Rainy-day mayor.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: Jrundles@cobizmag.com - Denver, Colorado

WITH THIS COLUMN I AM FORMALLY ANNOUNCING MY CANDIDACY FOR MAYOR of Denver. I figure, why not? Everybody else is running.

I am eight days younger than John Hickenlooper, better looking than An Zavaras (who isn't?), have never been a member of city council and then resigned, and lam not homeless. My platform consists of one issue and one issue alone: drought relief.

When elected, I am going to invite the entire population of Denver to Civic Center Park where we will hold a gigantic car wash, with donations accepted to help various charities. I figure the best way to get it raining around here is to wash all the cars. A guaranteed deluge that very same day. Better and more scientifically proven than dowsing.

Seriously, the city elections coming this spring are the most important elections, I believe, in the history of Denver. Yes, that momentous. Why? Term limits.

Because of term limits, the mayor, auditor, and 10 of the 13 members of the city council cannot run again this year, which means that in July, only three people with any experience in their jobs will return. This is not, in my estimation, the time to have so much on-the-job training taking place in an enterprise as important as the City and County of Denver.

What this means for all of us voters is that we need to make smart choices.

When Wellington Webb first ran for mayor eight years ago, his main pitch was that he was a good administrator and the city needed such a man after eight years of imagining a great city. We were coming out of a recession, budgets were tight, a new airport was coming on line, and many administrative challenges lay ahead. Webb got lucky and the economy soared throughout most of his two terms.

But now we are in another tight spot, and we need that good-administrator message again. We need to hear it from the next mayor, auditor and all the new city council members.

We have significant issues to deal with, and they begin with Denver International Airport. No matter what the...