Developers, Republican dark money, and a former City Council Loser are using Darrell Watson to buy a seat on City Council.
"I was instructed to spank the child, by both biological parents, while the father was present." - Darrell Watson
Here's what's below:
- Watson’s conviction for child-abuse
- Watson talking down to women
- The massive amount of dark money propping up Watson
- The massive amount of Republican support backing Watson
- The former city councilman (Albus Brooks) who pulled all this together because he lost his City Council seat to Candi CdeBaca
1. Watson's conviction for child-abuse
Before we really dig behind the curtain and see who’s pulling the strings, here’s a little history about Darrell Watson beating someone else’s child:
Watson ran unsuccessfully for city council twice before. During his first run in 2007, the Denver Post reported on his 2003 conviction for abusing a 6-year-old who was not his child:
“Darrell Watson, [...] received a deferred sentence for ‘wrongs to a minor,’ according to police and court records. |
So when Watson is instructed to commit violence against someone else’s child, he goes ahead and does what he’s told.
Watson decided to add his perspective to the story, which was reported in a follow-up article on 5280 Magazine:
“The facts of this story are simple. |
That’s really creepy, and kind of a lie. Back to the Denver Post article:
“The report said “according to the victim’s father, he and his partner had ‘hit him with their hands and he didn’t realize how hard they had hit the victim until about an hour after they had hit him and saw the marks.’” |
Keep in mind that the victim is a 6-year-old boy whose parents are divorced and he’s being taken care of by two adults who commit repeated violence against him. Enough violence to cause bruises that they quickly noticed and which persisted for a week.
Ok, so not a great look for Watson, but that was a while ago. How does he treat others these days? Turns out, not so well.
Ok, so not a great look for Watson, but that was a while ago. How does he treat others these days? Turns out, not so well.
2. Watson is a bit of a misogynist. Or is he racist? Or both?
Here's just one example:
"It sums up how @CandiCdeBacaD9 has approached her job on council. She is loud but ultimately ineffective." - Darrell Watson
If you’re a guy, or not a Latina, perhaps you don’t know how offensive it is to be called "loud". Here's an article from HipLatina:
"As a Latina, I’m all too familiar with the stereotypes that are associated with being a 'Loud Latina,' and as a Dominican American woman, I experience them far too often— especially when I’m the only person of color in the room. I grew up being constantly told to shhhh or lower my voice— pretty much since I started speaking. It’s difficult for me to express the amount of shame I’ve experienced whenever someone refers to me as loud and that’s partially because of the politics that come with being both a woman and a person of color [...] |
Watson knew exactly what he was doing when he posted that tweet...
Ok, enough of Watson. There’s not much more under the hood except that he’s claiming to be a progressive, but as we’ve seen he doesn’t respect others and he does what he’s told.
Unfortunately, he’s almost exclusively backed by developers, Republicans, an insane mountain of Republican dark money, and a loser (Albus Brooks) who lost his seat on City Council. Those groups generally don't back progressives. And those are the people who will be telling him what to do if he gets on City Council.
Unfortunately, he’s almost exclusively backed by developers, Republicans, an insane mountain of Republican dark money, and a loser (Albus Brooks) who lost his seat on City Council. Those groups generally don't back progressives. And those are the people who will be telling him what to do if he gets on City Council.
3. Republican Dark (and Illegal) Money
Starting off, Independent Expenditure groups have dumped a ton of money into defeating Candi CdeBaca. Those groups are exclusively funded by Republican dark money.
Opposition to Candi CdeBaca: $519,838.91
As of 4/30/2023, opposition funding has blown past half a million dollars. No individual district candidate has had more money dumped into the race in opposition than in District 9. (There’s a reason for that [spoiler: Albus Brooks] which is covered in Part 5 below.)
So who is spending all this money?
Top independent expenditure groups include:
- Citizens for a Safer Denver
- A Safe and Prosperous Denver
- Denver Voters for Sanity
Ok, who are they?
Per the The Colorado Sun, Forward Denver, a dark-money group, donated $63,000 to Citizens for a Safer Denver and is the only donor to that PAC. Subsequent searches on SearchLight Denver shows that they've upped their donation to almost $141,000 and are still the only donor to the PAC.
The Colorado Sun also reported that the creepily named Colorado Dawn, a conservative dark-money group, donated nearly $175,000 to A Safe and Prosperous Denver, and is the only donor to that super PAC. Colorado Dawn donated nearly $1.9 million to Republican state-level PACs last year.
