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Colorado Matters
May 21, 2026: Making their case for Attorney General; Forum features three of four Democrats on AG primary ballot
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It's the state's top legal officer.
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Today, a forum with three of the
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four Democratic candidates vying to become Colorado's next attorney general.
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The attorney general's on the front lines of defending our democracy and the rule of law.
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There is no greater place of making a difference in terms of challenging the lawlessness and recklessness of a federal government.
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The attorney general's office has the unique power and responsibility of standing and fighting for Colorado.
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Ahead of the primary, I moderate the
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discussion at the Colorado Women's Bar Association's
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annual conference and ask about the balance between criminal and civil case priorities, defending the state against federal overreach and the
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governor's decision on Tina Peters.
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The governor engaged in an act of cowardice.
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It is an injustice. It is absolutely outrageous and it is
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a betrayal to our judicial system.
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This is Colorado Matters on CPR News and krcc.
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I'm Chandra Thomas Whitfield.
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I'm in Vail today at the Colorado Women's Bar Association's annual conference, Moderating a live forum here at the Hythe Hotel for candidates competing for the role currently held by term limited Attorney General Phil Weiser. The Democratic primary features Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, former federal prosecutor Heddle Doshi and attorney David Seligman. On the Republican side, candidates include Colorado Springs District Attorney Michael Allen and attorney David Wilson. Today's forum features the following participants Hedo Doshi, Michael Dougherty and and David Seligman. This forum is structured to give each candidate equal time to respond to identical questions. We will begin with brief opening introductions from each candidate, their background and why they are running for Colorado attorney general. Let's start with Heddle.
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D
I want to take the opportunity to introduce myself, but there's been something that's weighing on my mind and my heart, and I wanted to start here. The Colorado Women's Bar association is an incredibly special organization. It is an organization that is the oldest women's bar association, an organization for women lawyers in the state of Colorado with membership as high as 1400 people. There are statewide chapters all over the four corners of this great state. Is the premier organization that advocates for women, women and families and has been a legislative and executive powerhouse in doing things like equal pay for equal work and so many other accomplishments. You are a phenomenal group of public servants and making differences in the lives of so many people. So why is it that I am starting here? I am proud to be a longtime member of the Colorado Women's Bar Association, a former board member, Judicial Committee co chair for two years and a former vice president. It was my great privilege and honor to be able to learn from other leaders in this organization and to refine my sense of justice and what it means to be a powerful advocate for women lawyers. And so in this election, there's been a lot of talk about the fact that Colorado has the ability to make history by electing its first woman Democratic attorney general. That's big news. And so what I want to say to you is that it was important to me to move heaven and earth to be here with you tonight because I am someone who believes that anyone who campaigns on making history and earning your vote and your support as the first woman Democratic attorney general of this state must show up without a script, without managing the agenda and answer your questions. All right, so I think I have like 30 seconds left. I'm hetaldoshi. I've been a practicing lawyer for 20 years, the majority of that time in public service. I proudly served our country as an assistant United States Attorney based here, right here in Colorado, and then was a Biden Harris senior political appointee where I served as the country's top antitrust litigator for the Department of Justice. I am a proud first generation American and the daughter of two immigrants who left everything on the line to come to America in pursuit of the American dream. My life story and the fact that I am here before you, one generation removed from my parents, boarding a plane to come to America, is proof that America can be a good and great nation. I am running for attorney General because I believe in this moment that there is no greater place of making a difference in terms of challenging the lawlessness and recklessness of a federal government that seems to have a casual relationship with the Constitution while simultaneously fighting to build a better Colorado on the other side of this administration.
