We Should Not Forget the Real Story

Given that Stephanie Villafuerte has been nominated to be the next United States Attorney for Colorado, her handling of the Cory Voohis situation is unquestionably fair game for the confirmation process.  If she broke the same law she and the Ritter campaign accused Voorhis of breaking (accessing a federal criminal database to confirm the identity of a person Ritter had let plea bargain) for essentially the same political purpose, and was not candid with federal investigators, that raises a serious question about her fitness for an office that is responsible for enforcing federal law in this State.

Yet, we should not lose sight of the underlying story and its significance.  Ritter allowed 152 persons to plead guilty to “agricultural trespass.”  Many of the persons allowed to make this plea were illegal aliens and the “agricultural trespass” plea allowed them to avoid deportation.  These persons were charged with serious crimes including heroin and cocaine charges, motor vehicle theft and domestic violence.  One person who copped the “agricultural trespass” plea, Walter Ramo, went on to commit sexual battery in California.  Bob Beauprez used this one example for an ad that should have significantly harmed Ritter’s election chances.  Instead, Ritter (apparently through the efforts of Villafuerte) successfully turned the issue into one involving the alleged illegality by which the information used for the ad was obtained.

However, the underlying story remains relevant today.  What does Ritter’s “agricultural trespass” plea history as DA say about him as a governor?  It says that process doesn’t matter.  There is no truly “agricultural” land in Denver, and Ramo, in particular, was a suspected heroin dealer, not a “trespasser.”  If Ritter was willing to bend the law in such a fashion as DA, shouldn’t it have sent a signal to Coloradoans that his performance as Governor would reflect similar bending of the rules?

TABOR required a vote before raising people’s property taxes.  Yet, Ritter circumvented the process of obtaining voter approval when he orchestrated the mill levy “freeze.”  Unionization of state employees should have been debated through the legislative process, yet he issued an executive order doing just that on a Friday afternoon.  To address what is unquestionably a serious state budget problem, Ritter announced a “hiring freeze.”  Yet, as Channel 7 has uncovered, this particular “freeze” is not a freeze at all.  As the Denver Post editorial page characterized: “This past fiscal year, the executive branch hired 2,300 workers, costing the state tens of millions of dollars at a time when government was looking to slash hundreds of millions from the budget . . . .” (Denver Post, Nov. 4, 2009)

Ritter’s “agricultural trespass” plea history as DA is relevant today.  It’s part of a clear pattern.  Process doesn’t matter and the ends justify the means. Let’s not lose sight of that as voters consider whether to re-elect him in 2010.