Politics & Government

“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.

The Denver Public Library has hired two social services and four peer navigators to help its most vulnerable visitors.

At this time yesterday, March 18, political observers were wondering if Denver City Council would investigate Mayor Michael Hancock after a new call for an inquiry from his alleged victim, Denver police detective Leslie Branch-Wise. By the evening, the answer had moved close to a “yes,” with council president Albus Brooks, who’d previously said “I continue to maintain that an investigation is not warranted because there are no disputed facts about the case” reversing course in dramatic fashion.

In anticipation of March for Our Lives on Saturday, March 24, in Denver, here’s everything you need to know, including details of the event, where the march will go, how to get there and various pre-march meetups.

On Monday, March 19, Denver launched a long-anticipated legal defense fund for immigrants with $385,000 in its coffers. The aim of the fund is to provide legal representation to Denver residents who are fighting removal orders or who have requested relief through avenues like Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals, asylum applications, naturalization or certain visas.

On the March 18 edition of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver delivered a segment that excoriated Vice President Mike Pence, with a particular concentration on policies he’s supported that are widely seen as homophobic.

Denver City Councilman Rafael Espinoza’s call for an investigation over improper texts that Denver Mayor Michael Hancock sent to Denver police detective Leslie Branch-Wise when she was a member of his security detail circa 2011-2012 didn’t gain support from other members of the panel, which issued a joint statement rejecting the launch of such a probe.

Lacking in money or a standout issue, Levi Tillemann appears to be in deep trouble as the Democratic primaries approach.

The Right to Rest bill, as it was known, died 10-3 in a committee that notoriously killed last year’s version of the bill. Advocates who testified included the ACLU of Colorado, and law enforcement agencies and city officials around the state testified against the bill.

After eight hours of emotional testimony and deliberation on Wednesday, March 15, a state House committee struck down a bill that would have protected anyone’s right to rest, sleep or eat in public with some exceptions. It was a devastating defeat for the “Right to Rest” bill’s advocates, whose similar legislative efforts last year were defeated in a scene almost identical to yesterday’s.

Denver City Councilman Rafael Espinoza’s call for an investigation over improper texts Denver Mayor Michael Hancock sent to Denver police detective Leslie Branch-Wise when she was a member of his security detail circa 2011-2012 is not being echoed by other members of the panel. The Denver City Council has now issued a joint statement that essentially shrugs off the need for such an inquiry while calling for greater transparency related to any assertions of sexual harassment by officials. Yet the information that led to this decision was dispensed at a closed-door meeting, during executive session.

This community center in Pueblo uses peer mentors to help those with mental-health issues.

Denver City Councilman Rafael Espinoza has asked for an independent investigation of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock following his video apology for sending inappropriate texts to Denver police officer Leslie Branch-Wise in 2011 and 2012, when she was on his security detail. But the controversy has also sparked renewed interest in stories from that same period suggesting that Hancock had been a client of the Denver Players/Denver Sugar prostitution ring, originally headed by former professional skier Scottie Ewing. The latter tale got another workout yesterday, March 12, when Ewing took to the local airwaves to attack a weekend column by Chuck Plunkett, the Denver Post’s editorial-page editor. Plunkett had co-starred alongside Ewing in a recently broadcast recording from the period when the newspaper was investigating the Hancock claims. In the piece, Plunkett called Ewing a “professional liar” while detailing the Post’s investigative process, and in conversation with KNUS talk-show host Peter Boyles and me, Ewing returned the favor.

In a strongly worded letter accessible below, Denver City Councilman Rafael Espinoza calls out Denver Mayor Michael Hancock over improper texts he sent to Denver police detective Leslie Branch-Wise when she was a member of his security detail circa 2011-2012. Espinoza refers to the actions as sexual harassment, an assertion Hancock has denied, and advocates for “an independent investigation by an outside party, selected by Council, to delve into this matter and provide a full accounting,” with particular focus on settlement payments made to Branch-Wise and former Hancock friend Wayne McDonald.

The morning after last week’s Colorado caucus, we knew that former Colorado treasurer Cary Kennedy was the big winner among Democrats running for governor. Days later, however, there are still no definitive results in regard to Republican gubernatorial hopefuls, since the Colorado GOP hasn’t released official statewide totals regarding the straw poll conducted on caucus night, nor does it plan to do so. But based on information shared by some key counties, as well as a recent survey, it appears that Colorado treasurer Walker Stapleton currently leading the pack.

The voters of Colorado got together Tuesday night to start the process of electing the state’s next governor — or at least some voters did. Back in 2016, energized by what they thought was going to be a banner year for Democrats in America’s highest office (surprise!), caucus attendance numbers were some of the highest ever — which meant that about 13 percent of active voters participated. That’s a pretty low number to label high.

Last week was Erik Soliván’s last as a City of Denver employee. On Wednesday, March 7, he sat down with Westword to talk about his future.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s apology for sending inappropriate texts to Denver police officer Leslie Branch-Wise in 2011 and 2012, when she was on his security detail, has sparked renewed interest in reports from that same period of him having been a client of the Denver Players/Denver Sugar prostitution ring. How did Hancock skate out of trouble back then? A recording of a conversation between Scottie Ewing, the enterprise’s central figure, and the Denver Post’s Chuck Plunkett, now the paper’s editorial page editor, demonstrates how Denver’s power elite managed to prevent Hancock, the mayor-elect at the time, from being brought down by the scandal. And you can bet similar dynamics are at play today in regard to the Branch-Wise matter.

Former Denver City Council rep Susan Shepherd calls Mayor Hancock’s apology to Detective Leslie Branch-Wise a cop out.