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C
Michael, I'm going to pick up where my friend Hedel just left off. If you're going to be the people's lawyer, it means showing up and answering the questions. That's why I'm here tonight. Plus, my wife is a member of your public policy committee and would not accept me not being here tonight. The only reason she's not here is because the Dougherty twins are about to graduate from high school this weekend. I'm going to share with them. They just got a round of applause and they're going to love that, so thank you. But I'm here because there's never been a more important time for the Attorney General's office than right now. The attorney general's on the front lines of defending our democracy and the rule of law. I know that because I've worked in the office and I've been a leader in that office as well as other places throughout my career. And I will never accept a two tier justice system. And I'm going to start with this. Tina Peter should not have her sentence reduced a single day. The governor commuted her sentence because of who she knows and who she's connected to. If the governor was indeed actually concerned with how long the sentence was, he should have had his staff pull everyone in the Department of Corrections for nonviolent offenses and commuted every single one that would be appropriate. Picking one person because she's a political crony of who happens to be in the White House is unacceptable. It's an absolute miscarriage of justice. And I want to recognize the person in the room, the one person who actually held Tina Peters accountable. Who's here, your past president, my friend and fellow prosecutor, Janet Drake, who's just amazing. Having worked alongside Janet in the Attorney General's office years ago, I know how hard it is to prosecute cases involving public corruption. I know what it takes to hold people accountable, to take corporations to court, to stand up for what's right, and to never accept a two tier justice system. And for Janet and the other prosecutors worked on that case, I say thank you. And for what happened today, I say I am sorry. It is outrageous and an injustice, but thank you for your service. Janet. I've been a prosecutor my entire career. I started at the Manhattan DA's office. I was actually born in New York and after graduating from community college and going on to my four year degree, I went back to New York City after graduating from law school and I worked at the Manhattan DA's office and I specialized in domestic violence and sex crimes cases, some of the most difficult cases to work. I served there for 13 years. I rose up through the ranks. I became the Deputy chief of the sex crimes unit and ultimately I was put in charge of the day to day management and leadership of an office of 1,300 people. That matters because the Attorney General's office has Janet and 724 other public servants working there every day. The largest law office in the state of Colorado and they do incredibly important work when it comes to protecting abortion access, our environment, our water, public safety, civil rights, and the list goes on. And I really look forward to talking to you about these issues tonight. And for the last eight years, I've been the elected District Attorney of Boulder county. And I've been a leader in criminal justice reform, but I've also led my communities through times of crisis and held people accountable with the rule of law and fighting for justice. And we're living through a time of crisis in our country right now. That's why I'm running for Attorney General. The Attorney General's office has the unique power and responsibility of standing and fighting for Colorado. That's the kind of work I've done my entire career. I'd be honored to do it as your next attorney General. Thank you, David.
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It's an honor to be here. This is my first CWBA convention, hopefully the first of many. You clearly put on a very good one. I've worked alongside your organization and seen the terrific work you do all the time. I worked alongside you in the fight for economic justice, for civil rights, for gender equality in the state Capitol, and it will be an honor to answer your questions today. I'm a workers rights, civil rights, consumer protection lawyer, the father of three young daughters and the executive director of the legal nonprofit Towards Justice. I'm running for Attorney General because I am sick and tired of a legal system where the wealthy and powerful play by a completely different set of rules than the rest of us. I grew up here in Denver, the grandson of working class immigrants. I had the great opportunity to take out loans, to go to fancy law schools, to clerk for federal judges. But I saw early on how the legal system was tilted in favor of those with wealth and power, and I felt our profession pushing me toward complicity, as it too often does. But I made a different choice. I moved back home to Colorado. I have dedicated every single day of my career to standing up in court for working families, using the law boldly and courageously and in ways no one had ever tried before. For Amazon delivery drivers. Right now, thousands of them across Colorado urinating in bottles to meet Jeff Bezos. Impossible quotas for meat packers up in Greeley with disfigured hands because of JBS's brutal line speeds. For thousands and thousands of renters across Colorado buried in junk fees to the biggest corporate landlord in the country, greystar. For hundreds of thousands of Coloradans drowning in medical debt to billion dollar hospital systems. People like my client Kathy, who had to sell her late husband's wedding band, her most prized possession, to pay off medical debt to UC Health, medical debt she didn't even owe. I've helped to recover with my organization, nearly $100 million stolen from working people we just won in the United States Supreme Court, a case I've Been fighting for more than a decade on behalf of thousands that have been locked up at the immigration Detention center in Aurora, taking on the Geo Group, the private prison company that owns it. I've sued the Trump administration and won on behalf of sheepers making two to three bucks an hour. And I've sued the Polis administration and one too. We recently stopped the governor from turning over Coloradans personal information to ice because we need to send a loud and clear message here in Colorado to this governor that whether it's cozying up to ice, doing the bidding of the oligarchs or commuting Tina Peters sentence complicity is not an option. It is not an option. It is not how we save this country. It is is not how we protect this state. So I've sued the Trump administration in one. I've sued the Polis administration in one. Because for me, this fight has never just been about the Republicans versus the Democrats. It's always been about the many versus the money. And that's exactly the fight that I'm going to take on as your next Attorney General. We can use this office to attack the two tier justice system. We can hold accountable by using the law boldly and courageously all of those engaged in the corruption and cruelty of, of this administration, prosecuting ICE agents and federal contractors when they violate our rights. And we can hold accountable the big tech oligarchs that are boiling our planet and spying on us, the corporate polluters, all of those, all of those profiting off of the corruption that is entrenched within our political system and in our marketplace. That's how we build the future that all of Colorado deserves.
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Thank you.
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As we sit here, Governor Jared Polis just commuted Tina Peters sentence on the grounds of free speech. He preempted a judge who was reconsidering her punishment. Was Governor Polis right? And why or why not? Let's start with you, Michael.
