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Speakout: Campaign ad unfairly maligns Ritter

Craig Silverman

Published August 18, 2006 at midnight

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We are going to have an exciting governor's race in Colorado. Two qualified candidates with substantially different political philosophies and varied life experiences are vying for the job. There is a lot of good substance to debate but, as always, there is the potential for the contest to be sidetracked.

A 527 organization, the Trailhead Group, unaffiliated with and independent of Republican candidate Bob Beauprez, launched an attack on his Democratic opponent, Bill Ritter, designed to lower the quality of the debate from the outset. The broadcast ad claimed that Ritter is unqualified because the only job he has ever held is that of a lawyer and a district attorney. The word "lawyer" was enunciated with a contempt akin to that generally reserved for "prostitute" or "mafioso."

While it may have been successful in past campaigns, does it not diminish our society as a whole when the profession of being an attorney is belittled? What better training could there be to create and execute the laws of the land than one's experience as a practitioner of the law?

In truth, Ritter gained fans and fame by work not normally part of the average attorney's background. Raised on a farm where he did chores, Ritter worked a variety of blue-collar union jobs to finance his way through college and law school. After that, while he was in the prestigious position of chief deputy district attorney, Bill Ritter packed up his young family to go to Africa for three years to run a food nutrition center.

Ritter next worked as a federal prosecutor which allowed him to travel the state and learn a lot about various parts of Colorado. As Denver district attorney for more than a decade, Ritter was primarily an administrator and policy leader for several hundred employees, including me.

District attorneys are trained to make tough decisions on matters that directly affect people's lives. Defense attorneys, interest groups and others lobby vigorously for the results they want. Elected prosecutors interact with legislators for the tools and funding they need. The judiciary serves as an important check on district attorneys, which provides a prosecutor with a firsthand look at what kind of person excels on the bench.

A district attorney is part of the executive branch. So is the governor. Many of the same job skills apply - interacting with citizens, lobbyists, legislators and courts. Perhaps sensing that obvious truth, the Trailhead Group attacked Ritter as a "weak prosecutor."

I have been in a unique position to observe the veracity of that claim. Ritter and I were law school classmates who started work as interns for Dale Tooley's district attorney's office on June 1, 1980. We grew up on the Denver district attorney's team together and there was nothing weak about that squad.

Ritter was a naturally talented trial attorney with the preparation skills, intelligence and gift of gab to gain conviction after conviction at trial. We all had friendly competitions to determine who could successfully try the most cases, and gain the most serious sentences for the most serious offenders. As Ritter rapidly rose through the ranks, he was widely admired within the Denver District Attorney's Office as one of the toughest and most talented trial deputies.

When you are a courtroom prosecutor, you handle many hundreds of cases a year. Plea bargaining is an integral part of the system and is authorized by legislative statute. Even the toughest prosecutor plea bargains more than 95 percent of his or her cases. Some plea deals are hardly a bargain for the accused, resulting in serious felony convictions and substantial prison terms.

Can a plea bargain be a bad deal for the state? Of course! Any district attorney serving more than a decade will have had some of his deputies make bad plea bargains. The issue is whether there were an inordinate number of bad plea bargains.

Legislators have been known to compromise on legislative language. Negotiation is part of the life of a lawmaker, a lawyer, a banker and a governor. After considering lots of factors, we all make important choices. Colorado voters will do so on the second Tuesday of November.

Craig Silverman is a Denver trial attorney and radio talk-show host. He ran as an independent candidate for Denver district attorney against Bill Ritter in 1996.