Theresa Spahn is a breath of fresh air in the mayor's race: Kenny Be's Speed Candidating

Ballots for the 2011 General Municipal Election are due on May 3, 2011. With one week left to vote and nine candidates running for Denver mayor, voters will need to keep a "cheat sheet" handy. My Speed Candidating profiles cut through the empty rhetoric to find the meaningful content. Today,...

By Kenny Be

April 26, 2011

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Ballots for the 2011 General Municipal Election are due on May 3, 2011. With one week left to vote and nine candidates running for Denver mayor, voters will need to keep a "cheat sheet" handy. My Speed Candidating profiles cut through the empty rhetoric to find the meaningful content. Today, an exhilarating look at Theresa Spahn... As seen above, the Speed Candidating profile for Theresa Spahn condenses the essence of the woman and her mayoral mission. This abbreviated version is best understood when read in a side-by-side comparison with Speed Candidating profiles of the other eight mayoral candidates.

Being a woman is not what separates Theresa Spahn from the eight other candidates in the Denver mayor's race. It's her refreshing approach to satisfying Denver's political appetite. In the video embedded in her Westword profile, Spahn makes her introductory campaign announcement from the center of her sun-drenched kitchen. In a city known for its pot lucks and get-togethers, Denver voters know all good parties end up in the kitchen.

As the male candidates snipe at one another and bicker about who said what and when at which mayoral forum, Spahn has been free to provide long and detailed answers about her leadership abilities as the next mayor. Not that her road has been entirely smooth. Spahn's campaign website details the challenges that she has faced in her personal and professional life, and how the support of her friends and family inspired her to a life of selfless service -- from high school drop out to District Court Magistrate who left the bench to create Colorado's Office of Child's Representative.

Whether in her own writing, or before the camera, Spahn actually seems amazed at her good fortune in being able to help oft-neglected communities during a time when it is truly needed. What a refreshing change to the "air apparent."

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