Senator questions homeland security chief about ICE UPDATEX2

**93camaro** · 12-10-2009, 12:36 PM

Finally! Corruption in Denver brought to DHS!!

Thank sen. Sessions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7mkH_m ... r_embedded

Information on Senator Jeff Sessions
Thursday 12-10-2009 6:40am MT
DC Address: The Honorable Jeff Sessions
United States Senate
326 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0104
DC Phone: 202-224-4124
DC Fax: 202-224-3149

Help out Cory, His life has been put on hold, spent all of his money to defend himself, was aquitted!! Still no job and the corrupt Gov. Ritter and his nominee for US Attorney were together on trying to bring Cory down. They just exposed themselves as traitors.

http://www.corylegaldefense.com/index.html

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Campaign access of database on senator's radar
Posted 12/10/2009 12:55 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print
DENVER (AP) â€” The ranking Republican on a committee deciding the fate of the White House nominee to be U.S. attorney in Colorado is following the case of former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis.

Voorhis lost his job after accessing a restricted law-enforcement database for information on an illegal immigrant. The information was used in a campaign ad against Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, then a Denver prosecutor.

The Denver district attorney's office also accessed the database to check on the immigrant.

Stephanie Villafuerte, Ritter's deputy chief of staff and a nominee for U.S. attorney, has denied asking the DA's office to access it.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about Voorhis on Wednesday.

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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom ... 0027.story

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Senator questions homeland security chief about ICE agent Voorhis' firing
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama questioned Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Wednesday about the firing of a Colorado immigration agent, asking why the agent's supervisor still has a job despite a finding that he was not telling the truth about the accessing of a restricted federal database.

"I am not personally familiar with this," Napolitano replied during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Homeland Security. "But I will become personally familiar with it."

The exchange is the first public indication that Sessions is closely following the case of former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis. That could be significant because Sessions, as the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, will have a say in Stephanie Villafuerte's nomination to be Colorado's next U.S. attorney.

Her nomination remains controversial. On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting that the Department of Justice initiate an investigation into whether Villafuerte prodded colleagues at the Denver district attorney's office to access the same database that led to charges against Voorhis.

The events that led to an Alabama senator's questioning of the homeland security secretary about the firing of a single Colorado ICE agent began with a 2002 plea deal extended by the Denver DA's office under now-Gov. Bill Ritter.

It went to a small-time heroin dealer and illegal immigrant with multiple aliases.

Walter Ramo stayed in the country, changed his name to Carlos Estrada-Medina and sexually assaulted a child in California.

When Bob Beauprez's Republican gubernatorial campaign learned, with Voorhis' help, about Ramo, his alias and the California crime, Ramo became the star of 2006 attack ads against Ritter, a Democrat.

As those ads went on the air, Villafuerte, who was on leave from her job at the DA's office to work on the Ritter campaign, called a colleague there to seek information about Ramo. A short time later, someone at the DA's office accessed the same database Voorhis used and confirmed that Ramo and Estrada-Medina were one in the same.

Ritter's campaign demanded an investigation. Ritter declared in a debate that Beauprez's campaign had broken the law by accessing the restricted National Crime Information Center computer to learn Ramo had changed his name and committed a crime in California.

Voorhis was ultimately prosecuted on a charge of making an unlawful access of NCIC. He was acquitted in a federal trial, but fired from his job.

Criticizing prosecutor

Since then, Voorhis has appealed to get his job back, and papers filed in that appeal allege that Voorhis' supervisor had authorized the access of the NCIC, as Voorhis maintained, but was not truthful about it. That led Sessions to question whether Voorhis was being targeted by ICE because he questioned previous plea deals by Ritter's DA office.

"I don't believe there's anything wrong with a federal agent . . . criticizing a prosecutor," Sessions said to Napolitano. "I don't believe you should allow a climate to develop in a department that indicates that people who disagree with the policies with the department will be punished if they express themselves."

Sessions also referred to Voorhis' supervisor, Tony Rouco. The Denver Post reported two months ago that an internal ICE inernal investigation found Rouco "willfully gave false testimony under oath" at Voorhis' trial last year. He also made false statements to the FBI and to ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, according to an April 2009 ICE internal investigation report.

Rouco still on job

He is still on the job, and there is no public indication that he was disciplined for his conduct.

"ICE has yet to take any action against the supervisor, but they're continuing to seek to remove Mr. Voorhis," Sessions said.

