AURORA | First-term Councilmember Dustin Zvonek announced he’s stepping down from the Aurora City Council at the end of October, noting his recent professional move to Denver’s 76 Group, a political lobbying and public relations firm.
Zvonek cited family concerns for the reason behind his departure.
His departure has been rumored for a few weeks, and he declined to answer requests from the Sentinel about his leaving. A biography from his recent employer, the 76 Group, has described his tenure on the Aurora City Council in the past tense.
“We didn’t just talk about change,” Zvonek told fellow city lawmakers. “We made it happen. And this isn’t my record. This is our record. We made it happen right here in our city. “
He said his tenure on the city council, ending as being designated mayor pro tem, has been fulfilling.
“Council has been a wild ride to say the least, and yet it’s something I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world,” Zvonek said.
The resignation sets off an immediate struggle among frequently polarized political factions on the city council to replace Zvonek with another far-right conservative.
Although the Aurora City Council is a non-partisan elected body, partisan politics have long played a leading role in the legislative process.
The 11-member council is dominated by Republicans, but moderates and liberals on the dais say they may not support a far-right replacement, who must win election to the seat next year.
The city council meetings regularly sport a variety of histrionics among members who exchange insults or use procedural rules to cut off discussions among members and the public.
Zvonek is returning to the conservative political communications industry he’s worked in for several years.
Until accepting the position at the 76 Group, the Salt Lake City native was President and CEO of Young Americans Bank and Young Americans Center for Financial Education.
Zvonek joins longtime Colorado Republican Party powerhouses Josh Penry and Tim Pollard.
He currently serves as mayor pro tem on the city council and was elected at-large in 2021.
Zvonek has championed a handful of conservative causes on the city council, including measures increasing criminal penalties for crimes such as misdemeanor car theft and shoplifting, mandating jail time.
For the past two years, Zvonek has joined with fellow Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky in an effort to shut down the city court’s public defender program.
He was unsuccessful earlier this year in an effort to solicit requests for proposals to privatize the city’s public defender unit. After several hearings and focus on that goal, a request for proposals solicited from private law firms went unanswered.
That process led to Zvonek working to end the city’s lauded domestic violence court program, insisting that the county hear all domestic violence cases in an effort to close down the required public defender services that are part of the court system.
Zvonek said a push by the state to ensure integrated public defender units for municipal courts that hear the cases forced his hand, even though the new state law would not make any changes in what Aurora has done for decades.
He has been so far successful in pushing through that change, however, and the city’s domestic violence speciality court and program could be dismantled next year.
Most recently, Zvonek also championed changes on the Aurora Housing Authority Board, which deals directly with large and small land and housing developers.
Good riddance! Now, let’s get rid of Coffman, Sunberg and Jurinski, for a fresh start. These geeks never saw a microphone that they could pass up. Let’s get someone interested in working for the citizens of Aurora!
I’m with you! Problem is who is gonna replace him?
Agreed!
He sure ducked out of the faux “ganged up building” story that he helped initiate.
BTW, when will Jurinsky and Coffman admit THEY were the start of Aurora’s national black eye?
You don’t get to say you helped put out the fire, but ignore saying you started it.
We KNOW what you did.
I certainly agree about Jurinsky! She, Lauren Boebart and Majorie Taylor-Green are triplets from different mothers. Coffman was a “lesser of two evils” against Marcano. We are one of the most diverse cities in miles and miles, and Marcano was scary in his approach to taking from the hard workers and giving to everyone else. ARE THERE ANY MODERATES ANYWHERE? If so, please apply.
You do realize as a mayor Marcano had zero power right? You preferred a known liar and someone believes corporations should be able to buy our elections.
Marcano was mayor? Did anyone tell him?
He is so self loving. Changed what ? Using lies and exaggerations to embarrass Aurora nationally. Giving a convicted felon the chance to further degrade the community with those lies your little fat right club used .Good riddance to bad garbage.
Very much looking forward to the appointment process under City Charter Article 3-7. The last time we were here was when Nicole Johnson resigned. In spite of the Charter’s mandate Council could not fill the position in a timely manner and the battle went late into the night at at least 3 Council meetings covering over 120 votes before an appointment was made. Now, with the Council not nearly so evenly ideologically split I presume things should go more smoothly, but who knnows?
Sadly, the righty extremists are elected because more of their fans vote in local elections. I could be wrong. It seems the progressive and moderate voters may not be as attentive to vote in local elections. Hopefully, that is not the case in November. I sense Mr Trump is going to have another “stop the steal” breakdown. Maybe next time around, the good citizens of Aurora will dump the righties including Coffman. We dumped Coffman in the 6th and I’ve felt well represented by Congressman Crow since. Good riddance to Mikey.
The Dem and progressives are far more concerned with Denver elections in the spring than Aurora elections…even though they live in Aurora. Sad fact is, most Dems prefer Republicans to progressives too.
No lies told!