Thread: Senator questions homeland security chief about ICE UPDATEX2

Alabama senator seeks delay in consideration of Colorado U.S. Attorney pick
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13978113#ixzz0ZQ9bUmL0

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked that consideration of Stephanie Villafuerte's nomination as Colorado U.S. Attorney be delayed because her record is "incomplete."

In a letter to committee chair Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sessions said he wants answers from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about why Cory Voorhis, an immigration agent, was fired for accessing the same restricted database that Villafuerte's former colleagues also accessed. Sessions said after asking those questions he also became concerned that Villafuerte's record was not complete.

"The Voorhis matter came to my attention after press reports linked Mr. Voorhis' termination and Ms. Villafuerte's

work for Gov. Bill Ritter's gubernatorial campaign," wrote the Alabama senator in the Dec. 10 letter. "I ask that you not include Ms. Villafuete's nomination on the committee's agenda before her record is complete for the committee's purposes and Secretary Napolitano responds to my request to look into the Voorhis matter."

Leahy's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Villafuerte, now deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Ritter, could not be reached. Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

The first indication that Sessions was following Voorhis' case came Wednesday when he asked Napolitano 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. Napolitano said she would personally look into the matter.

That same day, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting 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 federal charges being brought against Voorhis.

Despite controversy surrounding Villafuerte's nomination, President Obama and both Colorado Democratic Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet have stood behind her. Udall, through his spokeswoman Tara Trujillo, has said that he had a "frank conversation" with Villafuerte about the issue and came "away confident that Stephanie did not engage in any improper conduct." Bennet's spokesman Michael Amodeo said last month that the senator had "no plans" to ask Villafuerte any questions.

The two sent a joint letter to the judiciary committee last month urging it to "promptly take favorable action" on her nomination. Attached to their letter was one written by Villafuerte in which she denied any involvement in the access of a restricted federal database to help Ritter's campaign.

The Judiciary Committee is responsible for forwarding the names of presidential judicial nominees to the full Senate for confirmation.

The controversy has its roots in a 2002 plea deal extended by the then-Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter's office.

Walter Noel Ramo, a small-time heroin dealer and illegal immigrant with multiple aliases, was permitted to plead guilty to the manufactured charge of agricultural trespass, rather than a drug charge and receive probation. He 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 the case, Ramo was featured in 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.

Since then, Voorhis has appealed to get his job back, and papers filed in that appeal allege that Voorhis' supervisor Tonry Rouco had authorized the access of the NCIC, as Voorhis maintained, but was not truthful about it.

That led Sessions earlier this week to question whether Voorhis was being targeted by ICE because he questioned previous plea deals by Ritter's DA office.

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.

He is still on the job, and there is no public indication that he has been disciplined after the findings of the internal investigation.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13978113#ixzz0ZQ9mUSNA

Just wanted to chime in and urge anyone and everyone to contact Senator Sessions about this. Thank him for bringing up the matter and encourage him to continue to ask for an official investigation into the nomination of Stephanie Villafuerte for US Atorney as well as the perjury and corruption involved in the politically charged case that was brought against Cory Voorhis.

If anyone has an email address for Senator Sessions, please post it.

Duh

Partial questioning by Sessions to Napolitano--- 3:01 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKG1NXUZHKs

Entire Questioning Sessons to Napolitano-- 9:16 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7mkH_mIGA

Rather resign than tell the truth? Oh well Steph, you and Bill Ritter are going to have to answer for trying to ruin Cory's Life!!!

This is not going away, Billy Boy!!

Villafuerte withdraws as U.S. attorney nominee

Stephanie Villafuerte has withdrawn her name from consideration to become Colorado's next U.S. Attorney.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, who nominated her for the post, and Attorney General Eric Holder, Villafuerte said she was confident she would have "served well in this important position" but was withdrawing because of "political attacks" surrounding her role in the 2006 Colorado gubernatorial campaign.

"Unforunately, a needless and extraneous political fight has emerged in Colorado and that fight, in my judgment has completely overshadowed the deliberative and independent assessment of my qualifications for this important office," Villafuerte wrote. "I continue to stand by my statements and maintain that my involvement was appropriate at all times."

The move comes two days after U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked that consideration of her nomination as Colorado U.S. attorney be delayed because her record is "incomplete."

