disastrous deficit - only in America.

Sand Creek

2009-11-30T12:51:00.001-08:00

November 29th, 2009 marked the 145th anniversary of the Massacre at Sand Creek, a day which lives in infamy in Colorado history. That “dies irae,’ that terrible day of wrath, Col. John M. Chivington led members of the Colorado Cavalry in a slaughter of mostly Arapahoe and Cheyenne elderly women, children and old men. Chief Black Kettle who originally welcomed the pale faces to the banks of Cherry Creek and the Platte, was killed in the massacre under an American flag and a white flag. I wonder what went through Black Kettle's mind as he saw the pale faced soldiers killing his people "indiscriminately" as the congressional hearing reported.

On Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 8 am at Riverside Cemetery on Brighton Boulevard on Denver's border with Adams County, I along with about 100 citizens gathered at the grave of Silas Soule to commemorate his bravery in refusing to kill women and children and in testifying before a congressional committee which broke from concerns about the civil war to investigate Chivington's actions at Sand Creek; Captain Soule, showed great courage and an ethical soul that day, that terrible day. Soule refused orders to fire upon unarmed women and children at Sand Creek. Federal troops present also refused to kill unarmed women and children. Otto, Soule's nephew from Iowa, told me the name is pronounced 'sole."

Spiritual leaders of Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes blessed runners for their participation in the 11th Annual Sand Creek Massacre

For testifying against what he saw at Sand Creek, Soule was assassinated near 15th and Arapahoe near Skyline Park. His name is listed on the civil war monument at the State Capitol among the civil war military dead. I never noticed that before.

At the ceremony at the Capitol I was honored to speak to those who gathered to mark the day.

Many Coloradoans don't remember Sand Creek, or Ludlow, or the Columbine Mine murders. Our attention spans are about as long as a 30 second TV commercial. I know we can do better to recall important historic events in our state's history.

2009-11-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

On Friday November 20th, the “Across the USA” section of USA Today had the following depressing notice for Colorado:

“Denver – Colorado had a record-high number of foreclosures in the third quarter, when filings hit 12,468, the state Housing Department said. The quarter ending Sept. 30 was the fourth consecutive quarter in which foreclosure filings increased. For the year, foreclosure filings are up about 18% compared with the same period in 2008.”

The number of working Coloradans fell by almost 10,000 in the month of October this year. Colorado’s unemployment rate is at 5.3% better than the national average. But I would guess that the Globeville and Northeast Neighborhoods in Denver hit closer to 20%.

I hope you are as upset as I am about these statistics. They hit home to me recently when I saw my neighbor putting boxes in her station wagon. “Are you going out of town,” I asked. “Dennis, I have been out of work for some time now and I am taking the keys to my house down to the bank. My house is in foreclosure.” My neighbor got in the car and drove away.

These statistics hit home to me because I think of my own grandparents who lost their home during the depression. My grandfather lost his job on the Moffat Railroad and the Gallagher family lost their house. “The girls went to St. Clare’s Orphanage on 26th and Osceola and I (my dad) and my brother, Louie went to St. Vincent’s Orphanage on Lowell,” my dad often said. It took my grandparents two years to get back on their financial footing. My dad said, “My brother cried himself to sleep every night for two years while at St. Vincent’s.” Despite being split up from their families, the Gallagher kids had fond memories of loving nuns who tried their best helped them through those tough homeless depression years.

It affected us all. All our family reunions retold depression and orphanage stories. The stories sounded just like McCourt’s "Angela’s Ashes", without the free food wakes, without the humor, without the songs. Homeless counts continue to grow in our city.

So it’s going to take awhile for Denver and Colorado to crawl our way out of the current ‘recession.” Depressing, isn’t it?

The Real Threat

2009-11-23T06:56:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I attended the Fiscal Wake-up Call initiated by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation where former Comptroller General David M. Walker reminded us of what he considered the number one threat facing our country: our ever increasing debt. It chalks up at over $180,000 per person, 56 billion as of September of 2008. It was cosponsored by University of Denver.

I agree with Walker. And I hope you will double check the website: www.pgpf.org to get the rest of the story.

But I think there is something even worse about which we should be worried when it comes to the future of our democracy. The biggest threat to our way of life is the tremendous lack of ignorance in young and old in our country as to the concepts in our constitution and form of government.

My most recent wake-up call happened on my recent visit to Skinner Middle School to listen to students present their ideas about constitution principles after a period of study. On of my fellow listeners asked a panel of students if the constitution allowed for someone to hold an opinion which might upset someone else's feelings. A student responded that the constitution did not allow people to have opinions which might hurt another's feelings. I tried to tell the students that the constitution does not prohibit unpopular opinions even those that might hurt another's feelings. I tried to remind them that the first amendment protects unpopular opinions.

I am not sure I got through in a few minutes of discussion at 8am on a cold day.

