by Mark Smiley | Nov 21, 2016 | Editorials
There is no individual elected official that has been a subject of more Chronicle editorials over the last 12 years than Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey. He is term limited and will be turning over the reins of office to soon to be septuagenarian Beth McCann this next month.
Mr. Morrissey is admittedly something of a mystery to us. He is intelligent, highly articulate and strikingly handsome which are attributes he shares with Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler. When he came into office in January 2005 we had high hopes for him and his office.
His immediate predecessor as DA, Bill Ritter, went on to become governor of Colorado and there was no reason to think that Morrissey might not successfully follow that path to higher office.
There have been no scandals to speak of at the Denver DA’s office during his entire 12-year tenure for which Morrissey can be justifiably proud. Moreover, he has at times had the courage to do such things as his extremely sharp edged attack on presiding Denver County Court Judge John Marcucci and his brethren for turning Denver into the heroin capital of the West as highlighted on the front page of this month’s Chronicle.
But conversely from the beginning up until today there has been a constant barrage of legal and public relations gaffes that are extraordinary.
By way of example, we were aghast when he decided in 2008 to criminally prosecute Skinner Middle School Principal Nicole Veltze for failure to notify the police over incidental touching in a classroom, although she suspended the children involved. He assigned his two top assistants to bring three charges against the poor school administrator which brought howls from the local media.
County Court Judge Doris E. Burd threw out all charges against Veltze saying there was absolutely no evidence that the school principal acted willfully and wantonly to thwart the law. Amazingly Morrissey then went after Judge Burd saying that his office was very surprised and concerned by the ruling and just might appeal.
To prove he never was able to grasp the old saying that “if you find yourself in a hole stop digging” Morrissey then went personally to the editorial board of the now defunct Rocky Mountain News to attempt to prevent them from issuing an editorial castigating him. He told its editorial board that state law required him to bring the charges. The editorial board found his arguments ludicrous and issued one of the most damning editorials about a Denver DA in living memory.
To demonstrate he has learned nothing in his 12 years in office he just recently decided to bring to trial Clarence Moses-EL for rape charges. Moses-EL had been convicted back in 1987 for beating and raping a woman in his Five Points neighborhood. His conviction was based almost solely on the testimony of the victim saying that it had come to her in a dream that Moses-EL was the one who raped her. She had previously said that she could not identify her assailant because of the beating, but that the person had a toupee and was either “LC, Earl or Darnell.” Moses-EL did not have a toupee nor was one of the men named.
There was significant evidence containing DNA collected by the Denver Police but that field of science was just in its infancy and no tests were performed. Moses-EL was sentenced to 48 years in prison. Moses-EL steadfastly denied he was guilty even after the verdict
When the field of DNA advanced to the point that the evidence gathered could, in fact, be tested Moses pleaded with the DA’s office and the state to perform the tests, but they refused saying they did not have enough money. Eventually Moses-EL, with the help of fellow prisoners, scrapped together enough money to have the tests performed but once again the DA’s office and the state refused. With help of pro bono attorneys, a court finally ordered Denver to perform the tests.
Unbelievably it turned out Denver had destroyed all of the DNA evidence relating to the Moses-EL case. LC Jackson, one of the men who the victim originally said was a possible assailant, confessed to the crime but later recanted, then reconfessed and then recanted.
A Denver District Court found enough evidence “to allow a jury to probably return a verdict of acquittal in favor of the Defendant” and allowed Moses-EL a new trial. Everyone assumed the case was over, but Morrissey decided to go after Moses-EL. To cover his tracks, Morrissey attempted to get Moses-EL to plead guilty to various lesser charges in return for the DA’s office recommending he be released for time served. Moses-EL said he would never plead guilty to a crime he had not committed even if it meant he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
The NAACP brought to the court a petition signed by 2,000 prominent Denverites asking that he not be forced to go through a second trial. The Denver Post wrote a blistering editorial pleading that Moses-EL not be retried. Beth McCann stated that if Morrissey would not take any action until she was in office she would not retry Moses-EL. Apparently, none of that mattered to the tone deaf Morrissey. As in the Veltze case he brought his top aide Chief Deputy Bonnie Benedetti to try the case.
On November 14, 2016, a 12-person Denver jury after only three hours of actual deliberation found Moses-EL not guilty on all charges to the tumultuous cheers of the community. At age 60 Moses-EL was finally free after 28 years of wrongful confinement for a crime he never committed.
As we noted earlier, both Morrissey and Arapahoe DA George Brauchler are highly intelligent individuals, but Brauchler has one attribute that Morrissey has demonstrated time after time he badly lacks — judgment.