In a letter to the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sessions said he wanted answers from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about why Cory Voorhis, an immigration agent, was fired for accessing the same restricted database that Villafuerte's former colleagues also accessed. Sessions said after asking those questions that he also became concerned that Villafuerte's record was not complete.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall said he was disappointed by Villfuerte's "very personal" decision.

"I had a positive conversation with Senator Jeff Sessions, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Saturday morning in which we both agreed that the confirmation process for this office could, and should, be framed to resolve any remaining questions he or other Members of the Judiciary Committee might want to put to the U.S. Attorney nominee," Udall said in a statement released by his office.

"Despite these assurances from Senator Sessions and despite Stephanie's willingness to answer questions by the Judiciary Committee, it's clear to me that a further delay in the confirmation is not good for Colorado or the office of U.S. Attorney. Stephanie has made a decision in the best interests of the office she hoped to serve, and I respect her for it."

Udall said he hoped Obama would move quickly to nominate a new candidate from the list of candidates he and former Sen. Ken Salazar submitted in January. Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut Jr. and Denver attorney John Walsh III remain on that list.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13995024#ixzz0Zi0rxATq

Looks like the dems really pushed the people's buttons in old CO. I had a feeling this was gonna happen. So old Billy Boy ain't the slickster he thought he was.

Villafuerte's "willingness to answer questiions"?
She has been stonewalling for months, never answered any meaningful questions, yet made sure Cory Voorhis has been gagged.

"a needless and extraneous political fight"?
Her arrogance is right up there with the worst of them.

So glad she is out. This ruins her payback for her dishonesty in the Voorhis case. Let's hope the whole team from Ritter to Villafuerte undergo a proper federal investigation.

Villafuerte withdraws as U.S. attorney nominee
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post

Posted: 12/14/2009 02:19:49 PM MST
Updated: 12/14/2009 08:14:36 PM MST

Stephanie Villafuerte has withdrawn her name from consideration to become Colorado's next U.S. Attorney.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, who nominated her for the post, and Attorney General Eric Holder, Villafuerte said she was confident she would have "served well in this important position" but was withdrawing because of "political attacks" surrounding her role in the 2006 Colorado gubernatorial campaign.

"Unfortunately, a needless and extraneous political fight has emerged in Colorado and that fight, in my judgment has completely overshadowed the deliberative and independent assessment of my qualifications for this important office," Villafuerte wrote. "I continue to stand by my statements and maintain that my involvement was appropriate at all times."

The move comes two days after U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked that consideration of her nomination as Colorado U.S. attorney be delayed because her record is "incomplete."

In a letter to the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sessions said he wanted answers from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about why Cory Voorhis, an immigration agent, was fired for accessing the same restricted database that Villafuerte's former colleagues also accessed. Sessions said after asking those questions that he also became concerned that Villafuerte's record was not complete.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall said he was disappointed by Villfuerte's "very personal" decision.

"I had a positive conversation with Senator Jeff Sessions, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Saturday morning in which we both agreed that the confirmation process for this office could, and should, be framed to resolve any remaining questions he or other Members of the Judiciary Committee might want to put to the U.S. Attorney nominee," Udall said in a statement released by his office.

"Despite these assurances from Senator Sessions and despite Stephanie's willingness to answer questions by the Judiciary Committee, it's clear to me that a further delay in the confirmation is not good for Colorado or the office of U.S. Attorney. Stephanie has made a decision in the best interests of the office she hoped to serve, and I respect her for it."

Udall said he hoped Obama would move quickly to nominate a new candidate from the list of candidates he and former Sen. Ken Salazar submitted in January. Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut Jr. and Denver attorney John Walsh III remain on that list.



Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13995024#ixzz0Zj2qpWJq

GOOD! Congratulations for some in the Colorado media who would not let this incident die, and to those who called into the senators offices and everywhere else to get this stopped

Originally Posted by jamesw62

GOOD! Congratulations for some in the Colorado media who would not let this incident die, and to those who called into the senators offices and everywhere else to get this stopped

The best thing out of the whole thing is that it is nowhere near settled, Steph is still working for Ritter, and the media is now going to start going after Sen Udall and Sen Bennett and Co state attorney for conspiring to bring down ICE anent Cory!! This is far from over and could set a trend of states going after corruption!!

More to come