Checking out Denver Voters for Sanity's website, we see it's a single issue site dedicated to:
"Denver Voters for Sanity is working to stop the Socialist agenda in Denver, including opposing Socialist candidates in runoffs for Council Districts 8, 9, and 10." |
Republicans are typically the ones shouting about socialist takeovers. A quick check on SearchLight Denver shows that failed Republican senate candidate and political megadonor Pete Coors contributed $10,000 to Denver Voters for Sanity. Republican Laurie Leprino donated $5,000. Grant Whiteside who only votes in Republican primaries donated another $5,000. Attorney John Woodward donated $15,000 and also only votes in Republican primaries.
Those are some of the independent expenditure groups. Which individuals are backing Darrell Watson directly?
Let's start with the interesting ones:
Colorado Rockies co-owner and long-time registered Republican Dick Monfort gave Watson two $200 donations (which may have been illegal) - once under Monfort and once under the misspelled MonTfort. That's a bit of an odd connection to Watson unless you consider that Monfort also donated thousands of dollars to former Councilman Albus Brooks (who was defeated by Candi CdeBaca) which ties in with Part 5 below.
Gregory Feasel, president of the Colorado Rockies, also donated $200 to Watson's campaign. This was probably illegal because he claimed Coors Field as his home address since he doesn't actually live in Denver (per the Secretary of State). That triggered a Denver Fair Elections Fund contribution of $450 (illegally) to Watson's campaign, at the expense of Denver taxpayers.
As for developers? BusinessDen noted that developers put cash behind Watson in the City Council race:
Some of CdeBaca’s votes have raised eyebrows in the real estate sector. |
So it appears that by fighting for more affordable housing, Candi CdeBaca got on the wrong side of developers who want to build market-rate units. Like, really on their wrong side. Here's a list of some of Watson's maxed out donors:
• Jonathan Alpert of Westfield Co., which is spearheading the massive North Wynkoop development at RiNo’s northern end. |
Developers have zero interest in building "affordable housing." A developer's job is to maximize their revenue, which means building market-rate and high end properties. If they voluntarily built affordable housing, Denver wouldn't have the housing crisis it currently has.
As for Darrell Watson, if he is voted into office, those are the people he owes massive favors to.
As for Darrell Watson, if he is voted into office, those are the people he owes massive favors to.
4. Republican Supporters
You've already seen the big money Republican donors to Watson's campaign. But other Republican groups are overtly endorsing him.
Denver Republican Party - Denver City Council Recommendations: D9: Darrell Watson
The Denver Republican Party straight up endorsed Watson.
As an aside, they also endorsed Arthur May. Denverite noted about May:
As an aside, they also endorsed Arthur May. Denverite noted about May:
His message to voters who are not Christians and are uncomfortable without a separation of religion and politics: "I would say don't vote for me." |
And it turns out they didn't. (May received 1,116 out of 15,311 votes.)
Watson definitely embraces his Republican support. On the “media” page of his website, he notes that he was endorsed by the conservative Denver Gazette (who also endorsed Arthur May...)
And finally, Watson proudly touts his endorsement from YIMBY Denver.
YIMBYs generally support elimination of single-family zoning, and highly densified neighborhoods. They naively believe that any housing construction will lead to affordable housing similar to how “trickle-down economics” was promised to benefit poor workers by allowing the rich to get richer by cutting their taxes.
In reality, business owners did get richer by putting downward pressure on wages without anything trickling down except more poverty.
Builders will build more housing, but it’ll be high-end market-rate housing, and large high-rent apartment complexes in residential neighborhoods.
Watson's solutions to affordable housing is to let his developer campaign supporters go wild, building highly profitable market-rate developments which will further exacerbate Denver's affordability issue. Affordability is a significantly more complex issue than simply opening the development floodgates.
In reality, business owners did get richer by putting downward pressure on wages without anything trickling down except more poverty.
Builders will build more housing, but it’ll be high-end market-rate housing, and large high-rent apartment complexes in residential neighborhoods.
Watson's solutions to affordable housing is to let his developer campaign supporters go wild, building highly profitable market-rate developments which will further exacerbate Denver's affordability issue. Affordability is a significantly more complex issue than simply opening the development floodgates.
5. The deranged loser (Albus Brooks) who pulled all this together
This is former City Councilman Albus Brooks:
Brooks was elected to Denver City Council in 2011 and thought he was a big deal.
In fact, many believed he was being groomed to take over the mayor's office after unpopular mayor Michael Hancock left.
