Three months ago, Denver Mayor and Colorado gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper (D) helped start an ambitious bike share program that has already attracted 14,000 memberships and been a big success. But one of Hickenlooper’s opponents in the Governor’s race sees something sinister lurking behind the mayor’s policies:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are “converting Denver into a United Nations community.”

“This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor’s efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes “that’s exactly the attitude they want you to have.”

Maes, a Tea Party favorite, said that he was referring to “Denver’s membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international association that promotes sustainable development and has attracted the membership of more than 1,200 communities, 600 of which are in the United States.” Denver has been a member of the group since 1992, 11 years before Hickenlooper became Mayor. Just last week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood — a former Republican member of Congress — visited Denver, strapped on a helmet to take a bike ride through town, and called the bicycle-sharing program “a model for America.”