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We’ve previously written about Denver Mayor MIchael Hancock’s endorsement of Happy Haynes in her race to fill the at-large seat on the Denver School Board. Haynes and Hancock go way back: she was a vocal advocate of his campaign for mayor and he’s just returning the favor. It’s not surprising, or risky, really, for Hancock to endorse someone who’s already so closely associated with him and his administration.

Hancock won’t stop there, it seems. From an e-mail we received from him on Friday:

Dear Friends,

These are challenging times. Far too many of our children are dropping out of school. Far too many of our children are hungry. Far too many of our children are growing up without an opportunity to grow and thrive.

I truly believe that in the years ahead, whether it is 10, 20, or 50 years from now, people will look back and judge us on our courage, on our wisdom, and on our leadership.

People will not care what side of an issue we were on and they will not care about the labels we assign. They will only care that we did our best – our very best – to live up to our civic duty to create a better future for our children.

I believe Anne Rowe shares the same dedication that I do to building a world-class education system right here in Denver. That is why I am proud to endorse her candidacy for the District 1 Denver School Board.

We understand why Hancock endorsed Haynes in her at-large race. She took a risk early on in endorsing his Mayoral bid, and his subsequent endorsement is really the least he can do. It’s not like he’s taking a risk in that race either; Happy is the frontrunner by leaps and bounds over her four competitors. Hancock’s not really taking a chance in burning any bridges because that race has so many candidates; it’s not a grudge match.

It is curious, however, that Hancock is endorsing in the District 1 race between Rowe and her opponent Emily Sirota. Sirota, wife of politico, columnist, and drive-time talk radio host David Sirota is definitely going to give Rowe a run for her money. Sirota might even beat Rowe. Unlike Haynes’ race, where Hancock is more or less endorsing the candidate most likely to win, there’s a chance that Hancock could be endorsing the loser. That’s embarrassing for any Mayor, but critically embarrassing for someone inaugurated only four months ago. Hancock’s acting like he has all the sway that John Hickenlooper had after years on the job. He doesn’t, and one guaranteed way to lose a lot of political clout is to endorse candidates who end up losing.  

We’ve previously written about Denver Mayor MIchael Hancock’s endorsement of Happy Haynes in her race to fill the at-large seat on the Denver School Board. Haynes and Hancock go way back: she was a vocal advocate of his campaign for mayor and he’s just returning the favor. It’s not surprising, or risky, really, for Hancock to endorse someone who’s already so closely associated with him and his administration.

Hancock won’t stop there, it seems. From an e-mail we received on Friday:

Dear Friends,

These are challenging times.  Far too many of our children are dropping out of school. Far too many of our children are hungry. Far too many of our children are growing up without an opportunity to grow and thrive.

I truly believe that in the years ahead, whether it is 10, 20 or 50 years from now, people will look back and judge us on our courage, on our wisdom, and on our leadership.

People will not care what side of an issue we were on and they will not care about the labels we assign. They will only care that we did our best – our very best – to live up to our civic duty to create a better future for our children.

I believe Anne Rowe shares the same dedication that I do to building a world-class education system right here in Denver. That is why I am proud to endorse her candidacy for the District 1 Denver School Board.

We understand why Hancock endorsed Haynes in her at-large race. She took a risk early on in endorsing his Mayoral bid, and his subsequent endorsement is really the least he can do. It’s not like it’s a risky endorsement, either; Happy is the frontrunner by leaps and bounds over her four competitors. Hancock’s not really taking a chance in burning any bridges because that race has so many candidates; it’s not a grudge match.