But despite the budget, I think ignorance of the constitution and other current affairs is the greatest threat to our country. We cannot give up and we have to keep fighting and arguing, with civility of course, that people have to wake up as to what our form of government is and what rights in our Bill of Rights protect us even when we hold unpopular opinions.

A thanksgiving Thought

2009-11-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

As we approach this year’s Thanksgiving holiday, it is important that we remember those who may be less fortunate. More Americans are struggling to put enough food on the table for their families. Making ends meet is a struggle for some Americans regardless of the state of the general economy. Such a struggle can leave families insecure about having enough food to get them through the month. Some may have to scrimp on the quantity or quality of the food that they eat. While these situations happen in the best of times, they become more common and acute in economic recessions when job markets are weak and State and local government assistance is curtailed by tight budgets.

USDA's Economic Research Service's (ERS) released its annual report on Household Food Security in the U.S., which revealed that in 2008, 17 million households, or 14.6 percent, were food insecure and families had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year. This is an increase from 13 million households, or 11.1 percent, in 2007. The 2008 figures represent the highest level observed since nationally representative food security surveys were initiated in 1995. Colorado was one of 13 states where the percentage of households struggling with hunger dropped over the three years ending in 2008 despite a surge nationally, according to a federal report released Monday. The report also looked at households dealing with the most acute hunger problems and found that the percentage in Colorado rose from 3.9 percent to 5 percent between the two time periods. One in eight Colorado households had to deal with hunger issues, and the problem has intensified in 2009 with the recession, officials surmised based on anecdotal evidence.

The USDA’s domestic food and nutrition assistance programs increase food
security by providing low-income households access to food, a healthful diet,
and nutrition education. I would like to encourage all who are able to donate to our community food banks or find other ways to share during this holiday season. Remember that it is not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, that is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

The full study is available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/features/householdfoodsecurity/

2009-11-19T06:05:00.001-08:00

During these difficult economic times it is important for our governmental. Everyone is tightening their belts and the government must too. However, rather than wholesale cuts across every agency, I believe that government must be strategic in its financial reductions – making sure that the citizenry gets the most “bang for the buck”.

I am proud that under my tenure the Auditor’s Office has added an entire new menu of products intended to help city agencies make strategic decisions. Our “Audit Services” package gives an agency the flexibility to ask for benchmarking and in depth analysis in comparing of how other cities may handle a situation. With our Audit Services we often identify what is the governmental “best practice” in a variety of scenarios. We can provide this insight in real time and it does not require as much time as a full-blown audit to complete.

In these tough economic times, information and insight is the key to providing the most city services at the cheapest cost. Audit Services is a unique and powerful way to ensure this happens.

DaVinci

2009-11-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

I encourage readers to check out the DaVinci Institute. This institute has nothing to do about fighting between angels and demons. Alas no medieval knights joining crusades to challenge some medieval foes. It is not an adjunct in the controversy Mary Magdalene’s place in the salvation legend.

The DaVinci Institute encourages people to look at trends and see how those trends might be affecting our future. The organization presents excellent futurists who try to let us know what trends may be facing economics, education, environment and even water availability.

A recent missive by email from the institute noted several trends to keep our eyes on, and these are my humble summaries:

1. By 2020 biotech and genetics will push ahead to occupy the attention spans of futurists.

2. Web amateurs will be seen to be a good or if not better than web professionals.

4.Smart water grid technologies will be the big discussion for future studies.

5.Space hotels are taking orders for rooms by 2012.

6. Many corporations are cash flush with money and are just sitting on their fortunes.

7. Online video services are becoming more like regular TV services.

8. Japan will experience some population concerns and face possible collapse.

9. China, our banker, will loan 10 billion dollars to Africa.

Check out these future teasers. Former Governor Dick Lamm often told me: "It not that one can actually predict the future. What is important is that one tries to think about the future."

I agree with him and hope you will start thinking about the future.

Ted Hackworth

2009-11-13T07:12:00.001-08:00

Denver received sad news recently that former City Councilman Ted Hackworth passed away at home.

Ted never hesitated to tell you how he felt about something. He never hesitated to vote no if he disagreed on something. He taught me lots and I am appreciative for his good advice which he always shared on issues of significance facing Denver.

Staffers and Council members both joked about a vote being 12 to one; that was 12 to Hackworth. Ted remained active to the end in his Southwest Neighborhood association. And he had a contagious smile which lit up a room no matter how big. Beneath the gruff exterior lurked a good sense of humor and encouraged me to quote more Shakespeare. One council member asked if she could get some credit at Regis for all that Shakespeare I quoted. I told her she would have to pass the test and that was stuff that dreams are made of and not likely.

He was very pleased when I arranged to lead the battle for him to serve as President Pro Tem his final year in office. He seemed to like that honor which the council awarded him for his many years of service. Ted will be missed and his dedication to neighborhood and city will be missed as well.