Speaker 1: We have good news.
Speaker 2: We have a candidate on the Republican side, a serious candidate.
Speaker 2: Some other guy filed a run, but nobody's heard of him,
Speaker 2: and I'm not taking him seriously. I am taking my
Speaker 2: next guest seriously. He is the Olpaso District Attorney. He
Speaker 2: is Michael Allen. Michael, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. Mandy, it's always a pleasure
Speaker 3: to talk with you.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm excited about the potential of your candidacy because
Speaker 2: you have this word. Let's see, you actually have experience
Speaker 2: as a prosecutor, and you've actually done a very similar
Speaker 2: job in the courtroom. I'm thrilled that that would be
Speaker 2: returned to the Attorney General's office. Tell me a little
Speaker 2: bit about your track record for people who don't know you.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I'm the elected daid down in the fourth
Speaker 3: judicial district, which is Elpaso in Teller County's biggest city
Speaker 3: in this district is Colorado Springs, which happens to be
Speaker 3: the second largest city in Colorado, and El Paso County
Speaker 3: is the largest county in Colorado. We get a lot
Speaker 3: of dynamic crimes down here. Unfortunately, just like any large
Speaker 3: populated area, it gets most Notably, the Club Q mass
Speaker 3: shooting occurred down here just after Thanksgiving a few years back,
Speaker 3: and I was lead prosecutre on that, and one of
Speaker 3: the things that as district attorney, it was important for
Speaker 3: us to really stand up for victims in that case,
Speaker 3: just like we do all victims. My overriding principle on
Speaker 3: that is that every human has inherent human dignity, and
Speaker 3: if you are a victim of crime, I'm going to
Speaker 3: stand their shoulders shoulder with you to seek justice. And
Speaker 3: that's what we did in that Club Q prosecution, and
Speaker 3: we were able to get the second longest prison sentence
Speaker 3: in Colorado state history. So you know, that's some of
Speaker 3: the stuff that we've done down here. There's a lot more.
Speaker 3: We could be on the fund for hours, probably, So.
Speaker 2: Tell my people who have never heard of you before,
Speaker 2: give them a little bit of your personal background, because
Speaker 2: I mean, you have a very impressive resume. And I
Speaker 2: put a link to Michael's website on the blog today
Speaker 2: where you can see more of his resume the other
Speaker 2: steff that he's prosecuted. But tell people a little bit
Speaker 2: about yourself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm a Colorado native, grew up in the north
Speaker 3: and West Denver Metro Aris. I was a graduate of
Speaker 3: our Borist High School in nineteen ninety one and then
Speaker 3: joined the Navy Strail out of high school and did
Speaker 3: aviation electronics technician work. So I repaired essentially F eighteen
Speaker 3: radar packages and then did that for eight years. Most
Speaker 3: recently on that I was stationed on both the USS
Speaker 3: Carl Vincent in nineteen ninety six and we were enforcing
Speaker 3: no flies on there. And then came back to Colorado
Speaker 3: in ninety eight and went to the University of Northern
Speaker 3: Colorado where I got my undergraduate degree, and then went
Speaker 3: off to Kansas to do law school at the University
Speaker 3: of Kansas. And so for everybody that's listening, if you're
Speaker 3: in the Denver metro area, that used to be Kansas territory.
Speaker 3: So technically everybody hears Kansas jay hockey.
Speaker 2: And if they wanted, I was about to say Jayhawks
Speaker 2: just to see what you'd say back.
Speaker 1: So you know, no, we're not all.
Speaker 2: Kansas fans, but go ahead, move on. I'll forgive that.
Speaker 2: We'll forget that never happens. So why do you want
Speaker 2: to jump into the Attorney General's race?
Speaker 1: What do you bring to the table.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think you hit the nail on
Speaker 3: the head at the beginning there, and that's experience. You know,
Speaker 3: we've been in a situation now where we've had one
Speaker 3: party control in the state government for a long time.
Speaker 3: We've had a complete lack of balance and that's a
Speaker 3: big factor for me, and getting into this race is
Speaker 3: getting some common sense and some balance back into state government.
