You thought the Denver mayor’s race was maybe a little boring, that maybe the candidates were fairly interchangeable, give or take gender and skin color.
Well, now that we are down to two, the gloves seem to be coming off.
Friday, Chris Romer sent out a press release questioning Michael Hancock’s bonafides on abortion rights.
Hancock fired right back, saying he is pro-choice all the way and criticizing Romer for going negative right out of the box.
From Romer:
MICHAEL HANCOCK DOESN’T GET IT ON CHOICE
Mayor has jurisdiction over health care policy, Title X block grants, enforcement of provider & patient protection laws
Michael Hancock, who refuses to say whether he’s pro-choice, also says it’s not an issue for Denver voters, and is unaware of the Mayor’s responsibilities on reproductive health care.
On Thursday, in response to a reporter’s question on the importance of women voters and choice in the Mayoral race, Hancock stated, “I think there comes a time as politicians we overreach and we talk about things we really don’t have an impact on. I’d rather talk about those issues that families told me they care about when I met with Highland Mommies, they didn’t talk about choice.”
According to Melanie Fitzroy, who lives in the Highlands section of Denver and is a member of the Highland moms, “Just because we didn’t talk about choice doesn’t mean it’s not important.”
According to former mayoral candidate Theresa Spahn, “One of the reasons I endorsed Chris Romer is because he walks the walk on choice. I’m really troubled that Michael Hancock doesn’t appreciate the significant role the mayor has when it comes to choice.”
Romer went on to list various ways in which the mayor’s position on choice might be important.
Hancock’s communications director fired off this response quickly from her phone when informed of Romer’s press release:
“We are only 72 hours past the Tuesday election and Chris is already going negative – and he has his facts wrong,” spokeswoman for the campaign Amber Miller said. “This is a desperate approach and is clearly how Chris is going to spend the rest of this campaign. Michael is pro choice. He received a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood. Period.”
