Colorado needs three times the number of public defenders it employs today to meet new workload standards for criminal defense, according to a national study backed by the American Bar Association.
For next budget year, which starts July 1, Colorado’s Office of the State Public Defender is asking for 70 more attorneys and 58 new support staff, including paralegals and investigators, at a total cost of $14.7 million.
That’s still far less than 230 new attorneys the office says it needs — let alone the 700-plus hires it would take to triple current staffing levels to meet the study’s recommendations.
But even the partial request was enough to shock members of Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee.
“It’s breathtaking,” said Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat who chairs the JBC.
The biggest factor driving the need for attorneys is a massive increase in the volume of evidence they must scrutinize in the digital age, a list that includes police dashboard and body camera footage as well as text messages and other electronic media.
All told, attorneys now have 4,500% more discovery material to review than they did in 2016, said Megan Ring, the state public defender. That’s left public defense attorneys regularly working 60 to 80 hours a week. And, officials fear, it raises concerns about whether the state is consistently meeting its constitutional obligations to provide effective legal representation to defendants at trial.
“We are getting overwhelmed with work,” Ring told the JBC in a December hearing. “This is an absolute, absolute need.”
During last year’s legislative session, lawmakers approved pay raises for public defenders that agency leaders say has helped make the job more attractive. But raises alone aren’t enough, Ring said.
The national findings, released in September 2023 by the national bar and the RAND Corporation, help underscore the dire state of public defense in Colorado at a time when the state’s Democratic majority is pushing to reduce mass incarceration.
“Excessive caseloads violate ethics rules and inevitably cause harm,” the study concluded.
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MORE: Colorado’s public defender staffing shortages appear to put defendants at a disadvantage compared to the resources criminal prosecutors bring to trial.
While district attorneys’ offices along the Front Range employ more than 580 lawyers, the state had just 380 public defenders working in the region as of November 2022, according to JBC documents. The public defender’s office has around 65% as many attorneys as Colorado prosecutor offices, even as they defend 70% of all criminal cases and upward of 80% of serious crimes. District attorney offices in Colorado are funded by a mix of state and local tax dollars, while public defenders are funded entirely by the state government.
JBC’s nonpartisan staff has recommended approving the new hires, but spreading them over the next two years.
But the budget committee last week put off a decision until after the state’s next revenue forecasts in March, amid misgivings from some budget writers on the sheer size of the request.
“I’m very hesitant to take action on this until we know how much money we have,” Bird said at the meeting.
Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver, said she was ready to approve it, citing conversations she’d had with public defenders. The workload the state is expecting of its defense attorneys is “unreasonable,” she said.
There may be a broader reckoning over public defender staffing still to come. The office is under review by the state auditor’s office — its first performance audit in 20 years.
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DO THE MATH
$228,264
The amount raised by former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch’s 3rd Congressional District campaign last month on the online fundraising platform ActBlue.
That haul was less than many other Democratic congressional candidates across the county, including Ike McCorkle, an Army veteran running in the 4th Congressional District where Frisch’s former foe, Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, is now seeking reelection.
McCorkle, who lost in the 4th District to U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, in 2020 and 2022, raised $235,385, according to an analysis by Rob Pyers, who tracks campaign finance data.
The top-raising candidate on ActBlue in January was Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol police officer who spoke out after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington. He’s running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in Maryland. Dunn raised $2.75 million through ActBlue last month.
We were all wondering if Frisch’s fundraising would take a nosedive after Boebert exited the 3rd District, and Federal Election Commission reports this week indicate the answer is “yes.”
ActBlue has been a big fundraising conduit for Frisch, who has been one of the top fundraisers among congressional candidates running in 2024. We reported last week that 64% of the $6.4 million he raised in the second half of last year came through the platform. That averages out to about $694,693 a month, roughly triple the amount Frisch raised on ActBlue in January.
Keep in mind: Frisch is likely raising money beyond ActBlue, which is the preferred conduit of people giving smaller amounts via credit or debit card. Max-out donors typically write checks.
We won’t know Frisch’s total fundraising haul until April, when he reports his first quarter results to the FEC, and his campaign is projecting confidence that his numbers will remain high — just maybe not as high as before.
“Adam continues to be projected as one of the top-raising congressional candidates in Q1,” Tara Trujillo, a Frisch campaign spokeswoman, said in a written statement to The Unaffiliated.
Frisch also continues to invoke Boebert in his fundraising emails despite her no longer being his opponent. The money raised by McCorkle as part of his longshot bid is clear evidence of why: Boebert has a unique ability to prompt Democratic donors to open their purse strings.
John Padora, another Democrat running in the 4th District, raised about $100,000 on ActBlue in January. Padora and McCorkle were not strong fundraisers before Boebert entered the race.
The donations to McCorkle and Padora also come despite the reality that the 4th District is most likely unwinnable for Democrats. It leans 27 points in the GOP’s favor, according to a nonpartisan analysis of election results from 2016 to 2020 by staffers for the Colorado legislature.
