Politics
FBI joins investigation into threats left at Aurora immigration and refugee center
AURORA, Colo. – The Federal Bureau of Investigations on Friday joined an investigation into signs left at an Aurora community center Thursday morning that threatened to “blow up” refugees.
A spokesman for the Aurora Police Department confirmed Friday afternoon the FBI had joined the case, after the typewritten notes saying, “We’re gonna blow up all of you refugees,” were left at Mango House.
The community center helps refugees with medical and dental care, and provides citizenship classes to get them on the path toward citizenship and integration in American society.
One of the notes was left in the Mango House’s parking lot; another was left in a stairwell.
Employees at the center told Denver7 Thursday they were shocked by the notes.
“It makes me want to stand up stronger and say no. These people are kind and loving, and if you get to know them, you will get to love them, just like I do,” said Carolyn Anello, who founded the dental clinic at Mango House.
Aurora police said Thursday they were investigating the incident as a bias-motivated crime.
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Colorado ‘Hamilton electors’ lawsuits cost taxpayers nearly $40K in legal fees
DENVER – Colorado taxpayers paid nearly $40,000 in lawyers’ fees in the court battles that surrounded two Democratic Colorado electors who unsuccessfully fought the state law that required them to vote for Hillary Clinton.
Electors Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich fought the state law, which requires electors to cast their electoral ballot for the candidate that won the state’s popular vote, in federal court – first in U.S. District Court of Colorado, then in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals once their initial request for an injunction was denied.
The Colorado Secretary of State also filed suit against Baca and Nemanich in Denver District Court in order to have a judge clarify the legal ramifications the electors would face should they either not take the oath of office for electors or fail to follow state rules in casting their votes.
Baca and Nemanich were among a group of so-called “Hamilton Electors” across the country who argued that state laws telling electors who to vote for were unconstitutional. The movement was aimed at getting Republican electors not to vote for Donald Trump and electors in states without binding rules to cast their vote for someone else as well.
In the end, fewer than 10 electoral votes nationally were cast for a candidate not named Trump or Clinton.
One of them was from Micheal Baca of Denver, who took the oath of office but “wrote in” John Kasich’s name on the ballot, thus invalidating it and opening the door for his possible prosecution. He was replaced after failing to adhere to his oath, and all of Colorado’s votes ended up going to Clinton as mandated by the state law.
LAWYERS’ FEES ADD UP, BUT NOT OUT OF ORDINARY
Some readers had asked how much lawyers’ fees for the state would cost because of the court fights. The state’s attorneys were provided through the Attorney General’s Office and were used by the attorney general, Gov. John Hickenlooper and Secretary of State Wayne Williams in the cases. Williams was the only plaintiff in the suit asking Denver District Court for guidance.
Attorneys’ fees for various cases each office appears in court for are tabulated at the end of each month. The Secretary of State’s Office provided the figures to Denver7 Thursday after they were requested in December.
In both cases, the attorneys billed the state at $98.26 an hour.
Defense fees in the federal case amounted to a total of $9,213.44 in December for the federal case for the Secretary of State’s Office, which said its fees were one-third of the total fees. The Attorney General’s Office and Governor’s Office were both billed the same amount, leading to a total of $27,640.32 charged to taxpayers for 93.77 hours of attorneys’ work.
In the Denver case in which the Secretary of State’s Office was the only plaintiff, the office was billed for 107.7 hours at $98.26 an hour, equaling $10,582.59. It was also billed $23.12 for paralegal and investigator services, bringing the total bill for that case to $10,605.71.
Those two figures combined mean taxpayers paid $38,246.03 in December for the elector court cases.
To put that in context, the Secretary of State’s Office was billed a total of $136,955.55 in December alone, meaning state taxpayers likely pay millions in attorneys’ fees for various agencies and offices each year.
There are likely to be some minimal additional fees in January as well, as the federal case remains open in the U.S. District Court of Colorado pending the resolution of a motion filed Jan. 12 by the state to stay discovery and disclosures in the case.
Lawyers for Baca and Nemanich were granted an unopposed motion to dismiss their appeal in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals two days earlier.
The investigation into Micheal Baca’s actions also remains pending, though there are few instances of “faithless electors” who violated state elector law ever being prosecuted in the U.S.
Messages sent Friday to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office asking whether Baca would be prosecuted went unreturned.
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Denver Public Schools, educators denounce Trump’s immigration orders
DENVER – The backlash against President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration and refugees continued Thursday, as Denver Public Schools and other Colorado education and teachers associations publicly opposed the actions.
DPS, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, Padres & Jovenes Unidos and the Colorado Education Association issued a joint public statement Thursday morning saying they would protect immigrants and refugees in the Denver school system.