An extraordinary lack of judgment is why Mitch Morrissey should never again be elected or appointed to any office of public trust, notwithstanding his many gifts. The Veltze and Moses-EL cases demonstrate he simply cannot be trusted to do the right thing when it truly counts.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Nov 21, 2016 | Main Articles
by Glen Richardson
As first shockingly disclosed by the Washington, D.C., based news publication The Hill, the highly prominent and powerful Denver based law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP has filed under the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act to represent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A copy of the Fee Agreement between the Brownstein firm and the Kingdom was leaked to 710 KNUS radio host Peter Boyles (who writes a column for the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle and found on page 2 each month).
Under the Fee Agreement the Kingdom is paying Brownstein $100,000 per month for a minimum of four months “to act as policy counsel . . . in connection with legislative issues of importance to the U.S. – Saudi Arabia bilateral relationship.”
The representation according to The Hill is to reverse the rights of the victims of 9/11 just granted under the Justice of Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) to sue the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its alleged complicity in the 9/11 attack. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia.
The Brownstein firm is not just any law firm in Denver. It was started in 1968 by 
Norm Brownstein, Jack Hyatt and Steve Farber fresh out of the University of Colorado Law School. Both Brownstein and Farber grew up from highly humble beginnings on the west side of Denver. The firm has grown into the second largest firm in Colorado and the second largest lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. The firm has over 250 attorneys and has offices in 11 cities across the United States.
Nationally the firm is known for its political connections and locally for its philanthropic activities. It represents The Denver Post, Mayor Michael Hancock, and Governor John Hickenlooper. Both Brownstein and Farber are highly active in the Jewish community in Denver, and in the Cherry Creek Valley.
But Brownstein himself has not escaped scandal in recent years. His son Drew “Bo” Brownstein was forced to pay a $4.7 million fine in June 2012 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider stock trading for securities purchased in h
is and his father’s names. He was later sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson, but Norm himself managed to escape any punishment.
What is so alarming to many is the fact that the Brownstein firm came to prominence as a lobbying powerhouse in Washington, D.C., due to its strong connections with the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It is a highly powerful group that lobbies for pro-Israel policies to Congress and the Executive branch.
JASTA was passed over the veto of President Barrack Obama on September 28 by a 97 to 1 vote with the only dissenting vote being Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, and passed the House by a 348 to 77 vote. It is expected to be the only veto overridden during Obama’s eight years in the Presidency.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming votes in the Senate and the House it has been speculated that after the November 8 election and during the lame duck session, a way would be found to amend and render the legislation moot. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hired at least 13 other lobbying firms to get the legislation reversed including such other heavyweights as the Podesta Group and Patton Boggs.
Under the Fee Agreement the lobbying would be headed up by Alfred Mottur, Marc Lampkin and two non-lawyers. Mottur and Lampkin are among the 2016 top Washington, D.C., “hired gun” lobbyists as ranked by The Hill. Mottur works the
Democratic side of Capitol Hill having been a senior staffer for Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC). Conversely, Lampkin is called a part of “Team Boehner” named after the recently retired Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, as well as having been Deputy Campaign Manager for the George W. Bush for President Campaign.
Mottur called into the Peter Boyles Show on 710 KNUS and somewhat quixotically attempted to assert that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had hired him to protect U.S. servicemen abroad from possible lawsuits. Retired Army veteran George Athanasopoulous who served four tours in Iraq as an infantryman was in studio when Mottur called. He later called Mottur’s dissembling on air who and what he was hired to lobby for “comical if it wasn’t so tragic.”
He went on to note, “He was destroyed on air by Peter [Boyles]. I don’t know how anyone would want the Brownstein firm to legally represent them knowing that they were registered foreign agents for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia working to screw over the 9/11 families. Mr. Brownstein and Mr. Farber should be ashamed of themselves.”
by Mark Smiley | Nov 21, 2016 | Glendale City News
by Kurt Woock
Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale
GLENDALE, CO – SEPTEMBER 15: Fall After School Rugby at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado on September 15, 2016. (Photo by Seth McConnell)
Infinity Park is Colorado’s home for rugby. On the weekends, you can find the best players from around the country on the pitch. Throughout the week, you’ll find it’s just as busy with its burgeoning youth rugby program, the Glendale Raptors Rugby Academy.
The youth Raptors Academy at Infinity Park is unique among youth athletic programs. The Academy works in conjunction with the Glendale Raptors men’s and women’s teams, drawing from among their ranks the people who become coaches for the youth program. Children as young as 5 and as old as 18 have the rare opportunity to go to an international rugby tournament and, a few days later, be coached by the same players they were cheering for. Jenna Anderson, the program coordinator for Raptors Academy, said she takes pride in the level of investment that the program makes in the coaches, and that the player-coaches make to become better at coaching. Each coach in the youth rugby program is certified through national programs in order to be equipped to teach the sport effectively and safely. This fall, Anderson sent a few coaches to a higher-level, full-day course through USA Rugby that gave them the tools needed to teach advanced tackling techniques.
