Took Griswold's office getting a court order, but they did finally prosecute fellow Dems. Statistics on Colorado crime.

Took Griswold’s office getting a court order, but they did finally prosecute fellow Dems.

Per the RM Voice article linked at bottom, the Colorado Secretary of State's Office is going to HAVE to prosecute a case against fellow Democrats down in Pueblo.

I'll summarize the case against the Pueblo Dems as best and as quickly as I can. There are two organizations at play here.

The first is the Pueblo County Democratic Party (hereafter "Party"). The second is the Pueblo County Democrat Central Committee (hereafter "committee"). The Party is set up as a political party and thus subject to different rules than the Committee which is set up as a nonprofit/charity.

As the article has it, however, the Committee was a charity mostly on paper, not in practice.

Ordinary citizens in Colorado are allowed to file complaints with the SOS's office** alleging campaign finance violations and Pueblo resident Jonathan Ambler did just that. He spent two years compiling evidence, alleging that the Committee was actively raising money which went to the Party for political purposes, money which was not reported by the Party as contributions.

The case followed the usual route, and ended up on the desk of Deputy SOS Christopher Beall. Beall then dismissed the complaints, saying that (quoting here) the Committee: "...keeps its receipts in a separate account and spends them on the organization 'as a whole.'”

By my understanding of the article, this separation wasn't the result of checking or audits. It was established by, presumably, calling and asking the Committee if what they said was true (something I'm sure we all wish would happen in case someone alleged wrongdoing by us).

Quoting again: "Beall, who as deputy secretary oversaw the registration of charities and the licensing of bingo halls, took the [C]ommittee at its word. He noted only that its articles of incorporation 'have never been amended.'”

These are, by the way, the same articles that make no bones that the Committee's purpose is to support the Democratic party.

The case went to court and a Denver judge overruled Beall, ruling that no, they do need to proceed with (a smaller than originally alleged) case. There are more details on the case and the Denver judge's ruling in the article. Worth a read.

Let's stop for a second and let's dwell on that last bit. A judge was required to order that the Democratically-controlled watchdog of campaign finance had to take an obvious case to court.

The court had to order them to continue prosecuting an alleged crime.

Do you have any doubt, particularly after their behavior with conservatives that they would need a court order to charge similar against a Republican outfit? Matter of fact, I can point to an example. See "Related" below.

I mentioned below in the footnote that I've done a couple campaign finance complaints in the past.

The first two were against Sixteen Thirty Fund for not revealing their donors. The first was ruled as too old (and that I was "politically aware" enough to not get an exception). The second go 'round had this same Beall giving me some claptrap about how they couldn't prosecute because, well, because.

When I replied with a note about his ruling and my thought that one of the things you pick up in law school is not so much a knowledge of the law, but the ability to write things that justify what you want to do, the conversation took a sharper turn.

Jena Griswold has overseen an office that has two standards. She, Beall, and perhaps others down there, clearly see a different standard for those who agree with her politically and those who don't.

Do you have any doubt whether or not this double standard will follow her into the AG's office? I don't.

Rather, I think it will continue. It's just that she'll have different avenues down which to pursue her particular agenda.

**I have done a few myself. You are not prosecuting, the case, it is equivalent to you calling the police and telling them a crime has occurred. You lay out what you think is the break in the law and the SOS's office goes from there.

https://rockymountainvoice.com/2026/06/25/colorado-secretary-of-state-now-prosecutes-pueblo-democrats-in-bingo-finance-case-it-dismissed/

Related:

The Complete Colorado piece below gives a good overview on the case that Griswold's office took all the way to the top in pursuit of a dark money group in Colorado (and lost, incidentally).

Put this in contrast with her office's blithe dismissal of the one against Pueblow Democrats.


https://completecolorado.com/2021/12/16/secretary-of-state-griswold-mum-on-behemoth-progressive-dark-money-influence-in-colorado/

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Statistics on Colorado crime

I had a reader, who is part of the group of people authoring it, send me a link to their crime report. That is the first link below, with a link to the report itself linked second (for convenience’s sake).

I will let them characterize themselves and their work. Quoting from their webpage:

“The Colorado Bipartisan Violence Report presents a descriptive empirical baseline on violence in Colorado, drawing on data from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the period 2015–2024. Rather than evaluating specific policies, it maps the volume, composition, geography, and resolution of violent crime to support evidence-based policy discussions across the political spectrum.”

and further down

“This is a 100% citizen-led project consisting of Coloradans who are volunteers from almost every political affiliation. Anyone is welcome to contribute.”

Having read some of the report, and the way they describe their work (the sources, the boundaries of what one can glean from it), I think it’s pretty solid work and in keeping with the spirit of what they say above.

I’ll leave it to you to read the report yourself and come to your own conclusions (the authors taking great pains to avoid any characterization of patterns or any causal links, something they rightly say cannot be had from their research). There were some interesting things to note that I want to call out now. Not only are they interesting in their own right, I will return to some of them briefly tomorrow.

Let’s start with screenshot 1. It’s the first in their summary toplines.

Note how the crime trends in Colorado are an increase from 2015 to a peak in 2022 and then what the authors term a modest decline. Note also that while murders have decreased relatively sharply, aggravated assault has ballooned.

Now to screenshot 2. Also from the summary toplines.

Note that violent crime, unless you take it on a per capita basis with the sparse population of rural areas making the rates different, is mostly an urban problem in Colorado, particularly in the four counties cited (Denver, Adams, El Paso, and Jefferson).

Screenshot 3 is not too surprising if you’ve read up on crime trends. Human beings hurt those closest to themselves.

This starts (unfortunately) in the home and radiates out to the surrounding community, including race (the vast bulk of murders are intra-racial).

In keeping with the above, screenshot 4 is saddening if you have read up on crime trends.

By my understanding, one of the biggest deterrents in crime is not the punishment per se (i.e. the severity of it), but the swift and sure nature of it. If we don’t solve crimes, there’s a whole lot less incentive to NOT commit them.

The last one is (as many of the above are) something I will touch on tomorrow. Screenshot 5 is a quick summary of domestic violence from the report.

I highlighted a couple things here. When people hurt those they live with, those that have a proclivity to solve household problems with violence, they tend to do it with what’s at hand.

Note too the percentage of firearms involved in domestic violence offenses.

I am glad that the authors took the time to compile these stats. I was told by the reader that sent them in that it’s their hope that their statistics help inform (not drive) policy discussions. I hope so too. If you’ve a mind to, share the link with your elected officials.

If you poke around in the report and find something noteworthy, give a heads up. If you read through it and think this is an effort you’d like to participate in, click on the “contribute knowledge” link at the top.

https://coviolence.org/Home

https://media.base44.com/files/public/69b2fd499b8ab1bd26767603/3380a9370_cbvr.pdf