It is curious, however, that Hancock is endorsing in the District 1 race between Rowe and her opponent Emily Sirota. Sirota, wife of politico, columnist, and drive-time talk radio host David Sirota, is definitely going to give Rowe a run for her money. Sirota might even beat Rowe. Unlike Haynes’ race, where Hancock is more or less endorsing the candidate most likely to win, the Hancock-endorsed candidate could lose. Imagine if Rowe did lose. That’s embarrassing for any Mayor, but critically embarrassing for someone inaugurated four months ago. Hancock’s acting like he has all the sway that John Hickenlooper had after years on the job. He doesn’t, and one guaranteed way to lose a lot of political clout is to endorse candidates who don’t win. Hancock just gave himself an even greater incentive to campaign for Haynes and Rowe; it’s going to look really bad if either end up in second place on election day.  

Jeremy Myer over at the Denver newspaper today had an interesting piece on Wil Alston’s primary task of raising the profile of Michael Hancock to garner the mayor some national attention. As Myer points out, Hickenlooper as mayor had an enviable national image. His quirky, soft-spoken personality partnered with his sharp political acumen made him seem like the perfect person to represent Denver nationally. Indeed, Hick’s term as Denver’s de-facto spokesperson culminated in his appearance during the Democratic National Convention in 2008. It’s because the Mayor of Denver also serves as a representative of Colorado and its culture that we’ve always called the position the marquee elected position in Colorado.

The thing is, Michael Hancock is no John Hickenlooper. Not yet, anyway. Hancock’s story is certainly inspirational, gripping, and really something admirable. Yet Hancock just doesn’t have the same personality as Hick. It’s nothing against Hancock; what’s made Hickenlooper such a teflon mayor-cum-governor is that he seemed like somebody you’d want to sit down and have a beer with, somebody you could trust because he’d have no reason to lie to you. Hickenlooper’s communications shop didn’t have to work so hard to promote the mayor’s image because John was already a decent ambassador for the state.

We’d be proud to have Michael Hancock take on the same national profile as John Hickenlooper. Still, we feel it’s a little too soon for Alston to be shopping around Hancock’s story. It feels a little…corporate. While Hancock’s rise to mayor would certainly make good fodder for the Today show, it would be even better if Hancock was first given the chance to accomplish something in the office. If Hancock shines in Denver we have no doubt his name will be brought up for Governor or any other statewide office soon enough. However, if Alston succeeds and Hancock assumes a national profile this early on in his administration, his local and national reputation will be damaged ten times more if he doesn’t remain popular.

The paradox here is that Alston’s communications shop is trying to make Hancock look the natural heir to John Hickenlooper from a national perspective, something that John Hickenlooper would never do or at least admit to doing. The more Alston pushes Hancock’s story, the less organic it seems, the less “Hickenlooper-like” it is. What Alston should be doing is letting Hancock inherit the role; instead of pushing Hancock, he should be showcasing how Hancock is, to borrow the slogan, “moving Denver forward.” That takes time because it takes more than replacing the welcome voice at DIA or snagging a 3 minute appearance with Matt Lauer to have a track record you can brag about.

We’re a little afraid to admit that our favorite election in recent memory wasn’t even in Denver. Sure, the race between Hancock and Romer and all the rest was something to watch, but it couldn’t match the levels of excitement you get from a Mayoral race in, oh, say, Chicago. Especially when it was the inimitable Rahm Emanuel running to take on the Windy City’s top job.

Actually, what made that election so amusing is the fact that Rham Emanuel wasn’t so inimitable. What we absolutely loved about the election in Chicago earlier this year wasn’t actually Rham’s campaign, but rather the brilliant satire of Rahm and his staff produced by the @MayorEmanuel Twitter account. It was an expletive filled exploration of Emanuel’s psyche, more a fictional narrative of the loudmouth, smacktalking chief of staff’s campaign than anything else. As The Atlantic phrased it:

It pushed the boundaries of the medium, making Twitter feel less like a humble platform for updating your status and more like a place where literature could happen. Never deviating too far from the reality of the race itself, @MayorEmanuel wove deep, hilarious stories. It was next-level digital political satire and caricature, but over the months the account ran, it became much more. By the end, the stream resembled an epic, allusive ode to the city of Chicago itself, yearning and lyrical.