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You might guess what I'm about to say. He was absolutely wrong. It is an injustice. It is absolutely outrageous. To me, this case highlights what's right about the justice system and what's wrong about the justice system. And here's what it is, what's right. Tina Peters was suspected of engaging in criminal activity and abusing her office and undercutting election integrity. Republican District Attorney Dan Rubenstein, not worried about party affiliation but committed to doing justice, starts the investigation. He realizes it's complex and major. So he reaches out to Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat who answers the call and says, I'll send Janet Drake and two other of my best people, people that I've worked with when I was at the AG's office. And they go to Grand Junction and together they team up and they present the case, the grand jury, community members. They get an indictment, goes to trial, she's convicted rightfully, and then she's sentenced. That's how the justice system should work. It shouldn't be guided by partisan politics. Justice should be done without fear and without favor. And that's how I've operated my entire career. I'm the candidate who successfully prosecuted police officers, people in power, and elected officials. And that's exactly what Janet and her team did. What's wrong with the justice system? She's sentenced and the United States President threatens to retaliate against Colorado unless she's released. And Colorado has now caved to the pressure and bent the knee and let her be released early because she's a political crony of Donald Trump. There's no other reason for that. That should never happen happen. It should never be because you're white, wealthy, or well connected that you're treated differently in the justice system. And I, as district attorney, have fought against that and worked against that my entire career. But as this case demonstrates, we still have a lot of work to do. And it shouldn't be about party affiliation when this happens. It should be about what's just and what's right. And that's why I started my remarks talking about this case. Because to me, it is absolutely outrageous what's, what's happened. And I think it should send a strong message to all of us, all the attorneys in the room, about how we practice and what we seek to do. Thank you, David.
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Today, the governor engaged in an act of cowardice. Look, he's. From my perspective, he's a little bit of a weirdo tech bro, right, who thinks that he knows what's best for, for this state, but he doesn't. He fundamentally does it. And what he did today is dangerous. It is deeply dangerous because he ceded one of the most important tools that we have to fight for our future here in Colorado, the power of state law to hold accountable all of those engaged in the corruption and cruelty of this administration. And we may need to use state law in ways that no one has ever tried before. We may need to prosecute ICE officials under state, under state law when they trample our rights or federal officials when they try to steal our elections. You know, Colorado is one of the very few states in the country whose anti corruption statutes expressly apply to Federal officials. We may need to use those tools to save this country, because state law belongs to us. It doesn't belong to the president of the United States. The governor sent exactly, exactly the wrong message today. And what he did today is totally farcical. This is the same governor. He says this sentence is too harsh. This is the same governor who vetoed a law last year that would have prevented municipal courts across Colorado from sentencing people more harshly than those convicted in state courts. The governor doesn't care about harsh sentences. He wanted to kiss up to Donald Trump. Right. Engage in an act of cowardice. It fundamentally, it fundamentally isn't going to serve us. Because, look, when you hand over your lunch money to a bully, does the bully give up and go away? No. They ask for it again the next day. That's what I'm so deeply afraid of happening here. Thank you, Heddle.
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D
So I agree with my colleagues and my friends Michael and David. Here's the gloss that I'd like to bring to this. I think today's commutation is an absolute betrayal. Number one, it's a betrayal of the clerks and everyone across the state who do the hard work of protecting our elections and do so at risk to their public safety in this deeply polarized environment. It says that their work and everything that they do to safeguard our elections can be cast aside for political considerations. It is a betrayal to the people who took an oath to listen to the evidence and deliver a fair and impartial verdict. And it is a betrayal to our judicial system, a system that had not yet completed its work. The prompt of the question highlighted the fact that the trial court has not yet, in fact, resentenced. Tina Peters. And so something that I care a lot about is the fact that our public servants should bring both expertise and humility to making these kinds of judgments and decisions. For a governor who has never practiced criminal law, has never tried a criminal case, to intervene in a judicial process and say that his judgment was better than the judgment of the 12 people that were on that jury and the judges and the court of appeals and a judge yet to come is an absolute betrayal. Now, the next attorney general of Colorado is going to face incredibly consequential questions that sound in questions of corruption. I said to you in my truncated introduction that I was a former federal prosecutor. I did public corruption work where I investigated Democrats and I investigated Republicans. I did civil rights work to make sure that our elections were free and fair, which seems hugely important today. But I want to tell you that, so I'm well suited to take on ICE to make sure that the complexity of challenging federal officials when they violate the law is in good hands, because that's the super bowl of criminal prosecutions and you shouldn't be doing it if that's your first time criminally prosecuting a case. Right. That's that point about humility. But I want to tell you one other thing, which is I became a white collar criminal prosecutor because I was tired of seeing a system that only worked for the rich and powerful.
