The Colorado Republican Party chairman asked the Denver police chief yesterday to shed more light on whether the state’s U.S. Attorney nominee, Stephanie Villafuerte, used a restricted federal database to help the 2006 campaign of Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter.

Stephanie Villafuerte (gov)

State GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams sent a letter to Denver police chief Gerry Whitman urging him to respond to questions raised by statements from Villafuerte, Ritter and Denver’s Assistant District Attorney Chuck Lepley last month. The statements, which were submitted to The Denver Post, dispute the database allegations and have drawn the Denver Police Department into the controversy.

The Villafuerte camp claims that her disputed contacts with the DA’s office in October 2006 concerned an alleged threat against then-candidate Ritter, not about accessing a database for political purposes, which could be a crime.

Lepley said nearly two years ago that he “probably” discussed the alleged threat with Whitman and other police department officials, according to federal court testimony obtained by The Post about the matter. Whitman declined to comment to the newspaper about whether he spoke to Lepley about the matter. The police department never generated a report or any other documents about the alleged threat, according to The Post.

In yesterday’s letter, the GOP leader Wadhams wrote: “Chief Whitman, I believe you have been put in a very uncomfortable and unfair position by Ms. Villafuerte, Governor Ritter, and the Denver District Attorney’s office by their rather creative explanations of their actions, but the public deserves a clear answer from you and your department.”

A spokesperson for the Denver Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Main Justice on Wadham’s letter.

Wadhams has been highly critical of Villafuerte for her reported conversations with staffers in the Denver District Attorney’s office about an illegal immigrant who was featured in an ad against Ritter produced by his opponent, Republican Bob Beauprez.

But Villafuerte, who is Ritter’s deputy chief of staff, told the FBI in 2007 that she had “no conversations” with the DA employees about the undocumented immigrant, Carlos Estrada-Medina, who is also an alleged heroin dealer, The Post reported in October.

Republicans charge that Villafuerte is being treated differently in the matter than U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis, who lost his job after accessing the same database on behalf of the Beauprez campaign.

“Colorado deserves better than a U.S. Attorney who apparently might have used her former employer, the Denver District Attorney’s Office, for blatant partisan political purposes,” Wadhams said in an October letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Stephanie Villafuerte (gov)

The nominee to be the U.S. Attorney for Colorado has rejected allegations that she played a role in the use of a restricted government database to aid Gov. Bill Ritter (D) in his 2006 gubernatorial campaign, The Denver Post reported today.

Stephanie Villafuerte, who is Ritter’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in a letter to Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) obtained by The Post that her answer to the allegation is “emphatically no.”

Colorado Republicans have also raised questions about whether Villafuerte had discussions with staffers in the Denver District Attorney’s Office about an illegal immigrant who was featured in an ad against Ritter produced by Republican Bob Beauprez’s gubernatorial campaign.

Use of the federal criminal records database for political purposes could be a crime. She told the FBI in 2007 that she had “no conversations” with the DA employees about Carlos Estrada-Medina, who is also an alleged heroin dealer. Estrada-Medina had once obtained a plea deal under the alias of Walter Ramo when Ritter was Denver’s district attorney, according to The Post.

“Was I honest when I told the FBI that I did not have conversations with anyone at the Denver District Attorney’s Office . . . regarding the Ramo/Estrada Medina case?” Villafuerte wrote. “The answer is absolutely yes.”

Republicans charge that Villafuerte is being treated differently in the matter than U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis, who lost his job after accessing the same database on behalf of the Beauprez campaign. Colorado state Sen. Ted Harvey and other state Republicans sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, asking the panel to investigate whether Villafuerte used the database.

The committee has yet to schedule a vote on her nomination. President Barack Obama tapped Villafuerte for the post on Sept. 30.

Stephanie Villafuerte (gov)

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) on Monday defended his aide, Stephanie Villafuerte, whose nomination to be the state’s next U.S. Attorney is under attack from Republicans, The Denver Post reports.

“I believe Stephanie did nothing wrong,” Ritter said during a radio interview on  The Mike Rosen Show on KOA-AM.

Republicans have questioned whether Villafuerte asked employees of the Denver district attorney’s office — which Ritter had once headed — to access a restricted government database to help his 2006 campaign for governor. Asking someone to access the National Crime Information Center database for non-law enforcement purposes can be a crime, according to The Post.

In 2007 Villafuerte told the FBI she had “no conversations” with the DA’s office about Carlos Estrada-Medina, an alleged heroin dealer who had struck a plea deal when Ritter was Denver’s top prosecutor. Ritter’s Republican opponent for governoer, Bob Beauprez, had featured Estrada-Medina in a campaign ad against Ritter.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis was charged with accessing the NCIC to check the alias of Estrada-Medina – and providing information about it to Beauprez’s campaign for the 2006 ad. A federal jury acquitted Voorhis in the matter, but he was fired from his job.