Coffman, who represents Colorado's 6th Congressional District, wrote in his letter to Holder that he believed an inquiry was necessary because there was a possibility that Villafuerte was involved in accessing NCIC.

"My request for an investigation is to allow the matter to be fully explained to the satisfaction of the people of Colorado, who certainly deserve the right to be represented by judicial officials they have faith in," he said. Villafuerte has maintained that she never asked anyone in the DA's office to access the database.

Current Colorado U.S. Attorney David Gaouette was appointed to the position by Holder in August for 120 days. Last week, near the end of that term, he was appointed by the federal judiciary to continue in his position until the U.S. Senate confirms a replacement.

Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13964964

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Cory Voorhis hearing should be off-limits to press, supporters, ICE says

The saga of former ICE agent Cory Voorhis seems to get messier with each passing day.

Voorhis was dismissed from his job for allegedly accessing a federal database for political rather than law-enforcement reasons -- the very thing his supporters accuse U.S. Attorney-nominee Stephanie Villafuerte of doing. But Voorhis, who was acquitted of criminal wrongdoing in the database matter, has been ordered not to talk to the press in advance of a December 9 and 10 hearing before Merit Systems Protection Board administrative judge Jeremiah Cassidy to determine whether he should get his old position back.

The latest? Voorhis still hasn't received a chunk of back pay that was supposed to have come his way as the result of a July settlement -- and ICE reps are trying to prevent any members of the media or Voorhis supporters (aside from his wife and mother) from attending the December proceedings.

Regarding the back pay, which covers the period between January 23 and April 10 of 2008, Thomas Muther, Voorhis' attorney, has filed a petition for enforcement to unscrew ICE's socks. The money was supposed to be paid between sixty and ninety days after the July 14 settlement; read the entire document here.

As for the limitations on spectators at the hearing, Muther has been corresponding with ICE associate legal advisor Robert Erbe about coordinating the hearings, which will be conducted via video teleconference. According to Muther, "The judge has already come out to Denver once for this, and he's decided he doesn't need to come out again."

The problem: Erbe has arranged for the video teleconference to be held in a room at ICE's offices in Centennial. But when Muther asked if the space would accommodate a sizable number of media members and Voorhis supporters, Erbe responded that the hearing won't be open to the public; the only people who would have access to the conference room would be attorneys, Erbe, Voorhis and witnesses.

Why? At first, Erbe said a big crowd would disrupt agency operations, since the room is near the director's office and isn't big enough to fit even ten spectators. Then, in a subsequent e-mail that offered passes to Voorhis' family members, he raised security concerns, taking note of individuals who've made it clear they believe Voorhis is being wrongfully persecuted in comments on blog pages and Denver Post articles.

This last rationale is particularly irksome to Muther. "He's saying the reason for a security concern is people exercising their right to free speech," he maintains.

At this point, Muther is seeking an alternative site for the video teleconference -- one larger than the room at ICE headquarters. Unfortunately, he notes, Voorhis' resources are limited, particularly given that back pay he still hasn't received. Of course, Erbe might still raise the security issue even if such a location is found -- not that Muther believes that's really an issue.

"In my mind, this is him saying he doesn't want the public involved," Muther argues.
Tags: Cory Voorhis, Michael Roberts, Stephanie Villafuerte, Thomas Muther
Related Content

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/20 ... uld_be.php

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Are Governor Ritter and Stephanie Villafuerte having an affair?

Governor Bill Ritter and US attorney nominee Stephanie Villafuerte had an affair as early as 2006, confirming reports circulating among political "in-the-know" for years, acording to a source who chooses not to disclose their identity. The Senate Judiciary Committee will review Villafuerte's nomination for US attorney soon. Senator Max Baucus created controversy by nominating his mistress for a US attorney position, making the Villafuerte's relationship with the Governor relevant.

Greg Kolomitz, Governor Ritter's disgraced former campaign manager, first made the allegations in 2006, when he traded insults with Jim Carpenter, Ritter's chief of staff at the time. Colorado Pols, the PR flak's blog, has seen several posts on the allegations of an affair.

First, Mr. Kolomitz's statements that his relationship with Gov. Ritter soured because he called in a female staffer during the campaign in October 2006...

The Denver Post's Karen Crummy alluded to the affair as well.

