Sunday, December 22, 2002 - As the subject of a Denver police spy file, Mark Cohen wants mayoral hopefuls to know that he and other spy file targets are also voters.

"We want to make it clear that these spy files will be an issue in this upcoming political campaign," said Cohen, a free-lance writer and editor and a member of the All Nations Alliance, a social justice group.

Toward that end, Cohen, 57, and other ANA members are challenging those running for public office to offer their opinions on the spy files - police intelligence files gathered for years on citizens.

The issue of Denver's spy files broke in March after a criminal defense lawyer in Golden discovered two pages in a court file and gave them to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU filed suit on behalf of six plaintiffs March 28, challenging that the Police Department's custom of spying on peaceful protesters, maintaining the files and sharing them with other law enforcement agencies.

Since the intelligence unit began in 1954, seven mayors have presided over Denver government. Yet none, including Mayor Wellington Webb or his predecessor, Federico Pena, said they knew about the spy files.

Depositions of intelligence detectives taken in the case indicate that the mayor's office was routinely notified.

The following is a collection of opinions on the spy files from several candidates running for mayor.

Susan Casey, former City Council member: "If we focus too narrowly we're really making a mistake. It's a broader issue of fundamental policy and management failures within the department."

Casey said she would "begin where I left off in 1997" with a set of recommendations she obtained from a year of research on the department. "What we have to do," she said, "is put in a system that lets us know what's going on and monitor it to make sure changes have been made."

Casey said the first thing she would do as mayor would be to hire a civilian intelligence chief to redesign the unit.

John Hickenlooper, businessman: "My wife is a Quaker, and those are some of the most honest, patriotic people I know," Hickenlooper said, referring to the American Friends Service Committee, a political arm of the Quakers, deemed "criminal extremists" in the spy files.

He said he has several questions for the Police Department, including, "Whose idea was it to collect these files? What was their reasoning? Who was managing them?"

Overall, he said, "I think the fact no one is taking responsibility is very troubling. ... This spy files fiasco is a perfect example of why we need more openness and transparency in government."

Don Mares, Denver city auditor: "I personally feel keeping files on law-abiding citizens is way beyond appropriate. You have to have the strongest supervision possible over those kinds of actions or people will fill the void."

Intelligence gathering can be a vital police function, Mares said, "but it can get out of hand."

What he would bring to the table as mayor, Mares said, is a group of managers who are hands-on.

"So my people will do everything they can to keep on top of matters in the departments they supervise," he said.

Phil Perington, businessman: "It's a real serious violation of civil rights. Under my administration, that will not happen."

Perington said he does not understand Webb's comment that he knew nothing of the files. "Is Webb saying he works 24/7, 365 days a year, and has an office of highly paid professionals - why did not one of them knew the spy files were taking place? ... I think it's a coverup from the top on down, and some heads need to roll."

Perington said he understands the need for intelligence gathering, "But not to just run around helter skelter with all these innuendos and character assassinations on a lot of innocent people."

(Andrew Hudson, spokesman for Webb, said the spy files "were not a well-known thing over any administration. The mayor did not have direct supervision over the intelligence unit.")

Elizabeth Schlosser, historic preservationist: "I think this is a management problem and it starts at the top. The policy needs to be implemented."

The spy files have existed since the 1950s, she said. "I think there's no political downside to Webb saying it was a problem passed down to him. I don't fault him for that."

Still, she said, the intelligence unit appeared to be "ill-managed and overly rigorous."

Penfield Tate, state senator: "I think the citizens of this city have the right to ask for accountability."

The city needs to evaluate its surveillance policy, he said, and "police changes are warranted."

"I'm no different than most people," Tate said. "I checked to see if I had a spy file." (He found none.)

In order for change, he said, "citizens, the people, need to step in."

"It should not be the test that if you speak out and protest things that you pose a threat to the community," Tate said.

Ari Zavaras, chief of police from 1987 to 1993 and most recently manager of safety, has said he also did not know of the existence of the spy files. Zavaras, who could not be reached for comment for this story, had previously given his opinions to the Post.

"I did not monitor on a day-to- day basis who they were gathering information on," he said of the intelligence unit during his tenure as chief. "I expected it always to be done fairly. I would not expect information to be kept on people where's there no criminal tie," Zavaras said. "I never have and never will permit any abuses."

So who is responsible for oversight? "It goes up the chain of command," he said.

As mayor, he said, he would ensure accountability.