Gov. Bill Ritter

“[A]s a person working for the campaign [Stephanie] did a host of things to try to independently verify this identity of Carlos Estrada-Medina and could not do it,” Ritter told the radio host. “She had people who were getting public records. We as a campaign employed individuals — interns — to go to the courthouse and get the records. We got nothing from the DA’s office.”

When asked about a voice mail Villafuerte left for the DA’s office’ spokeswoman about Estrada-Medina shortly someone in the office accessed the NCIC records on him, Ritter said: “I think it’s dangerous to just actually take it from logs. Those are one- to two-minute calls, and if you leave a message with somebody it’s logged as a one-minute call,” adding, “They may not have talked at all.”

Villafuerte is nominated to replace Troy Eid, who resigned in January as the U.S. Attorney for the  District of Colorado

The chairman of the Colorado Republican party wrote  a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, slamming President Barack Obama’s pick for the state’s top federal prosecuting job.

Dick Wadhams stopped short of calling on the panel to reject the nomination of Stephanie Villafuerte to be Colorado U.S. Attorney. But he wrote: “Colorado deserves better than a U.S. Attorney who apparently might have used her former employer, the Denver District Attorney’s Office, for blatant partisan political purposes.”

Stephanie Villafuerte (gov)

We reported yesterday that Wadhams and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) are questioning whether Villafuerte asked employees of the Denver DA’s office to access a restricted government database to help the 2006 campaign of Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter.

Wadhams highlighted a Denver Post article and editorial that are turning up the heat on Villafuerte, who is currently Ritter’s deputy chief of staff.

Villafuerte had discussions with staffers in the Denver district attorney’s office about an illegal immigrant who was featured in an ad against Ritter produced by his opponent, Republican Bob Beauprez, according to The Post.

But she told the FBI in 2007 that she had “no conversations” with the DA employees about the undocumented immigrant, Carlos Estrada-Medina, who is also an alleged heroin dealer, the newspaper said. Villafuerte has declined to comment to the newspaper.

“It is clear from the Denver Post story that, to be charitable, Stephanie Villafuerte was not forthcoming in her conversations with the FBI,” Wadhams wrote in his letter.

Republicans charge that Villafuerte is being treated differently in the matter than a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent named Cory Voorhis, who lost his job after accessing the same database on behalf of the Beauprez campaign.

A spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told Main Justice today that the senator’s office hadn’t received the letter yet. A spokesperson for panel Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was unable to comment immediately.

President Barack Obama tapped Villafuerte for the post Sept. 30. She would replace acting U.S. Attorney for Colorado David Gaouette, who has been in the position since Bush appointee Troy Eid resigned in January. The Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to consider her nomination.

Another Colorado Republican is expressing concern about whether the state’s U.S. Attorney nominee inappropriately used state resources to help her boss during his successful 2006 gubernatorial campaign, The Denver Post reported Saturday.

State GOP chairman Dick Wadhams has joined former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) in questioning whether Stephanie Villafuerte used a restricted government database for political purposes, which could be a crime, according to the newspaper.

Stephanie Villafuerte (gov)

Villafuerte, who is the deputy chief of staff to Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, has declined to comment to The Post.

The issue centers on discussions she had with staffers in the Denver district attorney’s office about an illegal immigrant who was featured in an ad against Ritter produced by Republican Bob Beauprez’s gubernatorial campaign. She told the FBI in 2007 that she had “no conversations” with the DA employees about Carlos Estrada-Medina, who is also an alleged heroin dealer. Estrada-Median had once obtained a plea deal under the allias of Walter Ramo when Ritter was Denver’s district attorney, according to The Post.

Republicans charge that Villafuerte is being treated differently in the matter than a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent named Cory Voorhis, who lost his job after accessing the same database on behalf of the Beauprez campaign.

“It is time for Stephanie Villafuerte and her boss, Bill Ritter, to finally come clean on possible inappropriate behavior during their efforts to smear ICE agent Cory Voorhis,” Wadhams told The Post.

Voorhis was charged in 2007 with using the National Crime Information Center database to look into Estrada-Medina/Ramo on behalf of the Beauprez campaign for its ad, according to the newspaper. Voorhis said he was authorized to use the database by his supervisor, The Post said. He was later acquitted by a federal jury.

“As the U.S. Attorney, will Stephanie Villafuerte offer help in investigating the corruption, perjury and malfeasance rampant in the Denver regional office of ICE?,” Tancredo, a fierce opponent of illegal immigration, said earlier this month. “Will she be an advocate for the effective enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws after participating in the disgusting vendetta against ICE agent Cory Voorhis? The answer to those questions is probably … no se puede.”

The Post said the Obama White House continues to stand behind its nominee, who was tapped Sept. 30. Villafuerte would replace acting U.S. Attorney for Colorado David Gaouette, who has been in the position since Bush appointee Troy Eid resigned in January.