Scott Bottoms says pedophiles are hiding in Colorado’s Democratic-led government. Is he looking in the right place?

During last week’s Republican primary gubernatorial debate, hosted by Denver7, CPR News and the Denver Post, Denver7’s Colette Bordelon asked Colorado Springs state Rep. Scott Bottoms about one of the most damning claims he’s introduced in his quest for the governor’s office: that pedophiles are operating in the Colorado House, the Colorado Senate and Governor Jared Polis’s administration.

Bottoms hasn’t coughed up any names, charging documents, arrest affidavits or other evidence to back his claims. During the debate, Bordelon confronted him on the issue.

“How can voters trust you when you make statements that sound conspiratorial?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s a great question,” Bottoms replied. “You can check on this: I’m working with Tom Shea from the FBI here in Colorado; I was working with the FBI in a different state.”

Bottoms said he had found a “team” that would help him, and that “the first two whistleblowers were Democratic representatives.”

He continued, “There’s no way I can prove this right now, because I’m not a federal investigator. I’m also not a prosecutor. But we’ll see.”

Bazi Kanani from CPR News immediately noted his admission: “Mr. Bottoms, we’re short on time, so I will just point out that you’ve admitted there’s no evidence that you have, no way that you can prove that at this time.”

“That’s not what I said,” Bottoms replied.

The GOP gubernatorial debate took place on Thursday, May 14. The same day, Larimer County sheriff’s deputies arrested Hunter Rivera, then the chair of the Weld County Republican Party, during what the sheriff’s office described as “an operation targeting child predators.” Rivera, 24, was arrested on suspicion of soliciting for child prostitution, internet luring of a child, internet sexual exploitation of a child, and attempted sexual assault on a child. The Weld County GOP demanded and later accepted Rivera’s resignation.

The timing was not subtle.

Rivera isn’t the only Republican figure to appear recently in a criminal case involving sex crimes and minors. Former North Dakota Republican state Sen. Ray Holmberg was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison last year for traveling to Prague to engage in commercial sex with children. In South Carolina, former GOP state Rep. RJ May pleaded guilty last September to federal counts of distributing child sexual abuse material. In Indiana, Republican county commissioner John Jessup pleaded guilty in 2024 to attempted sexual assault after being charged in a case involving his own daughter. In Alaska, Craig Valdez, who was then chief of staff to Republican state Sen. George Rauscher, was arrested in February on charges including sex trafficking children, sexual exploitation of children, coercion and enticement of children, and receipt of child pornography.

Not to say the Republican Party is rife with pedophilia — that would be a leap in logic (a charge that Republicans don’t shy away from aiming at Democrats; see QAnon and pizzagate for the obvious examples). But the demographic pattern seems to buck Bottoms’ assertions of hidden pedophiles within Colorado’s Democrat-led state government.

Westword emailed Bottoms’ campaign to ask about his claims in light of Rivera’s arrest, and inquire if his anti-pedophile campaign should perhaps apply his child-safety scrutiny to Republican operatives, as well as Democrats.

“I condemn the actions of Hunter Rivera in the strongest possible terms,” Bottoms responded via his campaign’s communications director, Trent Leisy. “The charges against the former Weld County GOP chair — soliciting a child prostitute, internet luring of a child, and related felonies stemming from the Larimer County Sheriff’s sting — are sickening and vile.”

Bottoms said that his work has “always focused on the problem wherever it exists, without regard to party. Child sexual abuse is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is a moral evil that has infected positions of power across the Colorado House, Senate, and Governor’s office, as I have stated publicly many times.”

Westword asked if Bottoms could name anyone affiliated with the Polis administration who’d been caught in stings or accused in cases like those of the GOP operatives cited. “I’m not going to name names when there is an investigation going on,” he responded. “I have spoken with multiple whistleblowers, including Democrat representatives, who have brought forward serious information about child sexual exploitation involving people in positions of power at the state capitol.”

Westword reached out to the FBI about Bottoms’ claim that he’s working with federal agents on an investigation. The FBI’s Denver Public Affairs team responded with an emailde statement: “While individuals are free to speak about interactions they might or might not have had with the FBI, we do not, as a matter of practice, discuss or describe any contact we have or allegedly have with individuals… As a general matter, allegations of criminal conduct are reviewed by the FBI for their merit, with consideration of any applicable federal laws. Such a review does not necessarily result in the opening of an investigation, an arrest or a referral to the U.S. Attorney’s Office or local district attorney for prosecution.”

Bottoms’ response to Westword‘s questions injected Weld County GOP chair Rivera’s arrest into Bottoms’ theory.

“The recent arrest of Hunter Rivera in the Larimer County child sex sting does prove there is a ring of pedophilia operating at the Capitol,” the statement from Bottoms reads. “Hunter worked as a legislative aide for Barb Kirkmeyer for three years under her watch, which further demonstrates how this evil has infected both parties and both chambers.”

Kirkmeyer, a Republican state senator, is one of Bottoms’ opponents in the GOP gubernatorial primary. She faced off with him at last week’s debate, where a third candidate, Victor Marx, declined to appear.

It’s not impossible that Bottoms may eventually cough up the evidence he says he’s given federal investigators. There may be whistleblowers. But right now Bottoms is spewing smoke like Suncor while the only visible fire is within his own party.