Politics & Government

Democrats in the Senate took a page out of the lower chamber’s playbook when they voted to expel Senator Randy Baumgardner last night over sexual harassment allegations that an outside investigator found was “more likely than not” to be credible. And while ex-Representative Steve Lebsock did get the boot last month, Baumgardner survived his expulsion vote. But he is still under investigation for two other complaints.

An attorney representing Wayne McDonald, a former Hancock friend and city employee fired in 2012 for his own alleged behavior toward Branch-Wise, is now demanding a review of all lawyers who played a role in a $75,000 payment to the detective by the City of Denver over the matter. The 2013 settlement precludes Branch-Wise from suing Hancock, even though his texts to her (including one that asked her if she’d ever taken a pole-dancing class) were not known to McDonald’s legal team in 2016, when they accepted $200,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed after his firing four years earlier.

Building upon the momentum of the March For Our Lives, the group Never Again Colorado will be host a town hall on April 7 at 6 p.m. at ThunderRidge High School, with speakers including Colorado students and survivors of mass shootings.

Late last night, April 2, Denver City Council president Albus Brooks announced that the panel will not investigate the question of whether inappropriate texts sent by Mayor Michael Hancock to Detective Leslie Branch-Wise during the 2011-2012 period when she was on his security detail constitute sexual harassment.

Today, April 2, Calderón and her attorney Trish Bangert filed a lawsuit and request for a jury trial with the U.S. District Court in Colorado that alleges that her jail re-entry program was not renewed by Denver for reasons of gender discrimination and political retribution.

According to a new report cited by Denver-based Center for Health Progress, the immigration policies enacted by the administration of President Donald Trump are not only making undocumented individuals in Colorado sick, but they’re hitting the rest of the citizenry directly in the pocketbook.

“I’m obviously not a politician, but Denver has a lot of blood on their hands this year especially; over 230 homeless people died, most of them disabled.”

After a Colorado Coalition for the Homeless project was rejected by a federal agency, we caught up with Cathy Alderman, the nonprofit’s vice president of communication and public policy, to find out what happens next and address some of the concerns by Lakewood residents who oppose the project.

Denver Meadows Mobile Home & RV Park residents in Aurora have been fighting to save their community from redevelopment for two years. This week, they successfully lobbied Aurora City Council to halt any redevelopment for the next ten months in an attempt to pressure their landlord to sell the park to the community, not a developer. But the fight isn’t over for residents just yet.

The theory that the Denver City Council isn’t that into investigating Mayor Michael Hancock for possible sexual harassment against Detective Leslie Branch-Wise during the 2011-2012 period when she was on his security detail got a boost yesterday evening, March 29, when council president Albus Brooks released a statement revealing that he and his colleagues are still mulling over whether or not to launch an inquiry and suggesting strongly that whatever happens will take place beyond public view. Accompanying these remarks was a collection of frequently asked questions about the case — some surprising, others indicating that plenty of ass-covering is underway.

The controversy over Denver Mayor Michael Hancock sending inappropriate texts to police detective Leslie-Branch Wise has led to increased scrutiny on settlements made by the city; Branch-Wise was given $75,000 in 2013 after she made complaints about the behavior of Wayne McDonald, who received $200,000 in 2016 following a lawsuit over his firing by Hancock, his ex-friend. Among those asking questions about such payouts is Stuart Shapiro, a former assistant city attorney and recipient of his own $660,000 settlement from Denver in 2016 over alleged retaliation against him in the wake of a jail-abuse case that cost taxpayers $3.25 million.

Last night, March 27, the Denver City Council met in executive session to discuss the possibility of launching an investigation into inappropriate texts sent by Mayor Michael Hancock to Detective Leslie Branch-Wise during the 2011-2012 period when she was on his security detail. But the members emerged without making any commitment to such an inquiry despite another letter from Branch-Wise’s attorney (it’s shared below) urging them to take action.

The project would have been completed in two phases: setting up temporary structures like geodesic domes to provide shelter, then investing as much as $120 million to build large, permanent apartment complexes with 500 to 600 units.

Nearly two months since Republicans at the Capitol voted to defund the state’s civil rights agency, they are taking another jab at the LGBTQ community with a bill that would give religious institutions and individuals with “moral convictions” and “sincerely held religious beliefs” the ability to deny a wide range of services, including everything from denying transgender people access to restrooms corresponding with their gender identity, denying marriage-related services to same-sex couple to the denial of foster care and adoption services by religious organizations.

On Saturday, March 24, a passionate crowd of over 100,000 turned out for the Denver edition of the March for Our Lives. Youths created the event to support common sense gun legislation.

In 2013, nearly five years before police detective Leslie Branch-Wise unveiled inappropriate texts sent to her by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, she received a $75,000 settlement from the city after making similar complaints about Wayne McDonald, a Hancock friend and employee fired over the matter. Now, a spokeswoman for Cary Kennedy says the former Colorado state treasurer, who’s running for governor and handily won the recent Colorado Democratic caucus, didn’t know anything about the payout even though she was serving as Hancock’s deputy mayor and the city’s chief financial officer at the time.

Today, March 22, the organization behind the RiNo tiny home village, the Colorado Village Collaborative, has unveiled some of the first architectural renderings for a second village, this one consisting of eight tiny homes located on the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church campus at Glenarm Place and 20th Avenue near downtown.

“People say city council’s covering up. Well, if I’m covering up, I have no idea what I’m covering.”

On Monday, March 19, State District Court Judge Eric Bentley was the latest legal authority in Colorado to declare that ICE detainer requests, unless accompanied with a signed warrant, are illegal.

Earlier this month, the lawyer for former City of Denver employee Wayne McDonald, who was paid $200,000 to settle a lawsuit four years after his 2012 firing, hinted that public statements made by Mayor Michael Hancock in his video apology for sending inappropriate texts to Detective Leslie Branch-Wise during the 2011-2012 period when she was on his security detail may have breached the agreement.

The Colorado governor’s race for 2018 just got a little less crowded. Noel Ginsburg, an entrepreneur running as a moderate Democrat, has announced that he’s dropping out of the contest.