Profile: No longer mayor, Donahue gets back to business

Best Feature Story, 2nd place, Colorado Press Association, 2017

Originally published in the Castle Rock News-Press.

It’s around noon on a Tuesday afternoon and the Centennial Gun Club is buzzing with business.

People browse the club’s shop and cafe while others make use of the indoor public shooting range. The sound and smell of gunfire fills the general public’s range, while two rooms over, Paul Donahue, of Castle Rock, is stationed in the less crowded, more quiet, private “Statesman” shooting range.

Donahue, who is part-owner of the club, has selected a .22-caliber handgun and a rifle, an AR-15, for the day’s shooting.

“People think ‘AR’ stands for ‘assault rifle,’ “ he said.

In reality, the rifle is semi-automatic — one shot for every pull of the trigger — and “AR” stands for ArmaLite after the company that developed it.

Having a concealed or open carry permit doesn’t qualify someone to shoot, Donahue says. People need training and practice, of which he seems to have plenty. His first shot of the day is a bull’s-eye — and it isn’t the last.

This is a side some may not know of the former councilmember and mayor, who stepped down Dec. 6 after being term-limited. Paul Donahue the mayor was known for controversial decisions and thwarting a recall attempt. Paul Donahue the man is known by those close to him as a faith-based mentor and friend.

When it comes to firearms, Donahue, 51, isn’t shy. But he tried not to mention the club in the past few years, he said, because he didn’t like to promote his businesses while in office. He thought it to be “tacky.”

With ease, he’ll show a willing pupil how to properly handle the gun, how to load it, where to place hands while shooting and offer coaching advice. He’s a believer in the Constitution and its amendments, he said, including the Second Amendment.

It’s why, Donahue said, he successfully campaigned during his tenure for open carry in town buildings and parks. Donahue said he didn’t make use of the open carry law in 2016. He doesn’t expect to in 2017 either. That’s not what his campaign was about.

“I am more interested in the Constitution and protecting our constitutional rights,” he said.

With a rollercoaster eight years behind him, Donahue said he’s ready to be seen, not as a public figure, but as simply Paul Donahue — husband, father of three and a businessman. Donahue and his wife, Jennifer, have three sons: Tanner, 22, Aidan, 20, and Maclean, 18. In addition to his interest at the gun club, Donahue is a financial adviser for Edward Jones in Castle Rock.

‘A lot of ups and downs’

Fighting for open carry — a move that garnered widespread attention, including from the New York Times — wasn’t the only controversy to follow Donahue. There were protests of the council-approved Promenade development near the Outlets at Castle Rock, and recalls of not only Donahue, but also Councilmembers Renee Valentine and Mark Heath.

Donahue’s recall was the only to garner an election, but he prevailed in a landslide to retain his seat.

Stacey Rogers, who helped lead Donahue’s recall, said she hopes council will be different with new faces in the mix. A council led by Donahue lacked open communication, she said, and Rogers is holding out for a “less secretive council” now that he’s transitioned out and three new members are on board.

“We weren’t seeking his recall for no reason,” she said of Donahue. “He’s secretive. My interpretation is controlling.”

She described his leadership style as authoritative, verging on authoritarian, and she believed he worked behind the scenes.

“As a resident, it felt like when you went into a council meeting everything was set,” she said. “There was no point in speaking.”

Donahue was good at selling Castle Rock, she acknowledged, “in the sense of how he depicted our community for outsiders, for developers, for commercial enterprises. Whether citizens think they’re great or not, it drew those to Castle Rock.”

But development was one driver behind the recalls. Petitioners, who believed development was happening too much and too rapidly, said their voices were not being heard.

Donahue disputes that view, saying that even though he and council disagreed with recall leaders on the development issue, he did listen.

Looking back, Donahue believes undergoing a recall was personally transformative for him — a difficult experience that left him stronger.

“There’s a lot of ups and down being mayor,” Donahue said. “You become the focal point of the majority of criticism in town.”

Guiding a growing town

Despite the controversies, Donahue said he will miss being mayor.

His points of pride from those years include assisting with the development of Philip S. Miller Park and the Miller Activity Complex, which are a 320-acre park and indoor/outdoor recreation center boasting trail networks, soccer fields, pools, an amphitheater and home to the Castle Rock Zip Line Tours.

He is proud of how the council oversaw development of the Promenade, a retail location near the outlets that brought stores such as Sam’s Club, Mad Greens, Tokyo Joe’s, Waxing the City and Vitality Bowls to Castle Rock, but met opposition from prairie dog activists. And Donahue was proud to help finalize construction of the North Meadows Extension, a second entrance to The Meadows from U.S. Highway 85 and I-25.

He was a key proponent of those projects, he said, because he believes their success will create momentum for Castle Rock’s economic development.

“When I first came on in 2008, the rate of development was too slow,” Donahue said. “The economic situation at the time was causing businesses to close up.”

In the years since, he said it wasn’t the town council that determined Castle Rock’s rate of growth, but rather the free market. Still, he said, the council sought to ensure it was smartly done.

That starts with knowing where growth will happen, he said. The town is prepared for development in areas like downtown, along Crowfoot Valley Road, in Pine Canyons and south of town near Dawson Ridge and Crystal Valley, he said.

“How fast we get there is less important than knowing how we’re going to get there,” Donahue said.

Town Manager David Corliss said Donahue was an influential councilmember in guiding town growth. Opening the North Meadows Extension, which was decades in the planning, will “pay dividends to the Castle Rock community for decades to come,” Corliss said.

But Corliss cited numerous other milestones that mark Donahue’s tenure. From supporting renewable drinking water supplies through the Plum Creek Water Purification Facility to “keeping the town fiscally conservative,” he said, Donahue and the council achieved much.

“I think Paul will be remembered as a councilmember and mayor who was part of successfully guiding the community to new heights of achievement,” Corliss said.

Man of faith, mentor, friend

Donahue’s successor as mayor, Jennifer Green, said Donahue always encouraged council to do what was best for the town.

On a personal level, she described him as a quiet person who, unlike Roger’s description, doesn’t have an authoritative air. In her eyes, he led more by example.

“I think that’s a great leadership quality,” Green said.

He was a leader who put his faith first, she said. Green commended him for spearheading the placement of “In God We Trust,” the national motto, on the soffit above council’s seating area in 2013.

And in 2009, Donahue supported a motion to open council meetings with an invocation. The resulting resolution allows leaders from all faiths, beliefs and religious perspectives to give the invocation.

Friend Richard Ward met Donahue through church about eight years ago and describes him as an ethical and trustworthy leader with a “a family man” approach to life.

As a founding member of their men’s ministry, the Action Team, Donahue was skilled at organizing people and making good decisions, Ward said. The Action Team, or the A-Team for short, provides handy work or moving services for single mothers and the disabled.

Said Ward: “You’re losing a great mayor.”

Now, Donahue is ready to rebuild areas of his life from which the mayor’s job took time away.

Amid rumors he planned to leave Castle Rock, Donahue said he and his family will stay in town for the near future. Any moves down the road will be for business.

“My priorities right now,” Donahue said, “are to focus on my marriage and to focus on my business.”