May 06, 2022 10:36 AM UTC

The "DougCo Doxxer" Revealed

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Last February as the controversy over the termination without cause of Douglas County School District Superintendent Corey Wise by the new right-wing majority on the DougCo school board raged, an abortive open records request was filed seeking the names of teachers who joined a large protest against the board’s actions that forced DCSD schools to close for one day. After this threat to subject teachers who protested the ouster of Superintendent Wise to potential retaliation greatly increased tensions, the board announced that they would not be releasing the names after all.

But last night following victory in court yesterday afternoon, 9NEWS got the name of the individual who filed the records request–and it’s the law partner of longtime local political gadfly, wannabe GOP candidate who consistently couldn’t, and right-wing AM radio host Dan Caplis:

Michael Kane confirmed to 9NEWS he submitted the request on Feb. 2, the day before many staff members walked out to protest the impending termination of Superintendent Corey Wise. The school board fired Wise without cause on Feb. 4.

Kane ended up rescinding his request before any names went public.

“I submitted the open records request for my own use as a parent of children within the Douglas County School District. As a favor to and at the request of the District, I withdrew the submission and never received any of the names,” Kane told 9NEWS via email.

The threat to release the names of teachers who protested against the board’s firing of the district’s popular superintendent backfired horrendously and needlessly exacerbated tensions between the community and the school board. In the end, the conservative majority always had the power to do what they wanted, and escalating the conflict with teachers by threatening them over a lawful protest–whether instigated by the board or their political allies as in this case–was an unforced error that planted the seed for another swing of the pendulum in the next school board election.

“I admire what my friend and partner Mike did. He’s a great dad who wanted the info for his personal use. I didn’t know he was going to submit the request. [Pols emphasis] But I respect his reasons and admire him for withdrawing it at the Board’s request,” [Caplis] wrote.

Unfortunately for Dan Caplis, 9NEWS kept the receipts from the day before the protest:

“Tomorrow, if you are truly sick and you’re a teacher in Douglas County, it may be the wrong day to be sick, because somebody smart is going to get the names of everybody who’s once again abandoning the children, and every parent should know that, and everybody should remember, starting with the politicians, who abandoned the children,” Caplis said that day.

If you still think after reading this that Caplis didn’t know exactly what his law partner was up to, you’re naive beyond saving. If you’re going to engage in these kinds of intimidation tactics, there’s always a risk you’ll have to own them if they backfire.

That’s what happened in this case, and it won’t be forgotten.