October 20, 2006 09:39 PM UTC

Beauprez Responds, Defends "Conscientious Whistleblower" Source

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• by: Colorado Pols

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez fired back this morning at the growing crisis facing his campaign over the use of protected law enforcement data in an attack on his Democratic opponent Bill Ritter.

Beauprez said today that the federal agent who illegally provided his campaign with the protected information in question is a “whistleblower” and a “good and decent man,” although Beauprez refused to explicitly confirm that ICE agent Cory Voorhis was in fact the source.

Our source blew the whistle on a policy that Bill Ritter had kept secret for many years. A policy of Bill Ritter’s that included systematically plea-bargaining with criminal aliens, offering them obscenely lenient plea deals for “trespassing on farmland”—in the City and County of Denver—only to put them right back out on the streets when the law called for deportation.

Beauprez’s full press release below the fold.

Breaking News: Beauprez Statement from Press Conference

(ENGLEWOOD, CO) Gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez made the following statement today at a campaign press conference.

My campaign is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation and providing law enforcement 100% of what we know, which we will continue to do, including providing the identity of our source.

Several months ago, we were approached by a source in federal law enforcement who had seen firsthand Bill Ritter’s despicable policy of purposefully putting deportable criminal aliens right back into our communities, only to commit crimes again.

Our source saw a terrible wrong that needed to be made right. And he blew the whistle.

Our source blew the whistle on a policy that Bill Ritter had kept secret for many years. A policy of Bill Ritter’s that included systematically plea-bargaining with criminal aliens, offering them obscenely lenient plea deals for “trespassing on farmland”—in the City and County of Denver—only to put them right back out on the streets when the law called for deportation.

So after this travesty was uncovered—after Bill Ritter’s dirty little secret was brought to light, he complains that the public doesn’t have a right to know about his ridiculous policies that made our communities less safe. Well I disagree.

I think the public does have a right to know that Bill Ritter put a heroin trafficker back on the street who went on to be arrested for the sexual abuse of a child. Bill Ritter has never denied that he did this. Bill Ritter has never accepted responsibly or apologized to the people of Colorado for his failure.

Now Mr. Ritter has embarked on a witch-hunt, demanding that my campaign release the name of our source. Instead of explaining why it is that Bill Ritter put dangerous criminal aliens back into our communities, when they should have been deported, he wants to destroy the life and career of a good man who blew the whistle.

A conscientious member of law enforcement exposed a reckless policy embraced by Bill Ritter and now Bill Ritter is demanding to know his name so he can destroy this person. Well, He won’t be getting it from me.

I’m not going to confirm nor deny whether the agent named in today’s newspapers is the same individual as our source, because doing so would compromise the ongoing investigation. And unlike Bill Ritter apparently believes, I think politicizing an investigation is wrong, and I think everyone deserves due process.

If anyone should understand that, it should be a former DA. Unfortunately, Bill Ritter is more interested in getting elected than preserving due process and explaining the truth.

Here’s what I will tell you. Our source—in my opinion—performed a great act of courage and public service by bringing this story to the public domain. Now there will be an investigation and with all due process the case will be examined and handled by law enforcement. That is the law and I support that. What shouldn’t happen is the destruction of those who put themselves in harm’s way to protect us.

That is what Bill Ritter is bent on doing. To cover up his own policy of cutting deals with criminal aliens while jeopardizing the safety of Colorado families, Bill Ritter wants to destroy a person who had gotten a bellyful—saw a wrong and tried to make it right.

It’s typical of Bill Ritter’s entire approach to law enforcement and basic justice—give violent illegal immigrants a break but blame the victims, the police, or the federal government whenever anything goes wrong.

But I will not throw a good and decent man to the wolves just to gain personal political advantage or satisfy Bill Ritter’s desire for retribution or election.

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