On June 28 there is a critical Democratic primary for residents of the Cherry Creek Valley. As a practical matter Republicans are irrelevant in local races in Denver as there is not a single Republican who holds a state Senate or House seat from Denver.
While most municipal offices are filled through non-partisan elections in Denver the office of Denver District Attorney is a partisan election where the Republican Party often does not even run a candidate and they are not this year. While there are various races on the ballot which are of interest the two critical ones for us are the matchup for District Attorney and that for Beth McCann’s State House seat. The mail-in ballots should already be out and an extraordinary few number who bother to vote will determine who is ultimately elected this fall. Our endorsements in this election are as follows:
Michael Carrigan for Denver D.A.
There is no office in Denver, save mayor, that is more powerful than that of district attorney, although not too many in the public or the press appear to recognize that fact. The failure of the present district attorney, the person in charge of the office, can do great good for or great ill to Denver. Mitch Morrissey, by refusing to bring charges against virtually anyone in law enforcement in Denver has caused the bad apples in Denver law enforcement to believe they can get away with almost anything. Thus citizens of Denver are all too frequently brutalized by the Police Department or the Sheriff’s Department and the taxpayers hand out millions in settlement because of Morrissey.
Under the egis (1983-1993) of Dale Tooley the Denver District Attorney’s Office was recognized as being one of the best in the country and capable lawyers flocked to it. However subsequent D.A.s slowly frittered away that reputation with a low point reached under politically ambitious Bill Ritter who would go on to be a one-term governor of Colorado. Under a cloud of controversy Ritter chose not to run for a second term in order to “spend more time with his family.”
There are three candidates in the primary for the position — Michael Carrigan, Beth McCann and Kenneth Boyd. Of the three Boyd is quite simply not qualified for the position. He is the nephew of the tainted former D.A. Bill Ritter and at 37 has no real qualifications other than he is “Mitch Morrissey’s man.” One of the more distressing trends in recent years is term limited district attorneys desperate not to have to leave the government bosom, arrange for an underling to run who promises to hire the old district attorney back. This same pitiful game of musical chairs for lawyers was attempted by former Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers with her subordinate Leslie Hansen. The Republican primary voters wisely voted instead for George Brauchler who has been an outstanding District Attorney.
Boyd even announced to a flabbergasted audience that there was no excessive force problem in Denver. We cannot fathom why anyone in Denver, other than Mitch Morrissey, would vote for Boyd.
Conversely Beth McCann certainly has the resume and experience to be District Attorney but has spent an entire adult life going from one government job to the next. She is running again for District Attorney having lost to Morrissey 12 years ago because she is term limited as the state representative for District 8. She has not tried a criminal case since 1983 and she would be 80 years old if she served all three terms. Denver can do better.
Luckily the voters in the primary have a wonderful choice in Michael Carrigan, a senior litigation attorney with the much respected Holland and Hart law firm. He served as a Deputy District Attorney in Arapahoe County for over a half decade before going into private practice in Denver. At age 49 he has the energy and experience to be an outstanding District Attorney for Denver. The Denver D.A.’s office badly needs new blood as every District Attorney since Dale Tooley has come from in-house. The office has way too much dead wood that needs to be cleaned out, which is exactly what Boulder D.A. Stan Garnett and Arapahoe County George Brauchler did when they came into office.
Carrigan speaks fluent Spanish and like Garnett and Brauchler he would not be afraid to try some of the most difficult and high visibility cases that may arise in his jurisdiction. He has been candid that he opposes the death penalty and is concerned about the rate of incarceration of African Americans in the Denver judicial system.
The only hesitancy regarding his candidacy for us is the fact that, as The Denver Post was thrilled to point out, his endorsements include a veritable “who’s who of Denver politics” which translated means every crook in town including the infamous Steve Farber of the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP. But Carrigan also has the endorsement of leading reform Denver City Councilman Rafael Espinoza and he has convinced us that he is beholden to no one and plans to be a reform District Attorney that shakes up a system that badly needs to be shaken up.
Denver is lucky to have such a highly qualified attorney willing to run for District Attorney making the choice an easy one for us and we think for the voters.
Goldhamer for House District 8
House District 8 which is located in north central Denver has been ably served by Beth McCann for the last eight years and being term limited she is running for Denver District Attorney (see above). Squaring off in the Democratic primary are two good candidates Aaron Goldhamer and Leslie Herod.
Herod worked as an administrative assistant down at the Capitol and was a Senior Policy Advisor to then Governor Bill Ritter. She has served as Program Officer with the Gill Foundation and more recently started up her own consulting business.
Aaron Goldhamer is a litigator with the substantial law firm of Jones & Keller with a bachelor’s degree cum laude from Yale University, and J.D. from Georgetown University Law School. He has a strong pro bono component to his law practice.
Both candidates are strong progressives as befits House District 8 and they do not appear to substantially disagree on the relevant issues.
What we find particularly appealing about Goldhamer is that he is willing to take his own time and money to fight some of the important fights in Denver today. He is representing former Colorado Attorney J.D. McFarland in battling against the disreputable “Platte to Park Hill” flood control project that will raise every Denver resident’s drainage fees for costs which should be borne by CDOT as they directly relate to CDOT’s I-70 expansion. The drainage project also effectively destroys a significant portion of one more Denver gem, Park Hill Golf Course.
You make no friends with the Denver political establishment by opposing this project which has the endorsement of Mayor Michael Hancock and all of his friends and controllers. Anybody who has the smarts and the toughness to take on the most powerful and corrupt elements in Denver we believe will make a great State Representative for the City and County of Denver and we strongly endorse his candidacy.
— Editorial Board