Even U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat not up for reelection until 2028, invoked Boebert in a fundraising email this week. “Help us fight Boebert’s bad votes,” was the subject line of the Bennet campaign’s fundraising missive Tuesday.
THE NARRATIVE
Colorado GOP fundraising dries up as presidential candidate ballot-access fees stop flowing in
The state’s Republican presidential primary ballot is set and gone are the Colorado GOP’s ballot-access fees.
The Colorado GOP raised just $32,535 last month, according to its Federal Election Commission report, its worst haul since September. The party reported having $647,000 in cash at the end of the month.
The major drop-off can be attributed to the end of the ballot-access fees the party was charging Republican presidential primary candidates. For context: The $40,000 fee for a Republican presidential candidate who wanted to be on Colorado’s March 5 ballot but didn’t want to visit the state or hold a fundraiser for the party was higher than the Colorado GOP’s total haul in January.
The Colorado GOP collected $260,000 in ballot-access fees from eight candidates.
About half of the money the party raised in January came from two donations: $10,000 from Stephen Woodford, CEO of WCM Industries in Colorado Springs, and $5,000 from Pete Coors, of the brewing-giant family.
The GOP spent about $50,000 in January, including $15,000 to Liberty Service Corp., a Colorado Springs political firm headed by Jon Hotaling, for project management. The party also paid out $11,000 for consulting to Fox Group Ltd., which is owned by GOP Chair Dave Williams.
MORE: Colorado Democrats raised more than $187,000 in January and spent about $73,000. The party had $308,000 in cash at the end of the month.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s campaign gave the party $40,000, while U.S. Rep. Jason Crow’s campaign gave $5,000.
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THE POLITICAL TICKER
PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will hold a rally Tuesday afternoon at Centennial Airport. The Republican, who also formerly served as South Carolina’s governor, faces tough odds in Colorado’s March 5 presidential primary. A recent poll conducted by Global Strategies Group, a Democratic firm, showed that 72% of registered Republican voters in Colorado viewed former President Donald Trump favorably, while 26% viewed him unfavorably.
ELECTION 2024: Americans For Prosperity Action on Thursday endorsed conservative commentator Jeff Crank in his bid to represent Colorado’s 5th Congressional District. Crank faces Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams and others in the Republican primary to represent the district. AFP Action is the campaign arm of Americans for Prosperity, the national conservative political nonprofit. AFP Action recently endorsed Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd in the 3rd Congressional District and state Rep. Gabe Evans in the 8th Congressional District. AFP is backing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the presidential race, whereas Williams is a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
LEGISLATURE: State Rep. Stephanie Luck, R-Penrose, returned to the Capitol on Thursday for the first time since having a baby boy in January. The reason for her visit: a committee hearing in which lawmakers approved her bill to allow lawmakers to voluntarily post drafts of their measures before the legislative session begins. The State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee advanced House Bill 1022 in an 8-3 vote, with Democratic Reps. Jennifer Parenti, Naquetta Ricks and Andrew Boesenecker voting against the measure. Parenti said the measure might overshadow other important projects legislative staffers work on ahead of session. The bill now heads to the House Appropriations Committee.
LOBBYING: Former U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter is now representing the National Cannabis Roundtable as a federal lobbyist, Politico reports. He’s working on a bill aimed at allowing the cannabis industry to use banks, something that he sponsored as a Democratic congressman from Arvada. Alison Wright, his former congressional aide, is also representing the industry group. Perlmutter and Wright work for the national lobbying and law firm Holland & Knight. Perlmutter recently joined the National Cannabis Roundtable’s advisory board, which also includes former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican.
LAUREN BOEBERT: A federal judge Thursday denied U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against her by American Muckrakers PAC, a group seeking to block her reelection. The Republican congresswoman sought to get the lawsuit tossed under Colorado’s anti-SLAPP, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, law aimed at preventing people from using the courts to undermine people’s First Amendment rights.
STORY: A new — and much gentler — property tax hike is proposed for Colorado short-term rental properties
STORY: Colorado Springs cracks down on homeless camping in hopes of pushing people toward shelter, services
STORY: Rules to ensure there’s cash to plug all Colorado oil wells may not be enough, study says
STORY: Nurses for medically fragile kids are underpaid and hard to find. Parents want the state to step in.
COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO: Leader of Colorado’s new Office of Gun Violence Prevention steps down
COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO: Can Congress actually Congress?
THE DENVER POST: Feds investigating Colorado Board of Education member for alleged misuse of union funds
9NEWS: Douglas Bruce is running for Congress
E&E NEWS: Michael Bennet joins Democratic revolt against Biden liquified natural gas pause
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Discovery of decaying bodies, fake ashes spur Colorado to confront its lax funeral home oversight
POLITICO: Polis won’t rule out a 2028 presidential bid
STEAMBOAT PILOT & TODAY: City councilman who attended Jan. 6 rally files to run against Meghan Lukens in toss-up Colorado House district
THIS WEEK’S PODCAST: The housing conversation heats up at the Colorado Capitol
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Corrections & Clarifications
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