Mike Johnston Commits to Calling Out Wage Thieves, Other Issues at Community Forum

Denver's new mayor, Mike Johnston, has doubled down on commitments he made to constituents during his campaign related to wage theft, workers' rights, affordable housing, community land ownership in Globeville Elyria-Swansea and school safety.

During the mayoral runoff election, Johnston and his opponent, Kelly Brough, attended a forum hosted by Coloradans for the Common Good on May 25. Rather than ask the candidates for their ideas on how to solve a list of issues, CCG presented its own solutions to pressing problems and asked the candidates if they would pledge their support to those proposals if elected.

Prior to that forum in late May, CCG carried out a six-month- canvassing campaign in which conversations with over 1,000 community members provided the basis for initiatives that the group then presented to the candidates. Johnston agreed to all but one of CCG's nine proposals, and agreed to attend a follow-up meeting on July 12.

The forum took place as planned at Regis University Chapel, where CCG asked the newly elected Johnston if he would remain committed to those proposals now that the pressure to win an upcoming election has gone away. Johnston agreed — and even took some of their proposals a step further.

CCG describes itself as a nonpartisan organization that hopes to give "ordinary people...a powerful voice in the decisions that affect their lives." It does not have individual members, instead being made up of member organizations that each bring their own members.

Some of those member organizations include the NAACP of Denver, the Globeville Elyria-Swansea (GES) Coalition, the NAACP of Boulder, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), Community of Grace Presbyterian Church, B'nai Havurah Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation and El Centro Humanitario.

The July 12 meeting was heavily attended, with spectators watching as a moderator asked Johnston if he is still committed to setting up a meeting between the Denver police chief and CCG and DCTA members, who are concerned about safety in Denver Public Schools; if he will set up a meeting between CCG and the city auditor to discuss solutions to wage theft; and if he'll commit to looking into turning undeveloped land in Globeville Elyria-Swansea into affordable housing.

Johnston wound up giving an easy yes to the meeting with the police chief.

"In addition to the police chief, there are other folks who we want [involved]," he said. "Children's Hospital and Denver Health, and the folks that are doing work on mental health supports around the region."

Johnston added, "I think we probably want to have Denver Public Schools — someone from the superintendent's office — to be able to reactivate that partnership between the city and the schools and the police chief."

On the topic of wage theft, Denver's new mayor said he'd be "glad" to set up a meeting with City Auditor Timothy O'Brien to discuss combating wage theft and how to improve the ability of the auditor's office to enforce anti-wage theft laws.

In addition to organizing that meeting, Johnston asked: "What is our capacity to actually expose those employers who are doing that?"

He followed up the question with a statement saying, "I think that's something we ought to look at. What we can do is sit down together and figure out how we give [the auditor's office] the tools to enforce [Denver's wage-theft law], and also how we use the power we have to call out those people that are breaking those laws and taking people's wages. Because that should be something [where] we all rally and say, 'This is a business you shouldn't patronize or shouldn't go to or shouldn't support if they're not going to support our workers."

Johnston agreed to go on a tour of the area known as the "GES Triangle," adding, "I share your belief; this ought to be land we use to build the affordable units we need to make sure the families that have stayed here for generations...can afford to stay there and live there.

"And [I'm] really interested in how we can look at ways to establish community ownership of that land and community ownership of the developments we can build there," he continued, "so that anything we build in those locations is money that actually comes back to the residents that built this community long before that development arrived."

Zeik Saidman, spokesperson for CCG, told Westword after the July 12 meeting that the group felt good about Johnston's follow-through on his commitment to meet with them. "We look forward to having a working relationship with the mayor on not only those issues, but other issues that surface during our thousand hours of conversation," he said, referring to CCG's continued efforts to hear from community members.

"I think this is an amazing group of community leaders," Johnston said of CCG. "They've been working on building this diverse coalition for years around this idea, which is 'We're better together.' If all people that care about these social justice issues don't just pick their one issue but pick all the issues, I think it's a real force for good, and I'm delighted to partner with them and try to get some of these things accomplished."

Denver's new mayor does not think any of these commitments will create any challenges with other city interests: "These are things that are injustices we're all committed to taking on. They're not easy, but they're important, and they're urgent. And so they're at the top of my list."