On Tuesday, when the Cory Voorhis case was about to go to the jury, Colorado Ethics Watch asked Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to "launch an immediate investigation of former gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez and his former campaign manager John Marshall for making false campaign ads against Mr. Beauprez's opponent." That opponent, of course, was former Denver DA Bill Ritter, now the governor of Colorado.
It took jury just two hours to find Voorhis, a federal immigration agent, not guilty of improperly accessing a confidential law enforcement database in order to provide information on an illegal immigrant to the Beauprez campaign.
And it didn't take much longer for the office of current Denver DA Mitch Morrissey to determine that no charges were warranted in connection with the ad. Here's the decision letter that was sent yesterday, April 10, to Colorado Ethics Watch:
Your letter, your attached affidavit, and the attached newspaper clipping have been reviewed. In addition, the original television ad that is the subject of your letter and affidavit has been reviewed.
Regardless of testimony in a recent U.S. District Court case, the man featured in a campaign ad airing in October, 2006 (Walter Ramo) and a man arrested later in California (Carlos Estrada Medina) was found to be the same person.
Members of our office have reviewed the advertisement and the facts of the criminal cases and determined that there were no statements or claims in the ad that could be proven false. Accordingly, and, again, after reviewing all credible information, we must conclude that there is no charge that we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Sincerely,
Lamar Sims Chief Deputy District Attorney
This could mark the end of any official legal action in connection with an ugly gubernatorial campaign -- one marked by other untruths -- that ended almost eighteen months ago. But the action continues in the court of public opinion. -- Patricia Calhoun