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Heddle Doshi, Michael Dougherty and David Seligman are on the ballot for the Democratic primary for state attorney general. The fourth Democratic candidate, Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, did not take part in the forum, which I moderated in front of members of the Colorado Women's Bar Association. It it took place last Friday in Vail just hours after Governor Jared Polis commuted the sentence for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. When we come back, what they think is the most important responsibility of the state. AG this is Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. I'm Chandra Thomas Whitfield. Ahead of the primary, I moderated a forum at the Colorado Women's Bar Association's conference in Vail last Friday. It included three of the four Democratic candidates vying to become Colorado's next attorney general. Heddle Doshi, Michael Duarte and David Seligman. The fourth Democratic candidate, current Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, was invited but did not participate.
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The attorney general is the state's chief legal officer. Statewide reporting, including here on cpr, hints that this race is heavily focused on legal experience and courtroom background as voters
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evaluate qualifications for the office.
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What do you believe is the most important responsibility of the Colorado attorney general and how does your professional background prepare
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you for that role?
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David Look, I think one of the most important things that the next attorney general will have to do will be to use the law boldly and courageously and yes, and yes, in ways that no one has ever tried before. And these cases are going to be hard, but that's the work that I've been doing my entire career. When we took on the GEO Group, the private prison company that owns the immigration detention facility in Aurora, the largest human trafficking class action in American history, people told us that case couldn't be brought right. We fought it. We just won it in the United States Supreme Court. And we're taking GEO to trial. Right. The next attorney general is going to have to show people across the state that not only, not only that, we can use the law to hold this administration accountable and we're going to have to, but the next attorney general is going to have to show folks across the state that we can make the law work for them, that we can make the law work for them. You know, I brought the first antitrust case in the country on behalf of low wage fast food franchise workers dealing with no poach provisions in their franchise contracts. The first case in the country on behalf of sheep herders using the antitrust laws, Right. Making two to three bucks an hour. You know, the first cases in the country when the Trump administration and its OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration were allowing people to die during the pandemic in service of the profits of the billionaires and corporations that were refusing to follow workplace health and safety laws, State governments across the country far too often and many right in private practice said there's nothing we can do because the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is responsible for protecting safety, safety in the workplace. I brought the first cases in the country to say, no, no, we can use tort laws that have been on the books for hundreds and hundreds of years in ways no one has tried before to save people's lives on behalf of meat packers, on behalf of Amazon, Amazon warehouse workers. That's the kind of thing that the next attorney General is going to have to do, is going to have to say, look, government has failed people across the state, across this country in far too many ways, far too often.
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Right?
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We've got Suncorp, for example, polluting our planet. And I'll talk more about Suncor later.
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So I think that the primary responsibility of the next Attorney general, and this is to borrow a phrase from my time as a prosecutor, is to do the right thing for the right reasons in the right way. This moment demands that. But I think that the way that it's manifested is threefold. Number one, I think that the attorney General is going to be the chief law enforcement officer for the entirety of the state, which means having to represent agencies, but also manage a staff of more than 700 public servants who choose to show up every single day to make the sacrifice of money and time because they believe in making a difference that requires management expertise and experience, particularly inside the government. In my last role at the Department of Justice, I led teams of over 800 lawyers and professional staff in cases of a generation. Front page of the Wall Street Journal. Cases that changed the second era of the Gilded Age. The two cases against Google. You're looking at the lead Prosecutor, the woman who sued Apple. That was me. You're talking about Ticketmaster in that successful case. I brought it. And so the management piece is not politically sexy, but as anyone who has had a boss who didn't know how to do what they were doing, it matters more than more now than ever, because you cannot get people to charge up a hill against a hugely financed adversary without that expertise to say, this is how we win. Number two, the next Attorney General of Colorado is going to have to be able to hold the federal government's lawlessness to account. I am the only former Fed in this race in making sure that we understand the limits of federal power, federal court, and federal constitutional power. It's helpful to be a Fed to defeat the Feds. And there is nothing more consequential in terms of defending Colorado in this moment. The third thing that I think that this primary responsibility manifests is thinking about the life on the other side of a Trump presidency. What are the social and economic conditions that gave rise to an administration, a presidency that my immigrant family members, some of which voted for? That means we have to use antitrust laws, consumer protection laws, workers laws, and other types of laws we're going to talk about here tonight.
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But.
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But it's time to look into the future, Michael.
