CENTENNIAL — As a prosecutor in Jefferson County, George Brauchler didn’t shy away from big cases.
He was one of two assistant district attorneys to get the only convictions in the Columbine High School shootings. He helped send to prison Mark Manes and Phillip Duran for their role in supplying guns to the killers.
Now Brauchler is taking on another big challenge. The 38-year-old attorney is running against lightning rod District Attorney Carol Chambers for the 18th Judicial District’s Republican nomination.
The winner could come out of the August primary without competition; no Democratic challenger has come forward.
“This jurisdiction can do better,” Brauchler said. “We deserve better and I think I can provide the leadership and the prosecution.”
Brauchler is a virtual unknown in the 18th Judicial District, which covers Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties.
Chambers, meanwhile, has made headlines almost since she took office — from her stunning upset over her former supervisor, Eva Wilson, to being the only DA in Colorado to ever receive public censure, to being yanked last month from a death penalty case after a judge ruled her office had violated professional rules of conduct.
Chambers declined to comment for this story.
Chambers well-known in community
Chambers’ husband, Nathan Chambers, is chairman of the Arapahoe County Republican Party.
Mary Wenke, vice-chairwoman of the county party, did not want to speculate on who might come out of the GOP primary in August.
“George Brauchler is not a very well-known entity to voters in Arapahoe County,” Wenke said. “In the past four years I have seen Carol Chambers out and about in the community, at citizens meetings and events. I think she has a very strong base.”
Brauchler grew up in the Denver area, went to the University of Colorado and is a major in the Army Reserve. He landed a job straight out of law school as a prosecutor in Jefferson County.
His former boss there, Chief Deputy District Attorney Bob Weiner, said Brauchler was a good trial lawyer. But what sticks out most, Weiner said, is that Brauchler was fair and always put the victims first.
“Ethically, I absolutely never had any questions about George,” Weiner said. “He did the right thing, the fair thing when it was appropriate. And sometimes the right thing isn’t always easy.”
Brauchler was with the firm of Caplis & Deasy, but now works for another firm that can give him time to run for office. And he also quit his gig as a radio talk show host for 630 KHOW.
During one radio show, he compared gays in the military to “kids in a candy store.”
Brauchler denies being anti-gay
Brauchler said he is not anti-gay and the comments were taken out of context, that he was answering a question about whether he supports the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which he does.
“Logistically, I don’t see how we can do it,” Brauchler said. “We physically segregate men and women because sexually they are different. In the military, the bottom line has to be the success of the mission.”
He has filed paperwork with the secretary of state’s office and is gathering the required signatures to get on the ballot.
Now he’s focused, he says, on getting the word out to voters that he is the better candidate for district attorney.
Brauchler says the public is growing tired of Chambers and her defiant positions. She has alienated local law enforcement agencies, he said, a fact that some officials have acknowledged as well.
If elected in November, he said, he would work to smooth out those relationships.
“I want to focus on crimes that affect families and not get distracted going for high-publicity cases,” he said. “I want to see us move away from politics and focus more on prosecution.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
The incumbent
Carol Chambers was elected as district attorney of the 18th District in November 2004.
She attended Texas Christian University and received a bachelor of science degree in nursing. After graduation, she worked at several hospitals in the Denver metro area to put herself through law school at the University of Denver. The Republican joined the district attorney’s office for the 18th Judicial District in 1990.
During her term, she has become known for her hard-line approach to crime. She also made headlines for being publicly censured in 2006 for unethical conduct in connection with her communications with a collections attorney. She has had a sometimes rocky relationship with district judges, whom she has criticized — harshly at times. Last month, her office was yanked from a death penalty case after a judge ruled her office has a conflict of interest and violated professional rules of conduct. The Denver Post