“We stand together – as a school district, educators, students and families – to oppose the actions President Trump has taken through his executive orders today. Immigrant and refugee students, families, educators, and staff are precious members of our Denver school communities and we greatly value them for the contributions they make to our schools and communities,” the joint statement said.
“We will do everything in our individual and collective power to protect them from deportation, criminalization, intimidation and harassment.”
The letter was signed by Padres & Jovenes Unidos co-executive directors Elsa Oliva Rocha, Pam Martinez and Ricardo Martinez; Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg; Denver Classroom Teachers Association Henry Roman and Colorado Education Association President Kerrie Dallman, who is also a teacher at Jefferson County High School.
Denver Public Schools is the state’s largest school district, and the Colorado Education Association is an organization comprised of tens of thousands of public educators in the state.
Likewise, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association has almost 3,000 members comprised of public educators, and Padres & Jovenes Unidos is an organization that fights for education equity and immigrant rights, among other social issues.
They join several Denver city council members and Democratic lawmakers and members of Congress to publicly denounce Trump’s actions, which would strip federal funding from any so-called “sanctuary city” that does not aid federal agents in identifying and deporting suspected undocumented immigrants, and would limit visas from certain predominantly-Muslim countries.
Several Colorado officials publicly called the orders unconstitutional Wednesday and called for their judicial review.
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Denver Post Editorial Board editor discusses ‘Lying Trump’ editorial
DENVER – “Lying Donald Trump can’t be trusted, and that needs to stop now.”
That headline screamed from the editorial page of the Denver Post Thursday morning, as The Post’s Editorial Board took a firm stance early in Donald Trump’s presidency that it would not tolerate the lies and “alternative facts” he and his spokesman have propagated in their first week in the White House. Continue reading
Colorado officials say they’ll stand up to Trump’s immigration orders, but some Coloradans fearful
DENVER – President Donald Trump issued an executive order Wednesday that would strip all federal funding from cities and counties, including several in Colorado, that do not help federal agents target and deport people specifically for living in the U.S. illegally.
Another order signed Wednesday will affect visas and immigration from a handful of predominantly-Muslim nations in Africa and the Middle East that have large immigrant populations in the Denver area, and is causing further concern and questions among those groups. Continue reading
Document detailing possible Trump infrastructure priorities includes Colo. I-70, I-25 improvements
DENVER – Two major Colorado infrastructure projects and an energy proposal with Colorado ties are among a list of nationwide infrastructure projects prioritized for federal funding under the Donald Trump administration, according to documents obtained by McClatchy DC and the Kansas City Star.
The documents show that among the projects proposed to be earmarked for federal funding are the I-70 Mountain Corridor, and improving and widening I-25 between Monument and Castle Rock. Continue reading
Head of Secret Service’s Denver district under fire for anti-Trump Facebook post
DENVER – The head of the U.S. Secret Service’s Denver district is under fire for an October Facebook post in which she said she would not “take a bullet” for Donald Trump.
The post was made by Kerry O’Grady, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Denver district. It was made before Trump won the presidency and does not specifically mention him by name, but came to light in a story published Tuesday by the Washington Examiner.
By the time the post was made, the presidential field had been narrowed down to Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.
In her position, she is in charge of coordinating advance teams for presidential trips to the area.
“Despite the fact that I am expected to take a bullet for both sides…this world has changed and I have changed,” O’Grady wrote, in part, in the post, which has since been deleted. “And I would take jail time over a bullet or an endorsement for what I believe to be disaster to this country and the strong and amazing women and minorities who reside here.”
She also wrote that she was in a “struggle to not violate the Hatch Act,” and wrote, “Hatch Act be damned. I am with her.”
The Hatch Act prohibits some executive branch employees, including Secret Service agents, from engaging in political activity or speech for a certain candidate or cause on social media.
The Examiner reports there has been at least one official complaint levied against her speech. Attempts to reach O’Grady for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful. But she told the Examiner repeatedly that she would perform her duties and that she was proud to serve the office of the president.
The U.S. Secret Service told the Examiner it was “aware of the postings” and “looking into the matter.”
Report: Peyton Manning to speak at Republican retreat in Philadelphia
DENVER – Former Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning will be among the speakers at a joint House-Senate Republican retreat scheduled to start Wednesday in Philadelphia, according to Politico.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are also both expected to speak at the retreat, as is British Prime Minister Theresa May.
The retreat was set for Republicans on the Hill to hammer out a new agenda the party seeks to install, as it will hold the presidency, House and Senate for at least the next two years.
Manning donated to Jeb Bush during the Republican primaries, and had a picture taken with Donald Trump Jr. while the Trump campaign was in Mississippi.
While he has not publicly supported Trump, Manning has a history of donating to Tennessee Republicans, and gave money to George W. Bush in 2004 and Mitt Romney in 2012 for their presidential bids.