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I think given the room we're in, all of us would agree with what my friend Heddle just said about you want to work for a leader, you want to work for a boss who actually knows how to do the job and who is a lawyer and who has the experience to lead a large office in the fight for justice. The question began with, people are focused on legal experience and background in this race, and I certainly hope that's the case. And all three of us are here to answer questions about our legal background and experience. I'm just going to say it very directly. The Secretary of State is not here. This is her sixth candidate form in a row that she skipped the sixth. It's about showing up and answering these questions. It's really important right now that the Attorney General's office be led by someone with experience and who can answer that question. So for me to answer that question, it goes back to actually the morning of 9 11. On the morning of 9 11, I was in downtown Manhattan preparing to give an opening statement in a violent robbery case. This elderly Chinese couple, they lived in Chinatown right near the DA's office, had been robbed. And I was about to give the opening when the first plane hit. I didn't get to give the opening, not that day. And in the days and weeks that followed, I realized at a time of crisis, I will always step up and work as hard as I possibly can to rely on the justice system to see us through that. So I was given a case of a guy who falsely claimed to have found survivors in the rubble of the World Trade Center. I was given the case of a man who was uptown Manhattan and he was shot simply because he was of Middle Eastern descent. I was given a case of a police officer who smashed a Middle Eastern man in the face with his police radio purely out of anger. And in all those cases, I fought for justice and secured the right outcome. Less than a year after 9 11, I was the youngest supervisor at the Manhattan DA's office. And I've always stepped up at a time of crisis and fast forward throughout my entire career. That's the kind of leadership experience I brought. It's why seven months after I moved to Colorado and I started at the attorney general's office, I had the honor of being made deputy attorney general, being put in charge of the entire criminal section. And I've handled cases all around the state of Colorado. That's why I've been able to do work in improving a bunch of things that I'll talk about in my next answer. Thank you.
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We're listening to a candidates forum for state attorney general that took place at the Colorado Women's Bar Association's conference in Vail. It featured three of the four Democratic candidates on the primary ballot. The two Republican candidates were also invited. Colorado Springs District Attorney Michael Allen did not participate and attorney David Wilson was unable to take part at the last minute. When we come back, the balance between criminal and civil case priorities, plus how to handle state disputes with federal policy. I'm Chandra Thomas Whitfield. You're with Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. I'm Chandra Thomas Woodfield. Today, ahead of the primary election, we're hearing from three of the four Democratic candidates for state attorney general, former federal prosecutor Hedo Doshi, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty and attorney David Seligman. They took part in a forum I moderated last Friday at the Colorado Women's Bar Association's conference in Vail. The fourth Democratic candidate, Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, was invited but did not participate.
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Crime and public safety have been central themes in the Republican campaign messaging with candidate Michael Allen, who is not here with us today, emphasizing enforcement priorities and concerns about rising crime impacting costs such as insurance and housing. At the same time, Democratic candidates have emphasized civil litigation, consumer protection and state enforcement priorities. What is your approach to balancing criminal enforcement priorities with the civil authority responsibilities and held by the Attorney General's office?
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D
Heddle I love this question because it is often a misapprehension that the Attorney General is a super DA. We have incredible DAs across the great state of Colorado that partners with the Attorney General's office, but that's not the sole function of the AG's office. The attorney General's office, as this question indicates, has both a huge civil portfolio in addition to really significant state ag matter or state criminal matters as well. I am the only candidate in this race that has deep, sustained, significant experience in both areas of the law. The way that I think about this question, the tension that's highlighted here and historically Colorado has split the ticket in terms of having a Democratic governor and a Republican AG precisely because of this issue, because people believe that crime and safety is best dealt with with a Republican DA who's now running for Attorney general. Times have changed. Number one, there are candidates in this race, including me, that have focused on public safety and have prosecuted violent crimes and other types of crimes to make sure that our communities feel safe and where we are able to achieve the American dream. But I think that the singular focus on violent crime or public safety through that myopic view misses the larger point, which is why civil litigation matters. The economic conditions that lead people, often poor people, to turn to crime in ways that impact our communities are eminently solvable if we deal with systemic structures and paradigms in power in our society to make sure that those entities and people in our systems that cheat consumers, that cheat workers, that cheat all of us out of our ability to earn a fair wage and have an economic opportunity that's the path to our civil or our safety and our civil liberties. I always point out that Martin Luther King's speech in Washington was a speech on March on Washington for jobs. And the reason for that is because economic security is what leads to our personal safety. And so I am a firm believer that the next Attorney General of Colorado has to be a tough enforcer to make sure that our communities are safe, but that maybe, just maybe, we should take a step back and say let's make sure that our systems work for all of us so that we can be safe.
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C
Michael There are 400 attorneys at the Attorney General's office, and they are absolutely critical in protecting Colorado's water and our environment and abortion access and consumer protection and the list goes on. So it's about having a leader who's been in that office who knows what it takes to prioritize the work of the office, and also recognizing there's a lot of overlap between what we're talking about in that question. So Colorado ranks in the bottom 10 in the nation for mental health treatment being available in the community. That is a sad reality. And as your next attorney general, I promise you we're going to do much better.
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D
Better.
