Giellis apologizes after “an interesting week”

Denver mayoral candidate Jamie Giellis apologized to her two competitors turned allies and several members of the African-american community Saturday in a Facebook live discussion that followed a tumultuous few days for her campaign.

“It’s been an interesting week,” Giellis said at the end of the discussion hosted by Hasira Ashemu. “There’s been a lot of stuff talked about. I certainly apologize fully for things that came across, that were said, that were done, that were insensitive. But I think the conversation here today is about an opportunity that we have.”

The Saturday morning conversation, featuring former rival mayoral candidates Lisa Calderon and Penfield Tate and four others, was announced at the last minute, after Giellis pulled out of a Colorado Black Round Table community event. The roundtable’s organizer, John Bailey, is a paid consultant for incumbent Mayor Michael Hancock’s campaign.

After finishing second in this month’s mayoral election, Giellis is the lone remaining challenger to Hancock in the June 4 runoff.

Giellis wasn’t specific about what she was apologizing for Saturday, but in an appearance Tuesday on Brother Jeff Fard’s African-american-focused show, she did not recall what “NAACP” stands for. The next day she shut down personal social media accounts following the surfacing of a 10-year-old tweet in which she questioned the value of Chinatowns in cities.

Hancock seized on the comments, telling The Denver Post in an interview that black and brown communities “shouldn’t be apathetic when it comes to this election.”

Giellis said at a fundraiser Thursday night that “people make mistakes” but she would make sure she learned and listened moving forward.

Saturday morning’s Facebook event was billed as a listening session, and that’s mostly what she did. Giellis also took notes as the others discussed their concerns about affordable housing, development, education and other issues.