The three ballot-qualified challengers to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock lack political polish, delivering campaign messages unhoned by strategists.
But all of them, in varying ways, say conversations with voters have tapped into rumbles of discontent with Hancock, including the downsides of development, social justice concerns surrounding Denver police and the jail, and soaring housing costs.
Voters looking for an alternative to Hancock have three lesser-known choices on the May 5 ballot: Sekú, Paul Noël Fiorino and Marcus Giavanni.
True citizen candidates, they each collected at least 300 verified petition signatures from registered voters. None has reported raising a cent, sometimes out of principle.
Some of their campaign messages are, well, unconventional.
“My name is Chairman Sekú, and I will be your next mayor of the city and county of Denver — ready for the revolution,” says the social justice activist in a campaign video recorded for Denver Decides. He uses that name in place of his legal name, Stephan E. Evans.
He is listed on the ballot — in the first position, by drawing — simply as Sekú. The city attorney determined that state law prohibits the use of titles such as “Chairman” but allows nicknames.
Voters also have the option of writing in a candidate’s name for mayor. Three residents have certified their names to ensure that their write-in votes are counted on Election Night: Larry Am brose, Scott Hoftiezer and Brad K. Evans.
Hancock’s opponents may face a steep climb in a quiet mayor’s race that attracted no prominent or well-funded challenger to his $1.2 million-and-counting re-election campaign. The mayor, whose four years in office were profiledFriday by The Denver Post, has led the city in a booming economy during a period of fast-paced growth and vertical development.
Fiorino said the lack of a big challenge to Hancock is part of what inspired him to run. It seemed undemocratic.
He ran for Colorado governor in 2006, 2010 and again last year, most recently garnering 5,923 votes statewide, or about 0.3 percent. That includes 664 votes in Denver.
Fiorino, 60, the president of the Golden Triangle Museum District, says he generally regards Hancock well, but he wants to shake up the status quo, make government more transparent, give out fewer subsidies to big businesses that don’t need them and address the affordable housing crunch.
“He’s been doing the things that he said he was going to do,” said Fiorino, who also is a ballet teacher, choreographer and director. “But the people, I don’t think, are too impressed.
“Denver can’t continue squeezing out the middle class and squeezing out those who are on fixed incomes, you know?”
Giavanni, 55, said Hancock deserved to win in 2011 but hasn’t earned a second term.
“He needs to address the scraping issue with the homes (and having) no sidewalks in certain (older) developments,” Giavanni said. “The other issue is that we need to elect our chief of police and our sheriff. There’s too much power for the mayor.”
He lives in the Cory-Merrill neighborhood and says he is forming a sales business but is not accepting clients. He calls himself a “Google Plus conversation authority,” saying he’s well-versed in social media content optimization. His legal name is Mark Andrew Nelson-Giavanni, he said, which combines his adopted and birth families’ names. But he goes by Marcus Giavanni, a variation he started using while in a heavy metal band when he was younger.
Giavanni also keys in on concerns about Hancock’s priorities and says he has concerns about how the city’s social services operate. He suggests forming a “community congress” for round-table discussions to find pragmatic solutions to the city’s largest problems.
Sekú, who could not be reached late last week, is an outspoken activist who has spoken up frequently at City Council and community meetings.
In his video for Denver Decides, a community and city partnership to provide election information, he echoed the other candidates’ calls for a change — in his own way.
“We are faced with the reality that the socioeconomic dynamic of the people is inflicted with the disease of stankin’ thinkin’ and a funky way of treating everybody and everything,” Sekú said.
Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JonMurray
