AURORA | After more than a dozen rounds of voting and accusations of partisan politics Monday night, the Aurora City Council decided to layover a vote to appoint a replacement member to represent Ward II until July 12.
Council members were deadlocked in a repeated 5-5 tie over candidates Ryan Ross, a community activist who recently facilitated the city’s police reform task force, and Steve Sundberg, the longtime manager of Legends Bar and Grill. The chosen candidate would fill former member Nicole Johnston’s seat for the remainder of her term, which ends this year.
Conservative members sided with Sundberg, while progressive members of the elected body opted for Ross, who has been endorsed by Johnston.
Common values was a recurring theme throughout the night. Councilmember Juan Marcano said the appointee should act as an extension to the person voters chose four years ago. But Councilmember Francoise Bergan argued the northeast Aurora district has changed in that time, and the council members shouldn’t speak for the voters.
Johnston described herself as “progressive” throughout her campaign and time in office, advocating for police reform, stricter oil and gas regulation, and tighter campaign finance laws. She was also a vocal opponent of Mayor Mike Coffman’s proposed urban camping ban, which was a popular subject during recent interviews with Ward II candidates.
Coffman asked the six candidates vying for the seat specifically whether they would back his proposal. Ross said he would not and Sundberg said he would, but only if the city had enough infrastructure to shelter the city’s unhoused.
On a politically divided council — despite nonpartisan elections — the appointed member could hold a lot of weight in policy decisions over the next several months.
While the city council is charged with remedying the tied vote by July 29, per city charter rules, it’s highly unlikely the city could organize a special election in a month’s time, the city’s attorney said.
The city charter dictates that council members “shall” appoint a fellow lawmaker no later than 45 days after the vacancy. Not doing so could result in a criminal complaint, city attorney Dan Brotzman told the council.
Some members were wary of that interpretation, however. Bergan asked for a second legal opinion.
Councilmember Coombs said she supported the layover so that the city could return with more information about handing the decision over to voters. Coombs originally voted against the layover along with council members Allison Hiltz, Juan Marcano, Angela Lawson and Crystal Murillo, who also changed her vote at the end.
Coombs said she worried that allowing the council to layover the vote would create behind the scenes lobbying, but Coffman assured that sunshine laws — specifically state law that asserts three or more elected officials meeting constitutes as a public meeting — would keep the lawmakers accountable.
Council members could decide to draw lots to determine the appointee, said city clerk Kadee Rodriguez. That’s how the election commission and state determine ties. Whatever the decision, it has to have the support of a majority of council.
Besides Ross and Sundberg, the only other candidate to receive a vote was Robert Hamilton. Council member Curtis Gardner voted for him in the first round before switching to Sundberg.
Council members Hiltz, Murillo, Coombs, Lawson and Marcano consistently voted for Ross.
Set aside issues of contention like the camping ban, etc. The voters of Ward II emphatically chose a progressive candidate in 2017. Nicole Johnston won a five candidate race with very nearly a majority, 49.66% of the vote. The second-place finisher, Bob Hagedorn, who got 23.65% of the vote, and Ruben Medina, in fourth place with 9.30%, also ran on many progressive policy positions. Between those three they received 82% of the vote. City Council has a responsibility to reflect the will of the voters.
Of course, Ward II has changed since 2017. So has the rest of the city and the rest of the country, for that matter. CM Bergan has no evidence I can see as to whether the clear progressive preference of the electorate changed, and if it did, in what direction. Until we vote again this November, the 2017 election is the final word on the matter.
Totally agree. Honor Johnston’s and the voters’ choice, a more progressive candidate. From an Aurora resident, who voted Coffman out of the HOUSE in 2018 and is not surprised that under his Mayoral leadership, the City Council is now divided, unable to lead together, chaotic, and having to focus on crazy stupid dangerous ideas unsupported by all data like the camping ban, because Coffman emulates his mentor trump’s leadership style- promote hate, division, chaos, sensationalism, narcissism, distraction and deflection, and no real helpful governing for ALL constituents.
I agree with you Debra. Coffman is an embarrassment to our city and community. He needs to go back to the Marine Corps where he can order people around with little accountability. We need an intelligent, researched policy on the homeless instead of the easy way to just ban them. Denver is trying. Aurora is not because of the 50s thinking of the mayor and his supporters. Show a little compassion for these people and give them a break.
Your perspective that the left and right are monolithic is astounding. Several nuances stood out for Mr.Sundberg that I’m sure you consider contradictory to conservatism: He is married to a black woman, he volunteers for many social causes, he supports actual solutions to homelessness instead of empty enabling rhetoric, he is an environmentalist. His pragmatism probably comes as a shock to the “progressive” left.