That long-term view toward coaching is a microcosm of the entire Academy. The individual camps and teams aren’t designed to be one-offs. As a young athlete grows up, his or her rugby experience is designed to build on and expand upon years of experience in the program — it’s not simply more of the same, year after year, only with taller kids each time. Anderson said this year she saw, for the first time, an age group graduate out of the program having started at its earliest level, age 5. Developing well-rounded athletes takes a concerted effort over time, and the Raptors Academy has a blueprint to do just that.
The program had a successful fall season and has plans to keep that momentum moving forward, through the winter and into the spring. A few highlights:
Fall After School
Fall After School Rugby had about 85 boys and girls from kindergarten through eighth grade participate. Children between 5 and 7 played flag footba
GLENDALE, CO – NOVEMBER 21: Youth Rugby Camp at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado on November 21, 2015. (Photo by Seth McConnell)
ll while older children were divided into two-year groups and learned to tackle.
Practices were held on Tuesdays and Thursdays and, for the first time, offered Saturday scrimmages for anyone in the program. Thanks to a new partnership with Rugby Colorado, youth participants from many programs were able to apply what they learned in practice in a fun, new environment.
Anderson said many outgoing eighth graders have plans to continue playing rugby in high school with the skills they’ve developed at Infinity Park over the years.
Winter Indoor
This will be the third year for winter indoor. The program, which meets on four weekends in November and December, is all non-tackle and held in the gymnasium at the onsite Glendale Sports Center. Anderson said the winter indoor program helps athletes develop specific skills and improve conditioning during a time when the weather usually doesn’t permit outdoor play. The program can be a boon to young athletes looking for the boost they need to meet goals, like moving from a B team to an A team, or moving into the starting lineup. “Kids are already thinking about playing at next level, in college, in high school, and this program will help them.
Anderson said the program is also a good opportunity for a player new to the sport to pick up a few rugby basics before joining a league in the spring. “We work on a lot of movement skills,” she said. “Many kids can’t run and catch at the same time. Kids love making plays. Being able to catch and run will make the game infinitely more fun.”
School Visits
In order to bring the sport to as many people as possible, Anderson tries to make at least two “field trips” every month to neighborhood schools. While there, she runs mini clinics that give students an opportunity to try out some of the skills and learn the basic rules of the sport. She said that since the Summer Olympics, where rugby sevens made its Olympic debut, more and more students are already somewhat familiar with the sport and are certainly intrigued. “Seeing how fun it is, how fast-paced, how fit everyone is: It’s really capturing the imagination of families and kids.”
by Mark Smiley | Nov 21, 2016 | General Featured
by Ruthy Wexler
The John Hand Theater in Lowry is a singular Cherry Creek Valley experience. Welcomed into a tiny lobby, you feel . . . instantly at home. Sipping a glass of wine in your seat, you feel . . . curiously content. Watching talented actors give their all, you are stimulated, moved and somehow, included. When you leave, you feel . . . the opposite of alone.
It’s exactly what John Hand had in mind.
Who is John Hand?
A charismatic guy with a million ideas, John left his revitalizing mark all over Denver. He ran an antique shop, owned a deli, bought and sold real estate, founded Colorado Free University . . . and that’s the short list. When the Lowry Air Force Base began its redevelopment in 1999, John, then 52, bought the base’s firehouse as a satellite building for CFU — but soon, he had another idea.
Love Of Theater
John loved the theater. He’d acted in plays, even written a musical, was especially drawn to how dramatic collaboration brought everyone more alive. The firehouse would be a community theater.
He hired an architect, drove to California to pick up a batch of old theater seats and soon, fellow enthusiasts joined him to sing and read plays. A core group emerged, an amateur acting troupe. John’s younger sister Helen, busy with her own career as a psychologist, came to watch productions. Of all his ventures, Helen saw, the theater was John’s center.
“I felt happy that John was living his dream,” she recalls. “And a
lways, amazed that he could do so much.”
By 2004, light and sound equipment still in a cubbyhole, John was excitedly planning his first big play. The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, an early work by Arthur Miller, concerns a bigamist who must explain his life choices when both wives arrive at his hospital bed.
“In some ways,” Helen muses, “that play was reflective of John’s life. So many balls in the air…”
The balls all came crashing down on March 28, 2004, when a total stranger — a 19-year-old girl with an angel face and demon hallucinations — entered his home and stabbed John Hand to death.