In the first, a top aide to candidate Ritter met with Kolomitz and MacDonald. The two told the aide that there was an appearance that she and Ritter were too cozy and that perception often trumps reality in politics.

Of course, Stephanie Villafuerte denied any affair in the Karen Crummy story. Kolomitz did say he never had proof.

The aide, who now works in the governor's office, denied an inappropriate relationship with Ritter. Kolomitz said that to this day he has no knowledge of anything untoward in her relationship with Ritter.

The FBI investigated Stephanie Villafuerte when the Cory Voorhis firing occurred. The FBI was not seeking to prove or disprove an affair between Ritter and Villafuerte.

That was then. Now more staff are admitting there was an affair. If there was an affair, a legitimate legal issue arises. Did Governor Ritter favor Stephanie Villafuerte with a nomination for US attorney because she was or had been his mistress?

The Senate Judiciary should ask Villafuerte, did you have an affair with Governor Bill Ritter?

In light of Senator Max Baucus's nomination of his mistress for a US attorney position, the Villafuerte accusations are relevant. Baucus was separated (or so he says) at the time he nominated his mistress. Both Villafuerte and Ritter are married.

The Governor's office has not responded to a request by Examiner.com for clarification.

http://www.examiner.com/x-28242-Electio ... -an-affair

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and more at

http://www.khow.com/pages/boyles.html

**Ratbstard** · 12-10-2009, 12:55 PM

Slimeball politics as usual.

**Texas2step** · 12-10-2009, 01:07 PM

This is an old but related article about Villafuerte's controversial nomination:

opinion

It's cops' turn on Villafuerte case

Lack of information and answers out of the police department just add to the puzzle in U.S. attorney nominee's contacts.

The Denver Post
Posted: 11/27/2009 01:00:00 AM MST

It is very difficult to imagine how, in the fall of 2006, there were serious threats to the safety of gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter and not a scrap of paper was generated about it at the Denver Police Department.

Not a report. Not a memo. Nothing.

Yet that's what we are being asked to believe in a controversy about the accessing of a restricted federal criminal database and whether Ritter campaign aide Stephanie Villafuerte, who has been nominated to become Colorado's U.S. attorney, had any role in that action.

If there is no paper trail regarding the threats, however, surely the officers who supposedly were told about them â€” including chief Gerry Whitman â€” recall their nature.

Unfortunately, police have been unwilling to share their recollections. "Because we don't have any factual documentation on this case, [Whitman] doesn't want to speculate on what he does or doesn't remember," said Lt. Matthew Murray.

Doesn't want to speculate? No one is asking him to speculate. Either Whitman remembers the threats or he doesn't. And there is an important public interest to be served by his coming forward to say which it is.

The threats came to light long after the campaign, when First Assistant Denver District Attorney Chuck Lepley explained several cellphone calls between himself and Villafuerte.

Lepley said the calls were not about Carlos Estrada-Medina, whose troubling criminal history had just been portrayed in a campaign ad attacking Ritter, the former district attorney.

"I don't believe they were," Lepley said in testimony in federal court on Feb. 1, 2008, on a related matter. "I don't believe they were."

Keep in mind that the district attorney's office had, in the October 2006 timeframe, accessed the National Crime Information Center database and looked up Estrada-Medina's history to figure out whether he was the same person who committed both a crime in Colorado that was plea bargained and another offense in California. The accessing of the NCIC was done at Lepley's behest.

Also keep in mind that Villafuerte apparently had left a message with someone else in the DA's office mentioning Estrada-Medina.

Yet Lepley and Villafuerte say they did not discuss the case â€” with Lepley indicating the phone calls were about threats to Ritter and his campaign. Lepley described a "Romanian" who had purchased a handgun in 2001, had a website and had stalked a "prior mayor."

The Romanian had been to Ritter's headquarters to see Ritter.

Lepley also said he was the person who coordinates action when deputy DAs, judges, defense attorneys and political figures are threatened. He said his "first call" was to chief Whitman, then "probably" he talked to the deputy chief and three or four division chiefs.

Post reporter Karen Crummy could not reach the officers in question for comment.

It's important, we think, to get to the bottom of events surrounding the accessing of this database.

If Villafuerte is to become Colorado's chief federal law enforcement official, there ought to be a clear public understanding of her involvement in those events so that she doesn't assume office under a cloud.

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_13875882

**93camaro** · 12-10-2009, 01:36 PM