Some in Colorado’s political community, which has been watching how the race for Denver mayor is shaping up, appear completely shocked by Paul Pazen’s decision to retire as Denver’s police chief after 28 years in the department. 

Dick Wadhams, a former Colorado GOP state chairman who managed U.S. Sen. John Thune’s campaign in 2004, told The Denver Gazette Pazen’s retirement “came out of the blue.”  

“As far as I know, there was no indication he was suddenly going to leave the chief’s job,” Wadhams said.  

Pazen’s name has been floated as a possible mayoral candidate. 

Wadhams said he doesn’t know what Pazen will do next. 

“What we do know is that the mayor’s job is open next year,” said Wadhams, who noted that, by the time Mayor Michael Hancock retires, he would have served for 12 years as Denver’s chief executive.  

Wadhams also noted that previous Denver mayors had served lengthy terms — 8 to 12 years. 

“The point I’m making is that the mayor’s job does not become an open seat very often,” he said. 

Wadhams — and others — anticipate a crowded mayor’s race next year. Currently, he said, there’s no dominant potential candidate who can “kind of walk away with it.”  

Pazen, if he were to jump into the mayor’s race, ikely has a good name ID, as he has been a prominent police chief at a time when Denver faces big challenges, including in the policing front.  

Michael Dino, a political expert who served as campaign manager for former mayor Wellington E. Webb, said Pazen’s resignation isn’t exactly surprising, particularly given that Hancock is term-limited and several of his top officials have already begun to move on. 

Dino also doesn’t see Pazen running for mayor. He said that he can remember only one chief or former police chief who ran for mayor – Ari Zavaras, who served as police chief from 1987 to 1991 and as state’s public safety director in the late 1990s.  

So, Denver offers a thin history of former police chiefs seeking the city’s highest political post.  

“And I don’t see him breaking that mold,” Dino said of Pazen.  

“Chief Pazen, by and large, has done a very good job during a tough time,” he said, adding the job of heading a major city’s police department is incredibly hard. 

Dino also noted that several cities surrounding Denver are themselves looking for a police chief.  

Some critics said he running for mayor would pose a challenge for Pazen.