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C
It's why I launched the first mental health diversion program in the entire state as district attorney of Boulder County. It's why we now have an alternative sensing facility in Boulder County. It's also about the attorney general having the authority to do what Janet Drake did, helping out a smaller jurisdiction when they're in need of assistance on a major case involving public corruption. That's the kind of work the AG does. Do you want to guess who's in charge of training for law enforcement throughout the entire state of Colorado? It's the attorney general. So whether someone's joining the Denver Police Department or going to the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, the training is the same and it comes from the attorney general. But the attorney general's authority, whether it be civil environmental work or criminal environmental work, there's a lot of overlap there. It's really important that the attorney general be the people's lawyer. And I look at so many of the issues we have on the civil side, including mental health issues and substance abuse and protecting our kids and making sure we do better for kids in the future of our state. On the civil side, it also flows into the criminal side, and there's a lot of work we have to do. So, for example, reducing gun violence that requires criminal prosecution. And I have done and will always vigorously prosecute gun cases. But it's also about fighting for sensible legislative reforms, which I've done. And it's also about being innovative and thoughtful. So I launched the first effort of its kind in the state of Colorado, where we buy gun safes and we give them out for free to gun owners in Boulder county because too many shootings and teen suicides happen with stolen guns. We recently gave out 500 gun safes in 21 minutes with high school students and college students standing alongside me to help, because that's what it means to stand and fight for better Colorado.
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E
David the most important function of government is keeping people safe. I'm the father of three daughters. Their safety is the most important thing to me, the safety of the people of Colorado. But the Most important thing to me when I'm the next Attorney General. And yet, and we got to say that we got to start there. And yet I agree with my friends, right, that the Attorney General is not a super da. And yet we, the Attorney general can and should use the criminal enforcement mechanisms of that office to hold accountable those who are making us unsafe. And here's what I know, here's what I know from a career enforcing the wage theft laws, the anti racketeering laws, the human trafficking laws, is that the folks who violate our rights wearing suits are often the ones who get away with it. Right? We are. The Attorney general is fundamentally responsible for holding them accountable in so many cases. For holding the corporate polluters accountable that are making us sick. Right. For going after the tech companies that are reaching their tentacles into our kids brains. We are now seeing an epidemic, an epidemic of kids dying by suicide because of chatbots. Right? Holding, holding accountable the health care companies. Health care companies putting profits over people. Well, people die and using all of the tools of the office to address the root causes of crime, the things that are making us unsafe. I want to emphasize the point that my friend Michael made. We have some of the worst funding for mental behavioral health in the country here in Colorado, in one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, when there are 100 billionaires who own homes just over the hill there in Aspen. As an ex attorney General, I create a community health and safety fund modeled on the opioid abatement fund. And I would fund it by holding accountable the corporations that are making us unsafe, use those funds and direct them into the things that we know make us safe. Community based mental health, behavioral health and substance use treatment. And additionally invest in the programs that we know work. There's a requirement that we provide restorative justice opportunities here in Colorado that we really don't. But we'll talk about that later too.
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Thank you.
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B
Colorado's attorney general often engages in litigation involving federal policy disputes, regulatory enforcement and constitutional challenges. Where should the line be drawn between state enforcement authority and federal government action? And how aggressively should Colorado engage in multi state litigation?
- [34:39]
C
Michael, thank you. We are facing a lawless Trump administration. That's why I'm running for Attorney general. I'm not term limited for another six years. I don't need a new job. I'm asking you to give me a really significant pay cut and a much longer commute so I could stand and fight for this country when we need it. Because the fight is on in Fact, the night. Do you remember the night Trump was being elected to a second term, I was sitting next to my wife, Antonia, at a Democratic event, and I'd been strongly considering running for attorney general. A lot of people were encouraging me to do it, and the results were coming in, and Antonia looked at me and said, you actually are running for attorney general. Because she knew then what so many of us expected and that people are suffering through now, which is Trump is violating the law every day. And I promise you I'll stand and take him to court. But most importantly, I'll win those fights as I have throughout my entire career of doing justice. It's about making sure, to your question, that those fights are initiated and won when the Trump administration is violating the rule of law and harming Colorado. And it's done in partnership with other attorneys general from around the country. That's why I've already met with and been working with other ags and also the Democratic Attorney General association, because we can't afford to miss a beat. We. When Phil Weiser's done serving as attorney general. And it's about making sure Colorado remains protected and safe and that we stand and fight for our values, and it's about doing it with integrity. Never to get one's face on cable news, but to go into court and say, I'm here on behalf of the people of the state of Colorado, I've been doing that for years, and I will always do it when it's the right thing to do. But if we lose the fights against the Trump administration or whoever's in the White House, we're wasting taxpayer dollars and losing the confidence and trust of those we serve throughout the state of Colorado. I've always led with integrity, and that's why I'm the candidate who has bipartisan support from Republican district attorneys. We know there's a Republican DA running for attorney general. They're crossing the party line and putting themselves at risk to support me and Republican sheriffs. So it's one thing for me to have all the Democrats, but I have the Republican DA and Republican sheriff support because I always fight and do it with integrity. That's what it takes to stand up against the federal government. Thank you, David.
