June 25, 2015 11:53 AM UTC

Call For Criminal Investigation of Attorney General Cynthia Coffman

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• by: ProgressNow Colorado

(Making it formal – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE: The Durango Herald’s Peter Marcus updates the story, with Tom Tancredo admitting that the name of Steve House’s alleged mistress was indeed brought up during their confrontation–a key confirmation:

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo said Thursday that the name of the woman who Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House allegedly had an affair with came up in a meeting last week in which several fellow Republicans expressed concerns with House’s leadership.

Tancredo’s comments to The Durango Herald come as a left-leaning group, ProgressNow Colorado, called on Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to investigate Tancredo, along with Republican Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and a well-known Pueblo Republican, for extortion related to the meeting. The DA’s office Thursday afternoon declined to take the case…

The Herald asked: “Why would her name have come up?”

Tancredo responded: “There was essentially concern, I’m sure that that was a problem.”

The Herald then asked, “What would that problem be?”

Tancredo said: “What do you think? He immediately walked out and called her.”

The Herald also asked: “Is it fair to say that her name was brought up because you were trying to let him know this is something you guys know about, and that it could come back potentially to haunt him?” [Pols emphasis]

Tancredo answered, “Yea, I think that’s probably the correct context.”

Whatever the Denver DA thinks of the request you read below, these are some potentially damning admissions.

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As questions continued to grow about the involvement of Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman in an alleged attempt to blackmail Colorado Republican Party chairman Steve House into resigning from his position, ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest online progressive advocacy organization, submitted a formal request to Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to open a criminal investigation into the incident.

“For ten days now, we’ve been trying to get answers from Colorado’s chief law enforcement officer about her role in trying to push Steve House out of his job as Republican Party Chairman,” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Amy Runyon-Harms. “Yesterday, we asked Attorney General Cynthia Coffman if she discussed the possibility of legal proceedings or action against Steve House in any way to persuade him to resign. Coffman’s own statements in press interviews this week appear to admit her reasons for being involved in this scheme against House, as well as admitting that allegations of an extramarital affair ‘came up’ in an attempt to convince House to resign.”

In a letter to Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, ProgressNow Colorado asserts that “Mr. House’s allegations appear to support a finding that General Coffman, Mr.Tancredo and Ms. Mizel committed criminal extortion. C.R.S. § 18-3-207…[y]our office is reported to have stated that it has not been contacted regarding any potential crime described in Mr. House’s statement. Please consider this a formal request to begin an investigation into whether an extortion attempt occurred in your jurisdiction.”

Read ProgressNow Colorado’s letter to DA Morrissey here.

“Again, if Coffman was in any way involved in criminal activity, even to sanction it with her presence, she has violated the trust of Colorado voters and cannot remain in office,” said Runyon-Harms. “Colorado law is clear that any person who makes a ‘substantial threat’ to damage the reputation of another person in order to coerce them into a decision is committing a felony crime. As the state’s chief law enforcement officer, Cynthia Coffman must be held accountable for her actions in this case. Even the appearance of such unseemly behavior on the part of the Colorado Attorney General renders her unfit to serve.”

“For the sake of the rule of law, and confidence in our law enforcement, we have to get to the bottom of this,” said Runyon-Harms.