One of the Tennessee Republicans Manning has supported, Sen. Bob Corker, said he was looking forward to having Manning at the retreat and will introduce him to his colleagues.
“Peyton is a long-time friend, and I am excited to welcome him to this year’s congressional Republican policy retreat in Philadelphia,” said Corker in a statement. “Passing meaningful legislation takes a great deal of teamwork, a skill Peyton has certainly mastered throughout his football career.”
But Trump praised Manning in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” last year, saying he is a “very good guy.”
Manning has not publicly discussed what he will talk about at the retreat.
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Trump’s pick for Air Force secretary, Heather Wilson, an Academy graduate and NM congresswoman
DENVER – President Donald Trump is planning to nominate Heather Wilson as Air Force Secretary.
The White House said Monday it would nominate Wilson, a graduate of the Air Force Academy and former New Mexico congresswoman, to the post.
Wilson served as New Mexico’s 1st congressional district representative from 1998 to 2009 and was the first female veteran elected to Congress. She currently serves as the President of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
She was among the first women admitted to the Academy and eventually became a Vice Wing Commander before graduating as a Distinguished Graduate. She then was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and went to Oxford University.
She served in the Air Force until 1989 until she was picked to serve on National Security Council staff, and later founded a private defense company, Keystone International, and worked in the Gary Johnson administration before being elected to Congress.
While there, she served as chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence and was a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and also served on the House Armed Services Committee.
But she was at the center of a 2015 settlement involving Albuquerque, N.M-based Sandia Labs after she allegedly lobbied members of Congress and the Obama administration for an extension of the contract with the federal government.
She was also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for consulting with three contractors involved in other federal laboratories, but no one could document her work, according to the Washington Post.
She denied lobbying for the Sandia Labs contract.
“Heather Wilson is going to make an outstanding Secretary of the Air Force. Her distinguished military service, high level of knowledge, and success in so many different fields gives me great confidence that she will lead our nation’s Air Force with the greatest competence and integrity,” President Trump said in a statement.
The same news release said Wilson plans “to strengthen American air and space power to keep the country safe.”
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Bill would require probable cause for police access to people’s prescription records
DENVER – A bill under consideration in the Colorado Legislature would make it harder for law enforcement agencies to gain access to Coloradans’ prescription drug information.
Senate Bill 32 would require Colorado law enforcement agencies and regulatory boards to have a judge or neutral third party approve a warrant backed by a sworn affidavit or testimony before they can access the state’s prescription drug monitoring program. The bill was proposed by Sen. Michael Merrifield, a Democrat from El Paso County.
The state’s program is aimed at mitigating the abuse or misuse of prescription drugs. Pharmacies and doctors are required to upload prescription information for all Schedule II-V drugs prescribed and distributed to patients into the program’s database each day. The bulk of prescription drugs fall under those categorizations.
In Colorado, the law currently requires the requesting agency or board to prove that the information is related to a specific “practitioner, patient or pharmacy” amid an ongoing “bona fide investigation.”
But Coloradans could still have their private information and past prescriptions shared with law enforcement agencies that fill out an administrative subpoena which does not go before independent court officials before it is issued by the agency.
As revealed by a five-month investigation last August by Denver7’s Washington bureau, Scripps News, Colorado was one of 31 states that allowed law enforcement and regulatory boards to access that private consumer information without probable cause.
The Scripps News investigation uncovered an incident in Utah in which local police investigating the theft of drugs from an ambulance accessed the private prescription records of all 480 employees of the United Fire Authority of Salt Lake County. None of the employees were suspects, no court approved the search and no probable cause ever existed that any of the employees were involved in the theft.
Two of the employees were eventually charged after police used the information they obtained, though their charges were not related to the theft and were eventually dropped altogether.
Utah auditors later found that warrantless access to the database “may have resulted in questionable use” of the database by other law enforcement agencies in more than half the sampled cases.
The Scripps News investigation found that in 2014-15 alone, law enforcement nationally had accessed at least 344,921 Americans’ prescription histories in the 31 states that don’t require a warrant or court order.
Utah has since changed its law to require warrants be approved before the information is released.
Sen. Merrifield told Scripps Monday that his bill is aimed at providing better protections for Coloradans, and simply requires law enforcement agencies and regulatory boards to establish probable cause for the search.
“We need to protect Coloradans’ constitutional right to privacy,” he said. “It simply isn’t right that any law enforcement official or regulator could access private health records without any form of judicial oversight. As technology advances, and these records become digitized, Colorado needs to make sure investigations into people’s prescription health records are done so with a judge’s approval, just like any investigation into any other personal database.”
The bill is scheduled for its first hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee Feb. 1.
Scripps News’ senior national investigative correspondent Mark Greenblatt contributed to this report.
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