Politics

Lawsuit: By restricting life-saving Hepatitis treatments, Colorado prisons putting taxpayers on hook

DENVER – Eighteen inmates in Colorado prisons died over a three-year period because of the state’s “cruel and arbitrary” system for treating Hepatitis C infections, which is leaving thousands of inmates without access to treatments, according to a federal class action lawsuit filed Wednesday by the ACLU of Colorado against the state Department of Corrections.

As of last December, there were 2,280 prisoners in Colorado who had been diagnosed with some degree of the virus, which amounts to about one-ninth of the state’s total prison population. Hepatitis C is the most-prevalent blood-borne infectious virus in the U.S. Continue reading

Denver Sheriff Department disputes ICE claim it didn’t notify of inmate’s release

DENVER – The Denver Sheriff Department is disputing allegations it never notified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents it was releasing an inmate with an immigration detainer from custody.

Late on Tuesday, ICE said it had picked up Ricardo Daniel Lopez-Vera, 19, and was holding him pending a hearing in front of a federal immigration judge.

ICE said it had placed an immigration detainer on Lopez-Vera on July 11—a day after he was involved in a fight that left another inmate dead. Continue reading

Colorado Dems call for Trump election integrity commission to be disbanded, citing voter withdrawals

DENVER – Three of Colorado’s members of Congress are calling for President Donald Trump’s controversial election integrity commission to be disbanded or handcuffed in the wake of nearly 4,000 voter registration withdrawals in their home state over the past three weeks.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., sent a letter to the commission, its vice chair, Kris Kobach, and Vice President Mike Pence asking they “immediately terminate” the commission, which he said was “wasteful and harmful” and formed only “as the result of delusion, conspiracy theories, and truly ‘fake news.’”

He said the “entire premise for its origination has zero basis in any peer-reviewed study or analysis” in the letter before going on to call the commission’s quest to get voter roll information from each state a “taxpayer-funded fishing expedition” that he said was “eroding trust and confidence in our democratic institutions and perpetuating fear in communities throughout the country.”

Bennet pointed to the nearly-4,000 Coloradans, most of whom are Democrats or unaffiliated voters, who had withdrawn their voter registrations since the commission’s request was sent to Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams as reasons why the commission should be dissolved.

“Given the spike in these registration withdrawals, I request that you immediately end the commission and describe how you intend to reverse the damage that it has already caused in my state,” Bennet wrote.

Most of the registration withdrawals since June 28 have been chalked up to the commission’s vice chair’s request, and Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams’ saying that he’d hand over the voter roll information that he’s required to under state law.

In Colorado, that means he’s required to send a voter’s full name, address, party affiliation and date the person registered, phone number, gender identity, birth year, and information about if a person has voted in prior elections.

The commission had also requested two things that Colorado won’t hand over: a voter’s Social Security number and a voter’s birth date—things that aren’t public record in Colorado.

But Williams still hasn’t sent over any of the information, as the commission asked last week that no states send the voter roll information over until a federal lawsuit in Washington D.C. is decided.

But Bennet was joined by fellow Colorado Democratic members of Congress in expressing their displeasure with the commission this week, when Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis joined more than 70 other members of the U.S. House of Representatives in also calling for the commission to end its quest for voter roll information.

“The federal government has an obligation to protect the personally identifiable information of the American people. We believe your June 28th request to the states would do the opposite by ignoring the critical need for robust security protocols when transmitting and storing sensitive personally identifiable information and by centralizing it in one place,” the members of Congress wrote.

The commission has gone back-and-forth about how it wanted the states to transmit the information, eventually opting for a secure network on the same day the commission asked states not to send any information over until the lawsuits were resolved.

Calling the commission “bogus,” DeGette said its request was deterring people from participating in democracy.

“It’s clear that many Coloradans simply don’t trust this ill-conceived effort, and for good reason,” DeGette said. “Maintaining the integrity of our elections is a critical priority, but this ‘investigation’ is the wrong solution.”

Williams, as have many others, has repeatedly said that voter fraud in the U.S. is extremely rare.

He noted in a letter to Kobach on Friday in which he outlined Colorado’s voter system that there were only 18 election-related crime cases prosecuted or under investigation in Colorado since November 2000. He also said that the information the commission requested wouldn’t be able to be used to verify the accuracy of voter rolls in the U.S., as most states are withholding some of the information the commission requested–including Kobach’s own Kansas.

There are more than 3.3 million active registered voters in Colorado, meaning that the number of withdrawals amounts to about 0.1 percent of the state’s total voting population.

Cory Gardner laments people ‘spiking the football’ after latest GOP health care failure

DENVER – U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner said Tuesday that people were “spiking the football” after learning that Senate Republicans were again unable to bring a bill to the floor that would repeal Obamacare without an immediate replacement—a move leadership had pivoted to after their second version of a new health care bill failed Monday night.

