Not one Denver council member on Monday night backed Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca’s proposal that would have abolished the police department with voters’ approval this November and replaced it with a “peace force.”

The last-minute bill died overwhelmingly, and expectedly, in an 11-1 vote. It also alienated CdeBaca from the rest of her colleagues.

The measure had blindsided council members, who weren’t made aware of the proposal until late Thursday, some as late as Friday morning, after CdeBaca direct filed the measure onto the Monday agenda, giving members hardly any time to review the bill, the reason Councilman Chris Hinds said he abstained from voting.

Lawyers within the City Attorney’s Office, which helped draft the legislation, told council members on Monday night that the timeline was too tight to understand what exactly was in the bill, or to decipher any unintended consequences that could come as a result.

“We didn’t have enough time to analyze any of the issues that the bill might have raised,” said legislative counsel Kirsten Crawford, who told council members attorneys were handed bill language for the first time late Wednesday afternoon and asked to formalize it.

Council members were not only peeved by the lack of process around the proposal, such as vetting it through the council committee process and gathering citywide public input, but they also echoed what many critics are often eager to say about CdeBaca, including Denver Mayor Michael Hancock: that she’s more of a showboat than a policymaker, more about the applause than the performance.

“This is nowhere near ready and, frankly, I think the sponsor knew that when she filed it, that she was putting us in a position where we have to vote no, so that then we could be portrayed as somehow standing for racism and oppression, which is obviously not the case,” said Councilman Kevin Flynn, who characterized her tactics as the “weaponizing of chaos.”

Veteran Councilwoman At Large Debbie Ortega likened CdeBaca’s policymaking to pushing people around.

“It feels like we’re creating a movement of trying to bully us into how we should be voting on some of these bills, and I think it’s totally inappropriate for how we should govern in this city,” she said, adding that she has plenty of respect for the councilwoman but that a “last-minute push” for a major reform is “irresponsible” and unfair to colleagues and constituents.

“You make it feel like it’s us versus you, and I’m telling you it’s not,” Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval told CdeBaca. “If we all work together instead of trying to work in silos, we could actually get things done.”

Several council members, including Sandoval, said there are elements of CdeBaca’s proposal that they could support had it gone through the committee process, but that that the rushed nature of the bill overshadows those possibilities.

CdeBaca acknowledged that her approach was not the norm, but did not apologize for it either. “Nothing has been traditional in 2020,” she said.

She insisted that the community has been clear in what they want by marching in the streets, storming council meetings and more.

“We can’t dictate what participation looks like, and we can’t demand that it is only to happen on our terms. To ignore what the people have asked for is what is truly reckless,” she said, repeating the word Hancock had used to describe her approach earlier that day, when he and the top three safety officials held a press conference to bash her bill.

Hancock said her proposal was “hypocritical” because it lacked transparency and accountability. He maintained that policy change within law enforcement is necessary and in progress but only within the framework of the current safety departments.

“Let’s be clear: So long as I’m mayor, we will not abolish the Denver Police Department,” he declared. “We will not erode the capacity of our law enforcement and first responders to keep our communities, neighborhoods, schools and homes in Denver safe.”

CdeBaca said real change can only begin from the ground up.  

“Right now, there is not a single reform that will work because the fox is guarding the henhouse,” she said. “There are no real accountability mechanisms for us to make a reform in Denver.”

Councilwoman At Large Robin Kniech and Council President Stacie Gilmore both expressed their commitment to reshaping policing in the city, but with time.

“I don’t believe this is the end of the discussion,” Kniech said. “I think one thing people are craving is, what is the next step? And I think that the next step for this body might be getting some expert support to help guide that.”

“This is way too important to mess this up by going too fast,” Gilmore said.

Kathryn Scott, special to colorado politics Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca in the halls of the Denver City and County building on Feb. 3.

Kathryn Scott