Being married to a Black woman is your idea of a “bonus”? You must be a MAGA dolt. Only people like you throw in information like that as some proof that a white person is a good person. After all, they married one of those negro people and that’s says it all. No. Marrying a Black person is just that and nothing more. It says nothing about their politics or beliefs. I’ve met plenty of white people with Black spouses who are just as racist as they come. They just believe they married one of the “good” ones. You have lazy trumper “thinking” at its worst. Tucker has to be proud of you.
Black people are not stooges who look at an interracial marriage and automatically decide that the white spouse holds our same American values because someone Black is at their side.
Black people are not objects that whites can hold up and show off as proof of anything much less that they are not racially biased. When white people like you do that … we know exactly who and what you are: a Fox News kool-aid chugger.
The so called progressives possess the intelligence of a teenager and only want things given to them without having to work for them
Honor Johnston’s and the voters’ choice, a more progressive candidate. From an Aurora resident, who voted Coffman out of the HOUSE in 2018 and is not surprised that under his Mayoral leadership, the City Council is now divided, unable to lead together, chaotic, and having to focus on crazy stupid dangerous ideas unsupported by all data like the camping ban, because Coffman emulates his mentor trump’s leadership style- promote hate, division, chaos, sensationalism, narcissism, distraction and deflection, and no real helpful governing for ALL constituents.
We heard you the first time.
According to Ballotpedia, Johnston won with an anemic, barely-over-3,000 votes against a frankly fragmented field of weak candidates. If you want to see what overwhelming support looks like, check out CM Bergan in the adjacent Ward 6, with three times as many votes cast for her (57% of the entire vote.) By your measure, she seems to have her finger on the pulse of Aurora’s growing eastern side.
Ross is not “progressive,” he is a leftist social activist. So unless you can provide evidence that the ward has become socialist, he is far from a mirror representation of Johnston’s values. To suggest such is a false equivalency. (Ross’ social equity passion areas — civil rights and homelessness — didn’t even make Johnston’s top half in her important issues rankings.)
It’s pretty clear the socialists on council want someone who will carry their water for the waning days until the election, and have found their patsy in Ross.
As soon as we started the name calling, I’ll hope for resolution was lost.
With the advantages of incumbency and substantial corporate contributions, Bergan received 57% in 2019. In her first campaign. which is more comparable to Johnstons’s first campaign, she got only 51%, barely above what Johnston got.
I’ll take you at your word. Considering your celebration of Johston’s victory without a plurality, you must be duly impressed with Bergan’s majority win in her first run for council.
You should be clear on the meanings of words before you use them. She had a clear plurality, “the excess of votes received by the leading candidate, in an election in which there are three or more candidates, over those received by the next candidate (distinguished from majority).” A majority is what she fell just barely short of receiving.
Mea culpa. I meant to say “with only” a plurality. I should proofread better. The point is, less than half of Johnston’s ward supported her.
This is more evidence that the 10 CMs and the mayor are far more interested in winning wholly partisan battles than doing anything for the city.
Just look at the pathetically sad state of retail, dining and entertainment in the city. In 2016 a researcher compiled a benchmark study which compared the retail economies of Aurora and the 11 Colorado cities closest in population. After adjusting for differences in population, Aurora was 14% below the average and 59% below Denver. And this Council responded by doing absolutely nothing. You’ll never even hear them acknowledge the retail problem, the root causes or any strategy to address.
The socialists on council really don’t want to acknowledge that its RETAIL that fuels the city budget. Its simply not in their DNA to acknowledge that retail and dining is absolutely essential to keeping the city running. They’d rather dream about replacing sales tax with another more Marxist solution.
The Progressive Democrats on council truly fear party leadership in Denver so in their minds, Aurora may only excel and grow as permitted by the Denver party elite. This is why over 90% of the tax collected in Aurora for cultural facilities goes to Denver while Aurora still can’t host its H.S. graduations for lack of a large venue. After over 30 years of clear geographic inequality subtly entangled with racial suppression, the progressive Dems on council — and our delegation at the Capitol– still worship the big blue bear in Denver. The believe the Denver SCFD Bear is their spirit animal!
Meanwhile, the conservatives on council and the mayor talk a good game until you show them a viable plan. Then they quickly shove their heads back in the sand. They can obstruct everything, feeling confident that their wealthy donors will help gloss over their role in allowing Aurora’s retail economy to slowly crash. Never mind all the alternatives to boosting retail activity will require raising the tax rates you and I pay.
Calling all Radically Pragmatic Independents: Your city desperately needs you!