CANDIDATE PROFILES: The race for mayor
Following up on our recent peek at City Council and mayoral candidates and their contributors, we’ll offer profiles of each of the candidates this week — starting today with the mayor’s race.
We’ll feature the hopefuls in each race in the order in which they’ll appear on the ballot.
In Commerce City’s 2023 race for mayor, three candidates will vie for an open seat being vacated by current Mayor Benjamin Huseman, who is not seeking re-election.
STEVE DOUGLAS
Douglas is a decades-long grocery chain employee and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union member who served previously on the City Council as an at-large member, from 2011 to 2019. The longtime Coloradan and 20-year Commerce City resident is an advocate of transitioning to reliance on renewable energy through electrification, and he also advocates for electrification of the trucking industry. Earlier this year, he joined the board of the United Power Co-op, and he was appointed to the Regional Air Quality Council in 2019. He pushed for the installation of charging stations for electric cars at the Commerce City Bison Recreation Center and advanced Commerce City’s Mow Down Lawn Mower program, which encourages residents to transition to electric mowers. Douglas’ wife, Kristi Douglas, currently serves on City Council.
Douglas previously has served on the National League of Cities’ Federal Advocacy Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure Services as well as on the league’s Federal Advocacy Committee for Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources; on the Commerce City Legislative Committee; with Northeast Transportation Connections; the Colorado Municipal League’s Policy Committee, and the E-470 Board. Douglas’ campaign website does not yet appear to be active, so details of his campaign platform aren’t available, but he does have a campaign Facebook page.
RENE’ BULLOCK
Bullock is executive director of the Commerce City Chamber of Commerce and has served previously on the City Council representing Ward 1; as an at-large member, and as mayor pro tem. He also was elected to the South Adams County Water and Sanitation District Board. He served in the U.S. Army and retired after 37 years with a major airline. He has served, as well, as Senior Hub Board Chair; as a member of the Friends of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge Board, and on the Sand Creek Regional Greenway Board. He has volunteered with the Commerce City Historical Society and is a member of the Commerce City Rotary. On his campaign website, Bullock, a 40-year Commerce City resident, says his years of community engagement enable him to tap into “positive relationships with local, state and federal leaders that can be leveraged to positively benefit Commerce City residents and businesses.” He describes himself as “pro-business” and says he’ll “work to drive business and economic development.”
He touts a campaign platform that includes:
Protecting “our citizens and our environment to the greatest extent that the law will allow.”
Responsibly maximizing and shaping “growth plans for all opportunities to increase retail, housing, and commercial development throughout the city and enhance city services.
Improving and expanding our transportation system, including bicycle and pedestrian networks.
He also is a staunch supporter of Commerce City’s police, fire and emergency medical services.
He believes the biggest challenges face Commerce City include providing attainable housing, and retail, commercial and industrial development to ensure a robust tax base to fund all the services the city provides, and optimizing the city’s transportation network.
JOSEPH DREILING
Dreiling was a longtime Adams County sheriff’s deputy detective whose public service includes having been appointed to a term on the Adams 14 School District board in 2016. Dreiling was a vice-chair of the Commerce City planning commission for 16 years and was deputy director of the Special Olympics of Colorado Law Enforcement Torch Run, which raises funds for the Special Olympics. In 2018, he was recognized as a Guardian of the Flame by the Colorado Law Enforcement Torch Run. Dreiling does not yet appear to have a campaign website or Facebook page, so details of his campaign platform aren’t available.