Dennis J. Gallagher is leaving his post as Denver city auditor after 12 years, and he’s going out with a bang. Which for Gallagher is entirely appropriate.

In one of his last acts of office, Gallagher dealt a broadside to the Denver International Airport Hotel and Transit Center in the form of a “white paper,” in which he said that the project is 44 percent over budget at $721 million.

Gallagher called his paper a “‘road map’ of the long and expensive journey this project has taken,” but DIA project officials said they were stunned by the allegations, firing off a statement describing Gallagher’s estimate as “misleading” and saying that the “timing, tone and content of the white paper are suspect.”

“While it’s true the auditor isn’t running for reelection, the mayor is,” said DIA spokesperson Stacey Stegman. “To not have done a professional audit, and then to issue a white paper right before an election was just strange, and we’re suggesting that perhaps politics were involved rather than just trying to issue something to be helpful like an audit should be.”

Gallagher’s decision to issue a separate white paper shortly after his department had conducted a largely positive audit on the project may sound puzzling, but for longtime Gallagher watchers, the move is consistent with his scrappy, independent and sometimes unpredictable approach to government and politics.

“Dennis has been a power in this community really ever since he got into the legislature initially, and then into city council, and then finally ending his career as auditor,” Denver political analyst Floyd Ciruli said. “He comes from the north side, a very powerful area. Old-time Democrat, very strong with seniors. Very old Irish politician, and quite good.”

“Somebody better than me may have some political motivation there, but from my point of view, it’s just Dennis,” Ciruli said.

Indeed, Gallagher, 74, seems to have little to gain or lose by taking on the DIA HTC project. His supporters had urged him to run for mayor against Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who’s up for reelection on the May 5 ballot, but Gallagher declined.

While he has feuded with Hancock in the past, it’s hard to imagine anything, including a white paper, derailing Hancock’s bid for a second term.Gallagher fired back with a statement calling it “unfortunate that Denver International Airport, in response to a White Paper regarding the cost of building the new Hotel and Transit Center, has chosen to try to divert the discussion to something related to an election.”

“I am not on any ballot nor am I running for any political office again in my life. This is a disservice to the citizens of Denver,” Gallagher said. “I wish DIA had simply acknowledged that the cost of this project is expensive and has grown, but that that is not unusual with a project of this scale. Just be honest with the people.”

The candidates seeking to succeed Gallagher are city council member Chris Nevitt and Tim O’Brien, who sits on the audit committee that reviews reports from the auditor’s office. Gallagher has endorsed Nevitt.

“This mayor is about to coast into a good reelection, and I haven’t heard a thing about what Dennis will do next, other than relax,” said Ciruli.

It’s true that the auditor’s office has been active in the last few months. A week before the white paper on DIA, Gallagher issued an audit concluding that there is no evidence to show whether the $63 million spent by Denver over the past decade to combat homelessness has been effective.

“We have spent all this money but we don’t know if anything is actually getting any better,” Gallagher said in a statement.

The audit was particularly critical of the Commission to End Homelessness, which was charged with creating the plan. The commission created Denver’s Road Home to implement the project.

“The audit found that the Commission is not structured or managed in a way the effectively supports DRH’s efforts. Commission members are unclear about their role and responsibilities as well as the overall purpose of the Commission and are frustrated,” said the auditor’s office in an April 16 press release.

That same press release notes that the Independent Audit Committee had also received a briefing on the Integration Performance Audit for the DIA HTC project.

“The audit found that by and large DIA is being successful at transitioning from the construction phase of the project to its operation,” said the release.

DIA CEO Kim Day said she was frustrated by the apparent change of heart by the auditor’s office.

“The auditor’s office just completed the most positive audit on the Hotel and Transit Center we’ve had to date, so we were surprised by the white paper and disappointed that it was speculative and not of their usual professional quality,” said Day in a statement.

“We would have been happy to review or respond to any questions or concerns but the auditor distributed the white paper to the media rather than discussing it with us,” Day said. “We are very proud of the project we are building, have been very transparent about all costs and while it’s not a taxpayer-funded project, we have still been diligent about every penny we are spending.”

Gallagher spokesman Denis Berckefeldt said the previous presentation to the audit committee had to do with a different matter, the integration of the hotel and the airport from a construction to an operational standpoint, not cost overruns.

The original estimate of the DIA HTC project was $500 million in 2010, which has increased to $580 to $586 million. The hotel, which will be owned by DIA but managed by Westin, is slated to open in November.

DIA officials say the problem with Gallagher’s figure is that it compares apples and oranges. There are side projects not directly related to the hotel that have been added on since 2010 that DIA has not included in the projected completion cost for the HTC.

Stegman cited the example of the rebuilding of the Level 5 bridge at DIA.

“They knew they had to rebuild the level 5 bridges. The level 4 and 6 bridges are further out, so there wasn’t a need to rebuild those,” said Stegman. “But knowing we’re going to have to come back in five or 10 years and rebuild those, it made sense to use the efficiencies of having the same contractor do it all at once, so we added those into the project.”

Those bridge rebuilds “were never even originally estimated or budgeted. We added them in at a later date. So we kept them in a separate pot because they were needed for the airport and not the hotel or train station,” she said.

“That’s why there was a level of frustration here because, no, the project hasn’t just grown and isn’t over budget. We made a conscious decision to add some things to it,” Stegman said. “They’re being accounted for separately. And we’ve been very open on this. We’ve gone to council.”

Berckefeldt said that the bridges’ upgrade needed to be completed before the hotel could be constructed, which means it should be included in the HTC’s bottom line.

“We have their task order from them signed by Stu Williams that says, ‘We must do this now because once the hotel is built we won’t be able to do it,'” said Berckefeldt. “So clearly that’s a cost that has to be associated with it.”

Ultimately, Gallagher’s shot over the bow at DIA may not come to much, given that he officially leaves office in July.

“Nothing much will happen with this. He’s term limited,” Ciruli said. “But this has been quintessential Gallagher. He has been within the city confines the top elected officials, Dennis has probably been the person who has been willing on a number of occasions to take on controversial issues, the power structure.”

Berckefeldt said the outgoing auditor has no plans for the future other than “visit with people, go to coffee shops, stay involved.”Whatever he does, Gallagher won’t be forgotten any time soon.

“The election is next week, and people may vote for Mr. Nevitt or [Mr. O’Brien],” Ciruli said, “but they will remember Dennis.”

– valrichardson17@gmail.com