Attending Denver Hill Junior High in the late 1960s, I watched Denver begin to tip left politically. Court‑ordered busing drove many white Republicans to the suburbs. Before they packed up, voters elected Republican Mike McKevitt as Denver DA.
Shortly after a race riot shut down my future high school, George Washington, Denver voters reacted in November 1970 by electing McKevitt to Congress.
By 1973, Democrats Dale Tooley and Pat Schroeder had replaced McKevitt at the DA’s Office and in Congress, respectively. It is doubtful that any other non-Democrat will ever hold either job again.
As I graduated from GWHS, the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War made Republicans toxic in Denver. Denver elections usually go to the leftmost candidate, especially when national Republicans are bringing us scandal and awful wars.
In the 1980s and 1990s, I worked for three Denver DAs — Tooley, Norm Early and Bill Ritter — all of whom had ambitions beyond the courthouse. Tooley and Early both sought Denver’s mayoral office, but candidates to their left ended their electoral dreams.
In November 2006, Ritter was easily elected Colorado’s 41st governor. At age 54, Gov. Ritter chose to step down after one term, having never lost an election. That spotless record includes his November 1996 victory over my quixotic, unaffiliated campaign to take his Denver DA job.
1996 had been a wild year in Denver. Pat Schroeder’s retirement from Congress set off a citywide game of “who’s next?” My name was tossed into the mix along with many others.
I was flattered, but I had three problems. First, I was politically unaffiliated. Second, at 6‑foot‑5, the thought of regular coach flights to D.C. was nightmarish. Third, my mid‑life dream was the Denver DA’s office, not the House chamber.
DA Ritter and I had a big downtown debate in early fall 1996. The hotel ballroom smelled of coffee, rubber chicken and nerves. Entering with my mini-entourage, I observed Ritter’s campaign literature, which featured photos of my handsome CU Law classmate Bill, his fine wife, Jeannie, their four beautiful kids, and, along the side, a big, smiling endorsement of the incumbent DA by my Colorado College classmate, state Rep. Diana DeGette.
As I walked toward the stage, Diana — the newly nominated Democratic candidate to succeed Schroeder — intercepted me. She kissed me on the cheek and said, “Craig, I just hate that you and Bill are running against each other. It’s really hard for me to decide what to do.”
DeGette went on about our shared history and the anguish of choosing between friends. I finally told her I’d just walked past Bill’s pamphlet and that her picture and endorsement looked very comfortable right there next to Jeannie and the kids.
She sort of laughed. So did I. Ritter got the last laugh in the November 1996 election.
JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in December 1996, which is when I began my private practice and media side gigs. The media, it turns out, has its own version of the team game and the forced exit.
I’ve had my share of those sudden departures. “Caplis and Silverman” ended abruptly in June 2012, after eight years, when management discovered our producer mocking on Facebook the way Dan Caplis adored Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to Be an American.” Management’s solution was to fire the producer, Caplis and me. Problem solved, especially on their balance sheet.
At my next stop on conservative radio, my microphone was famously cut in November 2019 as I discussed the president’s dishonesty and corruption. One moment I was making my case; the next, I was experiencing the broadcasting equivalent of a trapdoor. That abrupt silence made international news as a harbinger of MAGA media executions to come.
Broadcasting led to my meeting Phil Weiser, back when he was dean of the law school at the University of Colorado and a regular on my radio show and podcasts. He was fun, smart and unflappable — the kind of lawyer you want when your future depends on it. A fine Denver family man, Weiser can explain complicated concepts with the ease of a father, a professor and a top-notch litigator.
☀ MORE IN OPINION
Attorney General Phil Weiser has proved himself not just a smart lawyer but also a brilliant and accomplished prosecutor. He’s led Colorado’s largest law firm for two terms. He knows how to build cases, protect rights and stand up in court and in front of cameras without losing the plot.
Weiser is in his fifties, still in his prime, and he should make a fine governor. Weiser is more in tune with Denver’s and Colorado’s current electorate than those of us who came up under Tooley and Schroeder. So is wicked smart Melat Kiros, the 29-year-old who recently defeated DeGette.
The lesson is simple and a little disturbing for senior citizens. There comes a time when management or the electorate unplugs your microphone. You can step off the stage gracefully, as Ritter did. Or you can be pushed, as DeGette and some of us in radio have been.
A new generation now comprises the lead actors on Denver’s biggest political stages. The stage exit is to the right. New stars are entering from the left.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun and an active Colorado trial lawyer with Craig Silverman Law, LLC.
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