Politics & Government

Last night, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock issued an extraordinary video apology for what his office has termed “inappropriate behavior” toward Denver Police Detective Leslie Branch-Wise when she was part of his security detail approximately six years ago. The clip, on view below, was prompted by Branch-Wise’s participation in a Denver7 report in which she shared text messages from Hancock, one of which asked if she’d ever taken a pole-dancing course before warning her, “Be careful! I’m curious;)!”

Attorney Jason Flores-Williams provides an update on the federal lawsuit in which thousands of people experiencing homelessness are suing Denver for violating their constitutional rights during sweeps.

Mike Coffman is likely facing his toughest electoral challenge since 2011 redistricting. But if he prevails, he will finally firmly solidify himself in his swingy congressional district.

A complaint alleges that Denver City Council President Albus Brooks used city resources via Twitter to promote a campaign fundraiser. But Brooks argues no one but he controls @AlbusBrooksD9.

At 10:30 a.m. today, February 23, members of several Indivisible groups along the urban corridor will be both outside and inside Senator Cory Gardner’s Denver office, at 721 19th Street, to protest what they see as his tone-deafness when it comes to the need for gun legislation of the sort students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida began calling for in the wake of the February 14 shooting there.

The local March for Our Lives is being organized by Tay Anderson, a nineteen-year-old activist who has emerged in recent months as a prominent voice in the Mile High City.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 23.

Republicans in the state Senate want to be clear about one thing: they are not anti-civil rights. Even though they clearly voted 3-3 along party lines in the powerful Joint Budget Committee to defund the Colorado Civil Rights Division and its commission, Republicans say not to worry; they intend to revisit the issue. But that’s of course after they have their way with the state agency. Here are the reforms they are calling for in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court case against Lakewood baker Jack Phillips.

Republicans on the powerful joint-budget committee voted on Thursday to withhold funding from the Colorado Civil Rights Division, which is charged with investigating and enforcing anti-discrimination cases across the state. With the agency facing a sunset review this year, Republicans are keen on holding agency funding hostage to restructure the agency. This comes right in the midst of a U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit between a same-sex couple and a Colorado baker who refused to make their wedding cake.

Since November, several sexual harassment claims have surfaced against sitting members of the Colorado General Assembly on both sides of the political aisle. This time, Denver House Democrat Susan Lontine has publicly accused Senate colleague Larry Crowder of pinching her butt and making inappropriate comments.

After years of working with and for the Democratic Party, Saira Rao has had enough with the party establishment, and she’s taking on Colorado’s longest-serving congresswoman to combat civil rights and progressive issues.

Last night, February 8, Denver’s Buell Theater was ground zero for the opposition to President Donald Trump, as a raucous, sold-out house reacted with politically charged enthusiasm during a tour stop by Pod Save America, arguably the hottest podcast in America.

Immigrant rights groups around Denver are scrambling to reach out to Temporary Protected Status communities in the Centennial State and provide information about the changes coming out of Washington, D.C — and what to do if they find themselves subject to immigration enforcement.

Yesterday, U.S. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi spoke for eight consecutive hours on the chamber’s floor about the need for immigration reform, with a particular focus on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an endangered program that grants temporary but renewable legal status to those born outside the United States and brought here without documentation as children. Among the DACA recipients she lauded was Denver’s Marco Dorado, whose inspirational story was first told in this space circa March 2017. See the video below.

Fair Districts Colorado, a coalition of civic organizations and former state elected officials, is pushing for a ballot initiative that would upend redistricting and, it says, put an end to gerrymandering. A group resisting the plans has called for more transparency and less partisan influence, going so far as to take the plan to court and file a counter initiative. But now that the court battle is over and the petition is set to circulate, the fight may be close to over. Here’s what to expect.

In recent days, as we’ve reported, the Fremont County coroner’s office identified human remains found on the Arkansas River in July 2017 as Eric Ashby, a rafter who vanished while searching for New Mexico author Forrest Fenn’s $2 million treasure the previous month. Ashby is the namesake of Eric’s Law, a piece of legislation that would require individuals to tell authorities when they witness someone in life-threatening situations, as four people believed to have been with him at the time he went missing apparently didn’t do. But while bill sponsor Representative Jim Wilson, whose district includes Fremont County, sees the need for such a law as obvious, he acknowledges that the idea has received some serious pushback despite the tragic circumstances of Ashby’s death.

Ex-El Paso County sheriff Terry Maketa may finally be off the hook in regard to a years-long scandal described in our previous coverage, on view below. Yesterday, February 5, the jury in his latest trial on corruption allegations found him not guilty of two misdemeanor charges but deadlocked on a pair of felonies. As such, the judge in the case declared a partial mistrial.

Since Xiuhtezcatl Martinez was six years old, he has fought against the tide of climate change. Now as a teenager, Martinez is on the forefront of two major environmental cases that could have wide-ranging repercussions on the oil and gas industry in Colorado and across the U.S.

In 2017, according to a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment report accessible below, 69 terminally ill Coloradans received a prescription for medication under the End of Life Options Act, a measure originally known as Proposition 106 that was approved by voters in November 2016 and went into effect the following month. Fifty of those patients obtained their prescriptions from Colorado pharmacies, and while the CDPHE doesn’t know how many used them, the department received death certificates for 56 of them.

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann has signed on to an amicus brief regarding The City of Los Angeles v. Jeff Sessions, a lawsuit in which L.A. is taking on the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump over a policy to base grants from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in part on whether or not municipalities aid with federal immigration enforcement. McCann says she added her name to a list of 33 prominent prosecutors and law enforcement officials nationwide despite the possibility that Sessions and company could target Denver for retaliation as a result.