Politics & Government

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.

Results from the 2018 Colorado caucus are nearly complete, and while state Republicans aren’t releasing details about the vote, Democratic attendees have given gubernatorial candidate Cary Kennedy a big victory. At this writing, she has 50 percent of the vote, more than all of her competitors combined.

Caucus advocate John Wren explains why he thinks caucuses are such an integral part of the democratic process – and why you should participate on Tuesday.

Ever since Denver Mayor Michael Hancock apologized for sending inappropriate texts to Denver police officer Leslie Branch-Wise during the 2011-2012 period when she was on his security detail, various organizations related to local law enforcement have made their displeasure with the situation clear. The latest: Hours after Nick Rogers, president of the Denver Police Protective Association, told us that Hancock had lost the respect of cops in the Mile High, the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police, the state’s primary police union, sent a scathing letter to Governor John Hickenlooper demanding that the mayor resign over his treatment of now-Detective Branch-Wise and plenty more.

The fallout continues following Mayor Michael Hancock’s apology for inappropriate texts sent to Denver police officer Leslie Branch-Wise. The scandal has led to veiled lawsuit threats from an attorney representing Wayne McDonald, a former Hancock pal who won $200,000 in a previous suit over over his 2012 firing from a position with the mayor; he’d supposedly made similarly problematic comments to Branch-Wise. And it’s also emboldened critics such as the Colorado Latino Forum’s Lisa Calderón, organizer of a March 7 march to call for his resignation. Nick Rogers, president of the Denver Police Protective Association, doesn’t go quite as far as Calderón. But he sees the Branch-Wise matter as another example of Hancock’s flawed leadership.

In a historic move, Thornton Democrat Steve Lebsock was expelled today by the Colorado House of Representatives in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment by at least eleven women, including Democratic colleague Representative Faith Winter.

The fallout has been considerable in the wake of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s apology for inappropriate texts sent to Denver police officer Leslie Branch-Wise. The latest example comes from an attorney representing Wayne McDonald, a former Hancock friend and onetime City of Denver employee who won a $200,000 settlement four years after filing a lawsuit over his 2012 firing, which had reportedly been prompted by “inappropriate comments” he’d made to Branch-Wise, then a part of the mayor’s security team. According to the lawyer, Milwaukee-based William Sulton, corresponding via email, Hancock told untruths about McDonald after sacking him, and in alluding to him during his video apology to Branch-Wise, “Mayor Hancock caused the same false statements to be published about Mr. McDonald.”

Colorado Coalition for the Homeless won a battle against the feds to utilize a lot in Lakewood to house the formerly homeless.

#TimeUPHancock protesters will meet at the front steps of the City and County building to call on Mayor Hancock to resign after he admitted to sending suggestive text messages to a former subordinate.

A new poll shows Mike Coffman trailing Jason Crow. But there’s plenty of time for Coffman to make up ground.

The fallout from Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s apology for inappropriate texts sent to Denver police detective Leslie Branch-Wise when she was on his security detail in 2011 and 2012 has been fast, furious and, at times, contradictory. Hancock has been lambasted by two different police organizations and chided by powerful politicos, with one former city council member calling on him to resign. Meanwhile, the City of Denver has announced that it is developing new sexual harassment training for city employees even though Hancock continues to insist that he didn’t sexually harass Branch-Wise, and the head of a notorious Denver prostitution ring says the mayor was a client.

On the evening of February 27, around the same time that Denver Mayor Michael Hancock issued a video apology for inappropriate text messages sent to a Denver police officer, representatives for KC Becker, the Colorado House of Representative’s majority leader, publicly issued documents about alleged impropriety by Representative Steve Lebsock, a Thornton Democrat accused of sexually harassing at least eleven women, including fellow rep Faith Winter and lobbyist Holly Tarry. One passage maintains that Lebsock said to one complainant, “Don’t you need a fuck buddy? I need a fuck buddy.”

Last night, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock issued an extraordinary video apology for what his office has termed “inappropriate behavior” toward Denver Police Detective Leslie Branch-Wise when she was part of his security detail approximately six years ago. The clip, on view below, was prompted by Branch-Wise’s participation in a Denver7 report in which she shared text messages from Hancock, one of which asked if she’d ever taken a pole-dancing course before warning her, “Be careful! I’m curious;)!”

Attorney Jason Flores-Williams provides an update on the federal lawsuit in which thousands of people experiencing homelessness are suing Denver for violating their constitutional rights during sweeps.