- [36:47]
E
One of the most important jobs that the next attorney general is going to have is to hold the federal government accountable when it tramples our rights. For sure, that's absolutely essential. We are all going to agree on that. And yet we have to be clear that this isn't just to score political points. This office is too Important for those same old politics of personal ambition, right, where you're on the look, lookout for your next job. We can't be filing those cases to get on, you know, msnbc. We're going to hold the Trump administration accountable when the Trump administration violates our rights in ways that hurt us. That's been the philosophy of Attorney General Phil Weiser. And that's the same philosophy that I'd use to guide me as your next Attorney general. It's really important that that work happened alongside attorneys general across the country. I have worked alongside attorneys general across the country and for example, taking on corporate landlords, burying us in junk fees, going after the fine print that keeps workers trapped in jobs, holding accountable those that were allowing people to die during the pandemic. This also isn't just about standing up to Donald Trump and holding him accountable. It's also about taking on the corporations, the billionaires that are selling out this country for an extra buck for them so they can get their murders through, so that they can get the investigations against them dismissed. I'd have an explicit policy. You bribe this administration, you build this guy's ballroom in order to get your merger through, in order to make an investigation go away, you move to the top of our list of priorities. Because we need to make sure that when they're in their corporate boardrooms and they're saying, should we cozy up with the Trump administration for our shareholders, that at least somebody in that boardroom says, yeah, but if we do that, dude in Colorado is going to take an even closer look at us. That's absolutely essential for our marketplace and that's absolutely essential to our democracy to ensure that the law works for working people.
- [38:43]
A
Again, Kettle.
- [38:46]
D
So this question was about challenging the federal government in court. I think I've already shared with you why I'm best suited to do that. Let me give you some statistics. The Democratic coalitions of attorneys general have filed in excess of 105 lawsuits against the federal government. The state of Colorado has joined or is Co leading 65 of those 105 lawsuits. That reflects discernment. And I think both of my colleagues have pointed out that General Weiser's strategy has been first to say, is the conduct unlawful? Second, does it harm Coloradans? I agree with that. You should expect more of that from me as your next Attorney general. But I think the question of harm deserves additional treatment. To me, the question of harm and the reason that we would use resources that to fight the federal government as opposed to doing work right here in Colorado has to be, number one, that it concerns some deeply held value, tradition or right here in Colorado, or number two, that it directly impacts our economic opportunity, funding or the ability to have SNAP benefits or things like that. And so let me give you an example. If the federal government decides to say mail in, like beyond the executive order, but tries to do something that says mail in ballots are no longer a thing, or we're going to cancel the Postal Service's ability to deliver those ballots, the vehicle to fight for Colorado is a lawsuit in federal court that afternoon. I am best situated to fight and win that case if the point of this question, though, is to ask the broader question which weighs on my mind, which is to say if we spend all of our time fighting Trump, are we getting ballparked? Are we building something? As a Democratic Party and as I'm in this moment in terms of what our values are, I don't think that this moment is a battle really between the left and the right. I think it is a battle between those who have power and abuse and exploit it and those of us who don't. And so for me, when we think about these questions about suing the federal government, the question is always, if we're suing the federal government, what are we not doing right here at home in Colorado to make sure that we understand and address the conditions that led to Trump?
- [40:50]
A
Michael Doherty and David Seligman are on the Democratic primary ballot for the Colorado attorney general's race. They took part in a forum I moderated last Friday at the Colorado Women's Bar Association's conference in Vail. The fourth Democratic candidate, Jenna Griswold, was invited but said she had a schedule conflict. Both Republican candidates on the primary ballot, Michael Allen and David Wilson, were also invited but did not participate. After the break, I a question from the audience. I'm Chandra Thomas Whitfield. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. Welcome back to Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. I'm Chandra Thomas Whitfield. One final question now at the forum featuring three of the four Democratic candidates for Colorado attorney general, former federal prosecutor Hedo Doshi, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, and attorney David Seligman.
- [41:44]
B
What role should the attorney general play in safeguarding voting rights and election integrity in Colorado?
- [41:52]
D
HETTLE I'm someone who grew up with a working class family, a father who struggled to keep a job, and as a result, we moved around a lot. I grew up, I went to three different kindergartens and I grew up in the cradle of the civil rights movement, primarily in Alabama from 6th grade to 12th grade, 90 miles from the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. I have kept a picture of not the second march, but the first march across Selma in my office for the 20 years that I have practiced law, because it is a powerful reminder to me of what it means to put your body on the line for justice. It is why I became a lawyer at the Department of Justice. I did civil rights work, and I know there's some former Civil Rights division lawyers in this room. We should be grateful and owe them a debt of gratitude. That work is what integrated our schools prior to, protected our rights to an education and, yes, voting rights. The Supreme Court's decision two weeks ago is an absolute abomination. It takes this idea that we can somehow, if we use the right words, say race and districting is a problem. But politics, if we just use the right words, that's not a problem. What we are seeing happening across the former Confederacy, the place where I grew up, is proof of what's top of mind and on top of hearts for people in terms of the type of America they're trying to rebuild. And so the next Attorney General of Colorado can give no quarter on this issue. These are battles that will be litigated in federal court under federal constitutional law. It is why expertise in those issues matters more than ever. That can't be about speeches. It cannot be about talking points. It demands relationships and it demands expertise. I know you've heard about the other ags a little bit here today. Here's what I'll tell you. When I sued Ticketmaster, I knew that we were nearing an election and that there could be a Trump presidency. And So I brought 40 attorney generals, a bipartisan coalition, to that fight. That means that I have relationships on day one to take on voting rights.
