Editor’s note: This represents the opinion of The Denver Post editorial board, which is separate from the paper’s news operation. Newspaper endorsements in elections have a long history of helping readers vet candidates in a thoughtful and transparent way.
Colorado’s Republicans have an excellent choice for attorney general on the primary ballot this June – Michael Allen.
Allen, a Navy veteran, has served as the district attorney for El Paso and Teller counties since 2020, elected twice to serve one of the largest judicial districts in the state as the top prosecutor.
He has successfully handled some of the state’s most high-profile criminal cases, a testament to his ability to manage a large office that builds complex legal cases. Unaffiliated voters participating in the Republican primary will appreciate Allen’s non-partisan approach to the law, while Republicans will like his emphasis on fighting crime.
In the aftermath of the Club Q shooting, Allen did not play politics. There was an opportunity for him to waffle over whether the mass shooting was a hate crime, but instead, Allen brought additional charges of a “bias-motivated crime.” The man who killed five people and left 22 injured in a shooting that targeted an LGBTQ bar pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But the attorney general’s office in Colorado does much more than criminal prosecutions – in fact, the focus of the office is on civil law, like prosecuting antitrust cases and enforcing labor laws, defending constitutional challenges to Colorado’s laws in a non-partisan way and handling complex appeals.
Allen says he is ready to step into this expanded role. After graduating from the University of Kansas Law School, Allen worked in the Kansas attorney general’s office, where he focused on consumer protection. Still, Allen emphasized that he would focus on crime in the AG’s office, especially sex trafficking.
“We know that the attorney general’s office has access to a statewide grand jury … and they can go after criminal networks,” Allen said. “When we are talking about human trafficking, we know that those are criminal networks that are prostituting people across jurisdictional boundaries. Use that grand jury to go after those criminal networks and actually effect change and turn this tide on human trafficking.”
Allen’s opponent in the race, David Willson, worked in the Navy for 20 years. He became a JAG officer using his law degree to prosecute lawbreakers, worked for a stint with a U.S. Attorney’s Office and then transitioned to private practice representing parents who had lost custody of their children.
Willson said part of his motivation to run for attorney general was to oppose Allen. The two had disagreed in El Paso County over a case involving library books.
Willson said Allen should have filed criminal charges against school officials . “Promotion of obscenity to a minor” is a criminal offense in Colorado.
Allen disagreed, explaining his decision: “The criminal justice system in the United States should not be weaponized against political or social opponents based simply on disagreements, and the misuse of the prosecution process only erodes trust in an essential function of our shared government.”
We do not think the intent of the law is to chill free speech but to prevent child sexual abuse and grooming. There was no evidence that any adult or student was using the material in that way. Ironically, many of these novels and graphic novels were written for the exact opposite purpose — to highlight the evil and lasting impact of child sexual abuse. Some of the novels were coming-of-age stories that included sexual exploration, but nothing obscene, although some of it was certainly gross.
We do not want an attorney general who would pursue this further.
And that makes our decision easy. We urge voters to support Michael Allen for attorney general in the Republican primary.
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