Brother’s Dream Brought To Life
Helen could not accept such a meaning
less end to her brother’s life. She wanted to honor him — but how? John had always been the one with ideas. “He was so articulate, so vibrant. I was a little more . . . retiring. I was dazzled by him. But he was a good big brother.” Helen laughs, remembering the time John taught her to fight back against a neighborhood bully. “Once we got outside, I sat on the ground and wouldn’t go any further. I let him down.”
She would not let him down now. Helen went outside her comfort zone to ask for contributions so John’s big play could be produced. “People loved him, they were inspired by him, and so they gave.” Six months after John’s death, Firehouse Theater Company presented The Ride Down Mt. Morgan with professional sound and lighting.
She’d held up her brother’s dream. Now Helen couldn’t bear to see it die. She cut back her private psychology practice to take over the reins of Colorado Free University and the theater as well.
“At first it was spotty,” she recalls. “We would lose people, lose energy. I had to rely on others to mount productions.” But soon, Helen discovered that she liked reading scripts, enjoyed the actors. She began to take a more active role. “I’d entered a field where I had no experience or expertise and I found . . . tremendous satisfaction. And joy.”
Second Theater Company
To keep the theater afloat, Helen rented it out to local groups. In 2007, Spotlight Theater Company came on board as a regular renter. The two groups sparked each other. Since Firehouse was producing only four plays a year, they arrived at the arrangement we see today: Spotlight and Firehouse present alternate productions at the John Hand Theater.
“The way the shows dovetail from company to company is seamless,” says Bernie Cardell, artistic director of Spotlight. “It’s a splendidly diverse program. Spotlight is more comfort food, makes you laugh, goes down easy. Firehouse explores the human heart.”
Pat Salas, a season subscriber to both companies, says, “When I take people to the John Hand, they’re like, ‘Who? Where are we going?’ But then when we see the play, they always want to go back.”
What makes the productions so special? For starters, the theater. At 89 seats, it’s an intimate — and well designed — setting. “It has enough height and depth that you don’t feel crowded as an actor,” says Emma Messenger. “The acoustics are exceptionally good, fantastic for subtle acting. But the best part about the John Hand is the supportive people who work there. You always feel so cared for — and that nurturing feeling translates to better performances.”
“Why is the acting so good?” muses Bernie Cardell. “You just do better work when you’re feeling part of a family, right?”
This family is purposely inclusive. In the casts of both companies’ shows, there’s often a wide range of experience — another of John’s legacies. “My brother wanted to stage good productions, but he also wanted to provide a place for people to develop their skills,” explains Helen. “So we give opportunities.”
Not just beginners, but veterans benefit. Lauded actor Andrew Uhlenhopp recalls his role as King Henry IV in The Lion in Winter as “a challenge, that I faced with Helen’s great support. She involves herself in the theater in such a way that one feels inspired to grow.”
Helen Rocks
Guiding board meetings, raising funds, attending rehearsals — Helen is now the one with lots of balls in the air. “I’ve even seen her up on the roof checking for leaks,” says actor and set-designer Jeff Jesmer. “Helen rocks!”
“In the process of keeping John’s dream alive,” Helen says simply, “I was transformed.”
So was this tiny spot in Denver.
John’s murder ripped a hole in Helen’s family. What she ended up doing was creating a new family, whose heart is a powerful combination of John’s inventive boldness and her own loving kindness.
On a recent evening, the house was full, the lights had dimmed, when a young couple entered the theater, obviously on a special date — and dismayed at the lack of two seats together. Immediately, three individuals stood, conferred, rearranged — then pointed the couple to a now empty pair. After a burst of affectionate laughter, everyone settled in to watch the show.
Upcoming Season
Theatergoers who want to enjoy the intimacy of the John Hand Theater can look forward to a rich menu in 2017. Helen is particularly proud of Firehouse’s January show: Becky’s New Car, by Stephen Dietz. “The playwright is local, the play is sharp, funny, yet touching and thought-provoking . . . exactly the sort of production John loved.”
In the spring, another sharp comedy, Crimes of the Heart will premiere. And in the summer, Helen is pleased to present an original work by Firehouse board member Debbie Montgomery, Rock of Aging, a parody of ’60s and ’70s bands, with familiar songs hilariously rewritten to address the humiliations of old age.
Alternating with the above is Spotlight’s run of funn
y, scary and heart warming. In February and March, Sabrina Fair (remember the movie with Audrey Hepburn?); in May, Scotland Yard by Jeffrey Hatcher; and that well-known gem On Golden Pond completes the season.
Looking to future seasons, Bernie Cardell sees Spotlight still offering its comfort fare of classics, mysteries, comedies and farces, but spiced with some more challenging works. Firehouse Theater Company will keep exploring the vagaries of human relationships, leaving audiences thinking and talking as they leave the theater. And they both intend to stay at the John Hand.
Visit www.johnhandtheater.com to find links to both company’s shows.