- [43:52]
C
Michael so my kids just turned 18, and my daughter, I was making hot chocolate for her the other day, and she said, your polls just went up a little bit. You might have my vote when the time comes. But I was reminded because I just. That same day, I met with high school students who asked me, what does the country look like 10 years from now? That actually gave me pause because we feel like we're living day to day and the crises just keep coming, but we owe it to them. And I promise you, I will deliver a vision for the future. But to get there, it's required that the attorney general protect our democracy. And that starts with protecting our elections, protecting mail in ballots. I promise you, I'll fight tooth and nail in court to protect mail in ballots, to make sure that we're not suppressing the vote. We will win that fight. The law is on our side. The states are delegated with the authority to run elections. Also, I will make sure that ICE is nowhere near our ballot boxes. I will not allow them to suppress the votes of immigrants and other people of color who are scared to pass by armed people who are trying to block them from voting. That's how we get to the vision for the future. That's how we deliver a better future for Colorado. And we need to do do that. But it's about preserving our democracy. I'm the one candidate who's prosecuted election fraud cases, and I'll tell you a quick story. So we had a Democratic legislator in Boulder county, and we learned that she may have engaged in election fraud herself. And it was suggested to me, you should get a Republican district attorney to do this so you don't have to go up against a Democrat. And I said, I do justice without fear and without favor. Why would I get someone else? So we investigated that case. We prosecuted her. She was convicted of engaging in election fraud and she had to leave the state House. She is now making calls and working on behalf of the campaign of the candidate who's not here. If you stand for election integrity, you can have someone convicted of election fraud helping you with your campaign. I promise you, I will always live up to what I'm promising, which is we will defend our democracy, we have to defend our elections, and we can never tolerate election fraud in any way. And right now, the Trump administration is trying to commit that exact act. And they have the U.S. supreme Court helping them by pushing the clock back and putting historical barriers back in place that too many people fought and died to get removed. And I'll fight for that future. Thank you, David.
- [46:03]
E
The Supreme Court's dismantling of these essential rights, the essential rights won through blood and sweat and tears, it is tragic, and it's having real world consequences already. Right now in Tennessee, emboldened by this corrupt Supreme Court, the Tennessee legislature is stripping away from black communities the opportunity to have a voice in our democracy. And meanwhile, we've got the biggest big tech oligarchs in the world building data centers in those communities, poisoning the planet in order to build the robots that are going to discriminate against those communities, spy on us, and deny us our health care. The stakes are. Are too high. The stakes are too high, especially for the marginalized and the vulnerable and those that have been pushed to the sidelines of our democracy to not have a say right now. We will need to use the law to stand up to fight for the people of Colorado if and when this administration comes to try to strip away the core tools of our democracy, whether it's mail in ballots, whether it's putting ICE officers outside of ballot boxes to terrify people anymore, one of the critical tools that they're using to suppress our voice, all of us agree on that. But let me also say that showing up in court and litigating cases in court against the Trump administration isn't going to save this country. The thing that's going to save this country is the only thing that ever has the power of ordinary people to come together and fight for a better future. You know, in Minnesota, the way that they ultimately got ICE out was that they shut down the economy. They engaged in a general strike. Well, They've got about 18% private sector union density in Minnesota, and we've got about 6% private sector union density in Colorado. Another reason why I think it's atrocious that this governor vetoed the Worker Protection act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize. So when I fight for democracy here in Colorado, that's not only going to be standing up to the Trump administration, going to court to hold them accountable to protect our democracy, but it's also going to mean taking on the corporations that are denying us the power, our power and voice in our economy and our democracy.
- [48:24]
A
Candidates David Seligman, Hedal Doshi and Michael Dougherty are on the the Democratic primary for state attorney general. The fourth Democratic candidate, current Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, was also invited but did not take part in the forum, which I moderated at the Colorado Women's Bar Association's conference in Vail. The two candidates on the Republican primary ballot, Michael Allen and David Wilson, were also invited but did not participate. The Colorado primary election is June 30th. Thanks for joining us today with special thanks to our audio engineer, Pedro Lombragno. I'm Chandra Thomas Whitfield. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and KRCC.
- [49:20]
B
Sa.