Referencing a December 4 Denver Post article regarding investigations stemming from the case of federal immigration agent Cory Voorhis, who is being prosecuted for inappropriately accessing a federal crime database during Colorado's 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Chuck Green asserted in a December 5 Aurora Sentinel online column that, similar to Voorhis, the Office of the Denver District Attorney had had “improper access to the files.” As Colorado Media Matters has noted, the Post published a correction to its article after District Attorney Mitchell Morrissey's office rebutted the claim made in the article's sub-headline that the district attorney's office had accessed the database “without authorization.”

Green further stated that “it appears that the [Bill] Ritter campaign similarly used the data bank to get information to rebut the Beauprez ad” and made the unsubstantiated claim that Ritter, a former Denver district attorney, is “protect[ing] members of his own campaign staff for engaging in the same activity” as Voorhis. Contrary to the suggestion that either the district attorney's office or the Ritter campaign engaged in any illegal activity related to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, however, is a statement on the district attorney's “Setting the Record Straight” page on its website. According to the web posting, “What [Denver district attorney communications director] Ms. [Lynn] Kimbrough has said (and what has been posted on this website since November 21, 2007), is that she returned calls providing confirmation that a defendant by the name of Walter Ramo and a defendant by the name of Carlos Estrada-Medina were in fact the same person and that she provided additional detail about the facts of the Ramo case, which was prosecuted by the Denver DA's Office in 2001. No confidential or privileged information was released.”

As the Post reported, the information Voorhis obtained from the NCIC database appeared in an ad campaign aired by Ritter's Republican opponent -- then-U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez -- “questioning plea agreements” that Ritter made as Denver district attorney. Voorhis' lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing partly on the basis that because the district attorney's office also accessed the NCIC database to obtain the same information Voorhis obtained, “Voorhis was the victim of selective prosecution.”

From Chuck Green's column “U.S., state politics give off a stench,” published online December 5 in the Aurora Sentinel:

The Denver Post reported Tuesday that the FBI is expanding its investigation into the misuse of a federal database in last fall's battle between Ritter and his Republican opponent Bob Beauprez.

A federal agent who was upset about Ritter's plea-bargain record on illegal immigrants as Denver district attorney, improperly used the database for his research, which found its way into Beauprez campaign ads.

But now it appears that the Ritter campaign similarly used the data bank to get information to rebut the Beauprez ad, but no one in the Denver DA's office is being prosecuted for improper access to the files.

The problem appears to be one of selective prosecution, with the career of a diligent, dedicated federal agent on the line.

Ritter seems to be willing to let the agent -- a 37-year-old father of two -- hang out to dry, while he protects members of his own campaign staff for engaging in the same activity.

In its rebuttal of the Post article, the district attorney's office stated, “The Denver DA's Office was authorized to access NCIC and did so in the normal course of business for a legitimate law enforcement purpose.” The Post's online correction stated:

This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error, a headline indicated that representatives of the Denver district attorney's office were not authorized to access the National Crime Information Center database. In fact, they are authorized. [italics in original]

The correction in the print edition read:

Representatives of the Denver district attorney's office are authorized to access the National Crime Information Center database. Because of an editing error, a headline Tuesday on Page 1B said otherwise.

Continuing his attack on Ritter, Green suggested in his column that the records Voorhis obtained indicated that prosecutorial decisions Ritter's office made while he was DA represented a " 'sanctuary' policy" that protected illegal immigrant defendants from deportation:

What's most disturbing is that the agent's actions during the campaign were based on a sincere attempt to show the deception Ritter was imposing on voters interested in his “sanctuary” policy regarding illegals. The facts exposed by the agent contradicted Ritter's insistence that he was not protecting criminals.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted repeatedly (here, here, here, here, and here), Beauprez's attack ads cited cases in which Ritter's office allowed legal as well as illegal immigrants to plead to the charge of agricultural trespass, a Class 5 felony. Indeed, as the Rocky Mountain News (accessed through the Nexis database) reported on September 30, 2006, “Four of the five cases highlighted by the Beauprez campaign involved legal immigrants from Latin America.” Colorado Media Matters has noted that while plea deals Ritter's office approved might have helped legal immigrants avoid deportation, illegal immigrants are subject to deportation by federal officials regardless of any pleas to which they agree, according to U.S. law.

The News' article reported that “Bob Beauprez unleashed a new attack on Bill Ritter's record as Denver district attorney late Friday, accusing him of giving five Hispanic immigrants who committed felonies plea bargains that helped them avoid deportation,” and also noted, “Four of the five felons were here legally.” The News quoted Ritter as saying that Beauprez was “being terribly irresponsible in lumping legal immigrants with illegal immigrants” in his attack ads. According to the News:

Four of the five cases highlighted by the Beauprez campaign involved legal immigrants from Latin America. Previously, Beauprez has chosen to focus on illegal immigration as an issue, and this marks the first time he has singled out legal immigrants as “alien felons.”