The Republican from Colorado was notably displeased at the failure of the latest attempt to fulfill the party’s promise to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act during a news conference he held with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other top Republicans in Congress’ upper chamber. Continue reading

ICE picks up man involved in Denver jail inmate’s death, says sheriff didn’t notify of release

DENVER – The Denver jail inmate whose fight with another inmate ended in the other inmate’s death is now being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending an immigration hearing.

Ricardo Daniel Lopez-Vera, 19, had an immigration detainer placed on him by ICE on July 11—a day after he was involved in a fight that left another inmate, 42-year-old William Anderson, dead.

Denver7 had not previously named Lopez-Vera as the man involved in the fight because he was not charged in Anderson’s death.

ICE says Lopez-Vera was released from the Denver jail without the Denver Sheriff Department, which runs the jail, notifying ICE he had been released.

ICE says Lopez-Vera had previous convictions for driving while ability impaired and another misdemeanor, but said it had not previously contacted him before the July 11 detainer.

He will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration hearing. ICE hasn’t said when Lopez-Vera entered the country illegally.

DPD sting leads to consumption citations for Denver Church of Cannabis leaders over 4/20 ceremony

DENVER – Three of the founders of Denver’s International Church of Cannabis were cited for public consumption of marijuana and violating the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act for their 4/20 rally after several undercover Denver police officers were able to get inside the church’s event that day.

Steve Berke and two other founders of the newly-minted cannabis church, near Denver’s Washington Park, say the citations weren’t delivered until several days after April 20, something the Denver City Attorney’s Office confirmed. None of the other people at the ceremony were cited. Continue reading

88 percent of Colorado voter registration withdrawals are from Democrats, unaffiliated voters

DENVER – Democrats and unaffiliated voters in Colorado have made up the overwhelming majority of the people who have withdrawn their voter registrations or become confidential voters in the state in response to the Trump administration’s request for voter roll information on behalf of its controversial election integrity commission.

By the end of day Friday, 3,738 Colorado voters had withdrawn their registration, and 200 had become confidential voters—something people in Colorado can do by signing a sworn affidavit at their county clerk’s office saying they could be in danger by having their addresses made public. Continue reading

Gardner, Buck among speakers advertised for Western Conservative Summit; will Trump attend?

DENVER – The Western Conservative Summit is coming to Denver again this year, and the gathering of major conservative players is again hoping to bring out some big names for this year’s three-day event.

Though he hasn’t been confirmed to be attending yet, the summit’s organizers have been touting the possibility that President Donald Trump may appear at this year’s gathering. He spoke at last year’s event while he was still a candidate, as did Sarah Palin and a host of other Republicans.

High-profile people who “might” also show up and who have been invited include HUD Secretary Ben Carson, EPA head Scott Pruitt, the president’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, according to the event’s website. It’s unclear at this point if any will actually attend the conference.

But some high-profile Republicans from Colorado are certain to attend, according to the event’s planners: Sen. Cory Gardner and Rep. Ken Buck will be there.

The summit, hosted by the Centennial Institute and Colorado Christian University, will also host a roundtable interview involving three of the Republican candidates who have already declared their candidacy for Colorado’s governorship in 2018: Doug Robinson, George Brauchler and Victor Mitchell.

On that panel, each will get five minutes to speak about the ideas for Colorado, then will be interviewed by Colorado Politics’ Joey Bunch.

Online ads for the summit have touted Gardner as being one of the speakers, and have drawn even more questions from those on the left, as Gardner will again visit an event full of wealthy donors and political players weeks after he attended the Koch Industries convention in Colorado Springs.

The Republican senator has been chastised by Colorado Democrats since he hasn’t held an in-person town hall meeting in months and has been part of the Republican team crafting a new health care bill in the Senate.

Those calls for a town hall are unlikely to wane, nor is criticism, as weekend passes will cost $200, and daily passes will be $120 apiece. Discounts are available for some parties of 10 or more people, as well as for people under 30, veterans, active duty military, clergy, educators and CCU alumni.

More information on the event, the speakers expected to attend, and ticketing can be found here.

Colo. Sec. of State: Election integrity commission’s data request can’t verify voter roll accuracy

DENVER – A day after the White House released voter comments with unredacted personal information sent to the president’s newly-created, controversial election integrity commission, Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams sent a letter to the commission touting the integrity of Colorado’s elections and addressing a series of questions the commission asked in its request for voter roll information from U.S. states.

Williams said that though he is complying with the commission’s request, since he can’t lawfully provide confidential voter information, the data “can’t be used to effectively assess the accuracy of voter rolls.” Continue reading

Colorado insurance commissioner blames Trump administration for uncertainty, 27% rate hike requests

DENVER – Colorado’s insurance commissioner is blaming the Trump administration for playing games with the health care market and saying it is causing instability in the insurance marketplace that might be to blame for large premium hike requests for operators in the state for 2018.

The Colorado Division of Insurance on Friday released the premium rate request hikes for individual and small group markets operating on Colorado’s health insurance exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, for 2018. Continue reading