BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
The Eisenhower Chapel at 293 Roslyn Street in Denver was the setting for a debate between incumbent Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and challenger 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner on September 20. Journalist and author Todd Neff served as moderator.
Weiser was elected Colorado Attorney General in 2018 and is seeking a second term. He holds a law degree from New York University and served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. He has also worked in the U.S. Justice Department, the National Economic Council and was dean of the CU law school.
Kellner was elected 18th Judicial District Attorney in 2020. He holds a law degree from the University of Colorado and spent five years as an active- duty U.S. Marine, where he was a lawyer and prosecutor. He served in Afghanistan, where he worked with local governments and elections. He is presently a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves.
The Colorado Attorney General has primary responsibility for consumer protection, antitrust, and prosecuting complex white-collar crime, as well as natural resource and environmental issues. The AG is also the lawyer for all the departments of state government, manages the statewide grand jury, and is legal counsel and advisor to the governor. The office employs 480 people and has a budget of $70 million.
To the question, “What will be your top three priorities for reducing crime?” Kellner said, “We are number one in Colorado in auto theft, bank robberies, and cocaine use. We have the second highest rate of fentanyl overdose deaths in the country… One of the things that dismayed me was to see Phil advocate for a bill that would’ve essentially tied the hands of law enforcement. It made it nearly impossible for them to use arrest, rather than just issue a ticket and summons to somebody for things like motor vehicle theft. I was dismayed to see that he didn’t show up in 2019 …when the legislature was talking about decriminalizing (fentanyl and other drugs). So that bill passed, and now we find ourselves with over 900 Coloradans having lost their lives to fentanyl. In my district, we’ve gone after the drug trafficking organizations that are importing this stuff, peddling this poison. We’ve seized hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills; 40% of those pills are estimated to have a potentially lethal dose… “
Weiser’s response to the question was, “The three strategies that I as attorney general am using to advance public good are, first, working with the legislature…I was the first attorney general in the United States to testify for a bill addressing online retail theft. We pushed for a bill on catalytic converter theft–in both cases, to shut down intermediaries, to go after these crimes. This past session, we worked hard on a bill about fentanyl, getting money to law enforcement and better tools. We’ll keep working on this legislation in a smart, effective way.” He pointed to, “A very important fentanyl case (in which) we took down a whole organization. Human trafficking– these are complex crimes…Car theft— those crimes are prosecuted by district attorneys. If someone wants to prosecute those cases, they are best off staying where they are because that’s not what the attorney general does.” He continued, “We’ve also worked really hard on law enforcement…We don’t have enough law enforcement on the streets across our state. Twice, I’ve gone to the legislature to get more funding to support more people going into this important profession. I’m working on elevating and improving law enforcement training for the first time in 40 years, and providing mental health support and emotional awareness for police officers who are in this traumatic line of work.”
A question about a 2022 Colorado law that changed the way those who distribute fentanyl are held accountable drew different responses from the candidates.
Weiser, who answered first, pointed to the fact that he worked with the legislature and “got any amount of pure fentanyl made illegal,” noting that when the drug is mixed with other drugs, it is more complicated to write laws that specifically call out how different amounts should be treated. He said that his office did all it could to convince the legislature to strengthen penalties and would like to see them strengthened further. He pointed to a new offense contained in the legislation that he pushed for that specifically punishes the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. He also noted other tools contained in the bill that was passed and signed into law, including funding for public awareness and prevention, making Narcan more available, and drug treatment.
Kellner said, “I’ve been a strong proponent that any amount of fentanyl, because of its deadliness, should be a felony. I did not support the decriminalization of fentanyl and other hard drugs like meth, heroin and cocaine in 2019.” He said that the idea for the law that punishes the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death came from his office.
On the larger issue of drugs, Kellner blamed the federal government for not keeping drugs from coming across the U.S. southern border. Weiser said that the drug problem is complex because it includes young people who are not drug addicts but take a pill that they buy from a friend to help them sleep and it turns out to contain a lethal dose of fentanyl. Weiser said that he has heard criticism but no solutions, adding, “We need smart, effective leadership. Last session, I worked at the legislature intensely, literally up to the last minute, to get this law passed… The work that we did has gotten bipartisan support for our leadership on public safety.” He noted that he has been endorsed in this election by Cynthia Coffman, his predecessor as Colorado Attorney General, who is a Republican.
Weiser also noted that his office had held a district attorney in the San Luis Valley accountable for violating the Victims Rights Act, leading to the resignation of that district attorney. (According to recent reports, that DA, Alonzo Payne, has since been disbarred from practicing law anywhere in Colorado).
When audience members were allowed to ask questions, one person said to the candidates, “It seems like you agree on lot of things, but Mr. Kellner….the things on which you disagree seem to be rooted in criminal prosecution; 90% of the work of the attorney general is notcriminal prosecution. But that’s what you speak about almost exclusively on your website… It’s what you’ve talked about tonight. It’s important but, what are the top three priorities other than criminal prosecution that would bring you to this job?”
Kellner responded, “It’s true. I talk about public safety everywhere I go because, everywhere I go, that’s the thing that people are most concerned about and I think it is something that Phil has failed to lead on. I think that he has advocated for offender-friendly legislation that has caused, in large part, the mess that we are in right now… He advocated for a bill that now allows convicted felons like drug dealers and car thieves to now have guns again.” When the questioner pressed Kellner on her original question about his priorities in other areas, he named water issues, including the Colorado River Compact, consumer fraud protection, and the federal government’s failure to secure the country’s southern border as priorities.
Weiser described his top three priorities not specifically related to criminal behavior as, “Number one, defending our civil rights, including our reproductive rights; number two, standing up for consumers who are harmed; number three, protecting our land, air, and water, and a bonus one, the opioid epidemic.” He also responded to Kellner’s statements, denying that he had advocated for lesser penalties for car thieves, explaining that the law that was adopted, “Was unanimously passed in the Senate and supported by every DA.” Kellner interjected, “It was not supported by me.”
Weiser also pushed back on another of Kellner’s accusations, saying, “I don’t want car thieves to have firearms. It was a consensus bill that came up that was all that could be voted on. Let’s work on a new bill. That’s what I’m doing right now.” Turning to the audience, he said, “You deserve answers. We deserve an honest campaign.”
When it was all over, the candidates politely shook hands and the 125 people who came to hear them showed their appreciation with robust applause. Ballots for the November 8 election will begin arriving in mailboxes on October 17.
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