Yet, in 2019, instead of sitting on council for his 3rd term, Denver voters kicked him out of office and voted for Candi CdeBaca by a 52.5% to 47.5% margin.
And Brooks lost his freaking mind.
First, it's suspected that Brooks organized his friends on council to work against CdeBaca, so he could claim she was ineffective. Current council members Kevin Flynn, Kendra Black and Jolon Clark have all donated to Watson's campaign (Clark and Black are leaving).
They all kinda run together:
In fact, many believed he was being groomed to take over the mayor's office after unpopular mayor Michael Hancock left.
Yet, in 2019, instead of sitting on council for his 3rd term, Denver voters kicked him out of office and voted for Candi CdeBaca by a 52.5% to 47.5% margin.
And Brooks lost his freaking mind.
First, it's suspected that Brooks organized his friends on council to work against CdeBaca, so he could claim she was ineffective. Current council members Kevin Flynn, Kendra Black and Jolon Clark have all donated to Watson's campaign (Clark and Black are leaving).
They all kinda run together:
Chris Hinds Denver City Council: "5 ayes, 8 nays. Fair Elections Fund is preserved."
Concerned Citizen Eugene Tooms: "Kevin Flynn, Kendra Black, Jolon Clark, Chris Herndon, and Debbie Ortega supported the bill to drain the Fair Elections Fund."
Concerned Citizen Eugene Tooms: "Kevin Flynn, Kendra Black, Jolon Clark, Chris Herndon, and Debbie Ortega supported the bill to drain the Fair Elections Fund."
(Flynn and Ortega used the Fair Election Fund this round, after trying to kill it off.)
Next, Brooks went full deranged, leaving the Democratic party and blaming Democrats for the Januuary 6th Trump-mob attack on the US Capitol. Yes, that attack, where armed Trump supporters literally attempted to overthrow the US Federal Government.
Next, Brooks went full deranged, leaving the Democratic party and blaming Democrats for the Januuary 6th Trump-mob attack on the US Capitol. Yes, that attack, where armed Trump supporters literally attempted to overthrow the US Federal Government.
"I can't believe this is real lol. Albus Brooks, who lost a high-profile Denver City Council race to left-wing challenger Candi CdeBaca in 2019, says the Jan. 6 insurrection was the tipping point that finally motivated him to leave the... Democratic Party."
It bears repeating that Albus Brooks blames Democrats and left the Democratic Party because of the Republican coup attempt. From The Denver Post:
"The tipping point for Brooks [leaving the Democratic Party] was the populism that fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection. “You can’t just look at the Republicans. You have to look at the cracks in our own party. People are angry and leadership is feeding off of anger, rather than diving into solutions.” Brooks aptly noted, that, “you’re not supposed to hate and have enemies in a legislative body,” but that’s precisely what has happened. |
Finally, he went full revenge by enlisting child-abusing, misogynist Darrell Watson to run against CdeBaca, organizing a bunch of political endorsements, and lining up an obscene amount of Republican dark money to slander CdeBaca.
Here is the group of former City Council members that Brooks lined up in an awkward endorsement stunt for Watson:
Some of the line-up includes:
- Councilmember Albus Brooks - 2011 - 2019 - Kicked out of office by Denver voters. (Lost 47.5% to 52.5%)
- Councilmember Mary Beth Susman - 2011 - 2019 - Kicked out of office by Denver voters. (Lost 42% to 58%)
- Councilmember Carol Boigon - Quit the mayor's race in 2011 because she was so far behind.
- Councilmember Deborah Ortega - 7th place finish in the 2023 mayor's race. (4% of the vote total)
- Councilmember Charlie Brown - Has been out of office for almost a decade.
- Councilmember Ramona Martinez - Hasn't been in office in over 20 years
"A veritable 'Who's Who' of Denver's greatest status quo defenders."
"So Watson lined up corporate hacks to endorse him? Such a surprise."
"The Watson endorsement by status-quo current and ex city council members who have consistently supported Hancock's outdated failing neoliberal vision and programs cries out the critical need for CdeBaca's re-election to continue her leadership in addressing pressing future needs!"
And his backing of Watson in general:
"I follow @albusbrooks to know who I should not support as a Skyland Homeowner."
"Your grudge against Candi continues"
Darrell Watson owes a mountain of favors to Republicans and builders. It's up to District 9 voters to decide if they want him on council rubber-stamping Republican priorities.
Voting in the Denver runoff ends June 6, 2023 at 7:00 PM.