Who Will Lead The Steel City? The Outsider, Brian Mater
Four runs for office, three losses but yet his cache of supporters grows. The unlikely rise of the outsider in Pueblo politics.
How many times would you run for office and lose and then run again. Would you be thought of as a leader even if you keep losing?
In politics I don’t think there’s a worse tag than being called a perennial loser. It comes with all the connotations of just running for office for yourself or merely being a career politician.
Some candidates have one or two failed campaigns in them, then you never see them again. But Brian Mater has three losses and he’s currently running for Pueblo County Commissioner as a Republican. If he loses this will be four losses in four years.
Brian Mater has a successful roofing business, All-Star Roofing, along with a gym, Southside Fitness. He even rents out part of his building to the local Republican Party.
Mater ran for City Council in 2013 and 2015 and lost or rather just didn’t receive the most amount of votes in the pool of candidates. In 2014 he ran against Daneya Esgar for Colorado State Representative and lost but it was close.
Since his first run 2013, Mater has built a cache of supporters by being visible but also by using social media as a social media activist role. And this would have been good enough to hold office except Pueblo is a town full of democrats and Mater is a republican.
Brian Mater is intriguing for another reason. He has become arguably the most prominent and active republican in Pueblo County, more so than rising star State Representative Clarice Navarro and recall activist Victor Head. He’s personable and since first running 2013 he’s done something others have not — he’s used his personality and social media to deflect the losses to grow a base of supporters. By posting on meetings he’s attended and by politicking about local issues, he’s become a go-to politician in Pueblo. Except he isn’t in office.
That’s where this story begins. On a Sunday in March, after the town was reeling from a Denver Post article, I began to sketch out how this series on leadership might turn out when I got pop-up on Facebook.
It’s from Brian Mater who sends me a message on social media. He’s having an informal meeting to address the violence problem and the media is invited to attend.
The meeting, more of a gathering, is your typical “people are outraged and something they heard in the news last week is to blame.” Solutions are light. Failings of the the city are many.
In a corner of the room is Brian Mater, who in the last three elections, has gone from political novice to, the without winning a single election, is the local face of the Republican Party.
A decade ago, prominent Pueblo County republicans were more of your traditional republicans, a cross of George W. Bush, an excel spreadsheet and sensible shoes. Keith Swerdferger, Joyce Lawrence, Michael Occhiato, Lola Spradley, Judy Weaver and Barbara Vidmar were the typical business-minded, Rotary Club, small “r” conservatives — a blend of coalition builders in pantsuits.
Then the Tea Party happened and the Grand Old Party faltered nationally. Locally, it has turned Libertarian with a heavy dose of acid-washed jean Republican. Mater is emblematic of this Libertarian streak, though I would caution readers from forming a stereotype that he embodies the vitriol that has dominated the GOP presidential primary.
“How can you be the face of the Republican Party when you have lost three times?” I ask him at his office weeks after the meeting.
He smiles and tells me he’s not the typical republican. Without even me baiting the first question, he’s talking about gay marriage as his first comment, a belief that he doesn’t care what you do in your own house.
He says, “How can republicans be for small government when we are telling you what to do in your own bedroom?”
If he’s not seen in local circles as a viable candidate, this frankness may be the reason.
He makes comments suggesting Pueblo Economic Development Corporation has to do a better job attracting businesses because he doesn’t see relying on manufacturing as the way forward for Pueblo. It’s a view the protectorates of PEDCO, and some of his donors, may not agree with.
He talks about more options for trade schools in Pueblo and how the county should focus on bringing in more tech jobs.
“We need to be looking into tech. The kids’ trade is in Nintendo and Xbox; if their trade is games, their trade should be tech.”
On energy he says, he’s been fighting, for years, against high energy rates that have been decimating Pueblo’s economy.
He would call for a county-wide moratorium on new recreational marijuana store licenses because, “ a moratorium would be needed to see what marijuana is doing. If Pueblo has this windfall of marijuana money, why is Pueblo struggling to balance the budget?”
But to Mater, he sees the growth of marijuana similar to what Pueblo faced in the 1980s when it had the highest number of bars per capita in Colorado. He would allow medical marijuana as “there are real uses there and Pueblo needs to invest in research and development of those.”
Over the course of the conversation, trying to bore into what’s right and wrong with leadership in Pueblo and what he would do differently, he says most of the key buzz phrases like working together and fighting for the community. Normal buzz phrases from challengers — light on the hows and heavy on the let’s all work together.
“In order to get better jobs, the school district has to shine.” He believes that if the County Commissioners would work with these various entities Pueblo could turn around. The specifics on what this partnership would create isn’t formed yet.
“I don’t feel that the county is doing enough in economic development. I think the county commissioners should work closer with Chris Markusson to court businesses to Pueblo,” he continues.
On those tech jobs at PCC and CSU-Pueblo that’s something to be worked on if elected.
And on energy rates, public safety and other issues the solutions turn into more of a critique. “We still have the highest energy rates two years later, we still have failing schools, we have the worst public safety. We are still worse than we were two years ago.”
He’s not entirely wrong but the question remains, what he will do on day one?
For that you have to understand Mater’s brand of leadership. It is like that of a roofer who had to go door-to-door to get a homeowner to take a chance on the estimate. He works in similar fashion, telling me it will be different. Agencies and people will have a voice when he’s in office — when voters agree to the estimate.
He believes he will be able “to form closer relationships with various groups and agencies. “I can get that done because people see I have a political base.”
His base represents the Puebloan who is interested just enough to get involved in a campaign, a nonprofit, or to volunteer on the weekends but who values little league games over campaign meetings. He will need these supporters if he’s to have a chance at winning the commissioner’s seat. Unlike Mater’s previous races he will be able to draw on republican voters living outside democratic friendly city limits.
Facing him in November will be incumbent and democrat Liane “Buffie” McFadyen or newcomer Garrison Ortiz. The fight on the democratic side has become more about old-guard democrats who took issue with McFadyen’s personality style and personal foibles, and found an appealing young man who can campaign hard against her.
Mater has skeletons too and is not afraid to explain them to you. He volunteers what some might consider to be embarrassing records when he was younger. There’s something honorable about that. His personal records have been reported by other media outlets. During his run in 2015 for council, he accepted improper donations from the Republican Party but this was later reported it was done off incorrect advice from City Clerk Gina Dutcher.
His foibles aren’t the reasons he has lost his previous races. In 2014, he performed better than he should against current State Representative Daneya Esgar in a strongly democratic house district. In 2015, had cardiologist and republican Jim Sbarbaro, not siphoned some of the vote in the at-large city council seat, Mater would likely be on city council now.
Instead, he continues to be on the outside of government but growing in public support. Mater has built a strong following by being seen in the community and by being friendly to both democrats and republicans. Critics might argue he’s just doing this to win any seat. His supporters might counter with the point that being involved is still helping.
Whether or not Mater’s rallying cry of a positive future “if we come together” is what voters want is a question for November. And when candidates get elected they realize governing is always more boring and more inherently controversial because sometimes there are no good options to unpopular issues.
Mater, the perpetual outsider may not just be in this race for county commissioner but also a race to be accepted. Another loss and his supporters my look elsewhere. He says he will keep going, keep trying to hold office, regardless of the outcome in November.
“People may say I’m running for anything. But we are no better off than in 2013,” he says.
An earlier version of this story listed Pueblo City Clerk Gina Dutcher as Treasurer.
