Denver socialist and city councilwoman Shontel Lewis said she's qualified to serve as the city's mayor because she was convicted of stealing food stamps, a crime she said made her familiar with "navigating all the ills of poverty."
Lewis, the Denver Democratic Socialists of America's pick for mayor, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft in 2008 after stealing thousands of dollars in public benefits by using her position with the Colorado Department of Human Services East Food Stamp Office to reissue Electronic Benefit Transfer cards intended for others to her roommate and herself. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation and later said she paid full restitution.
Asked by Denver reporter Kyle Clark of Next 9NEWS whether the conviction "is disqualifying for somebody who wants to serve as mayor, because it involved public monies," Lewis said it "actually qualifies" her to lead the city of nearly 750,000.
"I actually think that experience is what actually qualifies me," Lewis replied. "Twenty years ago, I was young, I was a young mom, I was grieving, I did something really silly, and I paid my restitution, I did my time, and I took care of what I needed to do while also navigating all the ills of poverty."
Colorado's constitution appears to contradict Lewis's assessment. It bars anyone who has been "convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury, solicitation of bribery, or subornation of perjury" from holding "any office of trust or profit in this state." Lewis has held two elected positions since her guilty plea, but the issue "hasn't really been sorted out in court," Clark said.
Lewis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Her comments come as socialist candidates have enjoyed victories across the nation, including in Denver. Congressional candidate Melat Kiros, who called both the Sept. 11 and Oct. 7 terror attacks "inevitable," defeated 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette by a whopping 13 points in June's Democratic primary and is expected to cruise to victory in November. And while DSA-endorsed state Sen. Julie Gonzales lost her statewide challenge to Sen. John Hickenlooper, she defeated Hickenlooper in the Mile High City with more than 54 percent of the vote.
Lewis also talked in circles when asked whether she would defund the police to pay for pricey proposals like youth programming and city-owned affordable housing. Lewis criticized the cuts Denver mayor Mike Johnston made to a wide range of services to bridge a $200 million deficit in the latest budget, cuts she said could have come from the Denver Police Department (DPD).
"Yes, cuts did need to be made, but I think there's an opportunity for us to always prioritize the people when we're talking about our budgets," she said. "We missed an opportunity to go back to those that were represented with DPD, with our Department of Safety, where we didn't actually see any cuts coming from the department."
Clark pointed out that "the idea of looking to public safety for cuts" would be seen as an attempt to defund the police and asked, "Where is DPD overfunded?" Lewis did not answer directly, saying she "would have looked at the entire budget comprehensively, but that is an easy one because of the percentage of the budget that goes to the Department of Safety." When Clark responded by noting that Lewis was "saying that there should have been cuts in public safety" and asked her for more specifics, Lewis responded, "No, you're saying that there should have been cuts in public safety. I'm saying that that was the one department that didn't see any cuts."
Lewis eventually said she would follow up with details before adding, "We might be able to save on overtime."
"Okay, so overtime for DPD is the one thing that comes to mind for you?" Clark asked. "I mean, one of many things," Lewis responded.
Lewis was similarly unclear when asked how she would reshape DPD. She giggled and said she'd first need to have "relationships and conversations" with officials within the agency. (Denver police chief Ron Thomas appeared before the city council in March, and Lewis has long criticized police misconduct and excessive force settlements as a drain on city resources.)
"Those are necessary in order to understand the circumstances and the situations that are happening in order for it to be an effectively run entity," she said. "And so without that opportunity to have those discussions, I don't feel comfortable or armed with the right amount of information for me to give you the specifics for that."
Even with the rise of socialism in Denver and Johnston's falling popularity, Lewis is expected to face an uphill battle going into the April 6 election. A mayor hasn't lost reelection after one term since 1963, and Lewis, who had just 15 percent favorability in an August poll, is in a pool of nine candidates challenging Johnston.