So in case you couldn’t tell, we absolutely loved @MayorEmanuel, but we were always a little bit jealous we never had something like that in Denver. How could you? The equivalent @MayorHickenlooper account would’ve just been a nice guy in blue jeans talking about how he likes polite conversation over craft beer after a long hike.

That’s why we were pretty excited when we logged onto Twitter this morning and saw @NotMayorHancock popping up into our feed. That’s right, folks, it looks like Denver is getting its very own fake Mayor. While we don’t think a parody of Michael Hancock could ever be as funny as that of Rahm Emanuel, we still chuckled a little bit reading a few of the doppelganger Mayor’s tweets:

Just went by new office to scope things. Bill tells me Hick emptied the mini bar before he bailed – gotta hit Argonaut this weekend

Checking mssgs: 2am, Linkhart at Circle K getting cheetos?! Says he made a killer batch of brownies for the inauguration party.

Another mssg from Romer. Says if I’ll interview him to run investments he can totally hook up after party Monday at The Diamond

This account will probably never blow up like its Second City predecessor did, but hey, we can hope, right? It might just be the thing to put the Hancock administration on the map!

Or maybe not. Either way, we’re glad to see someone in the Mile High City joking around on Twitter who isn’t @YoJBCRaps. We can only take so much of that financial jargon. Oh, and you can follow us on Twitter: @DenverPols.

With this morning’s announcement that Janice Sinden has been selected as incoming Mayor Michael Hancock’s first chief-of-staff, a lot of insiders have focused their attention on discussing Allegra “Happy” Haynes. The influential former City Councilwoman and longtime Hickenlooper advisor seemed a likely choice for the job; her experience working with Hick paired with her ability to nuance City Council would make her the perfect fit for Hancock: she could help him immediately adapt to the challenges of his new job while at the same time connecting Hancock to all the successes under now Governor John Hickenlooper.

We’ve heard that, like Terrance Carroll, Happy could’ve had the job if she wanted it. She obviously has other plans, though, if this press release we received is any indicator:

Happy Haynes Announces Candidacy for At-Large Seat on DPS Board

JULY 1, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Peter Schottenfels (o) 720-295-8364

Happy Haynes Announces Candidacy for Denver School Board At-Large on Thursday evening.

Dr. Evie Garrett Dennis says Haynes “has the experience and passion to be a leader on the School Board.”

DENVER- Former City Council member Allegra “Happy” Haynes announced her candidacy for the at-large seat on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education to a crowded room of family, friends and supporters on Thursday evening at Bogey’s on the Park. Happy for Denver’s Kids co-chairs attorney David Foster, former councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez and former DPS Superintendent Dr. Evie Garrett Dennis introduced Haynes.

“Happy builds bridges,” said campaign Co-Chair David Foster. “She has the mind-set, depth of knowledge and ties to the city to make her an invaluable member to the most important governing body in our city,” he added.

A lifelong Denverite and proud graduate of Denver Public Schools, Haynes served on City Council from 1990 to 2003 and as Council President from 1998 to 2000. Haynes served as a senior staff member for Mayor John Hickenlooper. Then in 2005, Haynes joined then-DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet as Assistant for Community Partnerships.

Happy Haynes is running for the at-large seat on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. The seat is currently held by Theresa Peña, who is term-limited. The election will be held on November 1st, 2011.

Haynes is obviously incredibly well-known within Denver, though maybe not always for the right reasons. Still, she will be a force to be reckoned with in any campaign for School Board; she knows all the people you need to know to win this sort of election.

Happy will face some very vocal opposition, though, if she’s perceived as a reform-minded candidate. In fact, despite her connections and name ID, her entire chance at winning will rest on her ability to justify her relationship with both Michael Bennet and Tom Boasberg and the work they’ve done during their respective tenures at DPS. We can think of a lot of opponents who’d be thrilled to take Happy down just to eliminate Boasberg’s 4-3 board majority.