Speaker 3: We have, unfortunately, over the last decade roughly seen a
Speaker 3: lot of criminal justice reform, a lot of reform that's
Speaker 3: been hard on victims, on coloradin's of every variety. And
Speaker 3: then we've also seen a business climate that's really changed
Speaker 3: for the worst two and the Attorney General's office can
Speaker 3: play a big role in all those areas. And as
Speaker 3: you mentioned, my experience is unique to the table for
Speaker 3: this opportunity, and I want to, you know, provide that
Speaker 3: common sense approach to everything that we do, whether it's
Speaker 3: business regulation, depaying the state on different things, standing up
Speaker 3: for victims, making sure that the Attorney General's offices weighing
Speaker 3: in in an appropriate way on criminal justice reform efforts
Speaker 3: that continue. We're going to have a busy legislative session
Speaker 3: this coming session that actually starts today, and I'll be
Speaker 3: up there a lot of da like I always am,
Speaker 3: but you know, I can have even more influence of
Speaker 3: the Attorney general. And so really it's just about serving
Speaker 3: the people of Colorado.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to ask you a question.
Speaker 2: And you know Attorney General Phil Wiser has filed or joined.
Speaker 2: I should also point out, like fifty and I'm not
Speaker 2: exaggerating that number is fifty. I believe lawsuits against the
Speaker 2: Trump administration.
Speaker 1: Let's just say.
Speaker 2: That the next the next governor is a Democrat and
Speaker 2: you are elected attorney general. How do you handle either
Speaker 2: deciding to sue or not sue the Trump administration when
Speaker 2: you're dealing with a Democrat governor.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm not sure that whoever the government is
Speaker 3: would have a lot of say on that, you know,
Speaker 3: the two totally different elected positions between governor and Attorney general.
Speaker 3: I think the Attorney General has its own electoral authority
Speaker 3: to decide to sue or not to sue any entity,
Speaker 3: whether it's the federal government or otherwise. So I would
Speaker 3: take that approach first and foremost. Secondly, I'm always going
Speaker 3: to take a position of how does this affect the
Speaker 3: people of Colorado? Does it make sense to file a
Speaker 3: lawsuit here and will that serve the interests of the
Speaker 3: people of this great state or is this going to
Speaker 3: be just a purely politically motivated lawsuit. And I think
Speaker 3: what you're hitting on is that we've seen very politically
Speaker 3: motivated lawsuits being filed against the federal government, and you
Speaker 3: know there are going to be times when it will
Speaker 3: be in the best interests of the people of the
Speaker 3: state to file lawsuit against the federal government and it
Speaker 3: won't matter who the president is. We've seen over years
Speaker 3: and years that there's time when states have to stand
Speaker 3: up for their rights and file lawsuits. But they should
Speaker 3: never be done to advance somebody's own political career. That
Speaker 3: should always be done to serve the interest of this
Speaker 3: great state.
Speaker 1: So Michael Allen is my guest.
Speaker 2: He is not only a district attorney in the fourth
Speaker 2: Judicial District down in El Paso and Teller County, he's
Speaker 2: also running for attorney general on the Republican side. Michael,
Speaker 2: I want to ask you a question about people are
Speaker 2: now worried. It's kind of funny depending on who's in charge,
Speaker 2: the people get worried about the weaponization of offices like
Speaker 2: the Department of Justice at the federal level. And to
Speaker 2: your point about the sort of political nature of some
Speaker 2: of these lawsuits the Attorney general's office, what do you
Speaker 2: say to people who are genuinely concerned that this office
Speaker 2: would be weaponized against them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean the front runner on the Democrat
Speaker 3: side is our current Secretar of State, and she's already
Speaker 3: be done politically motivated, I would call them stunctually when
Speaker 3: she tried to keep Donald Trump off the ballot just
Speaker 3: this last election, and that case went all the way
Speaker 3: to the US Supreme Court, and it is very rare
Speaker 3: to get a ruling from the Supreme Court that is unanimous,
Speaker 3: but it was nine zero against her position. That means
Speaker 3: both the conservative justices and the liberal justices all agreed
Speaker 3: that she was completely flat out wrong in what she did.
Speaker 3: And so if you take that as a litmus test
Speaker 3: and then apply it to the authority and the power
Speaker 3: of an Attorney general's office, you can only imagine what
Speaker 3: would be used to her advantage that way. And you're
Speaker 3: exactly right the idea that either criminal prosecution or even
Speaker 3: civil litigation, that's a lot of authority and can have
Speaker 3: very far ranging impacts on people's individual lives, on policy
Speaker 3: within the state, and we need to stop and really
Speaker 3: get away from having any politicallynovated lawsuits or criminal prosecutions
Speaker 3: and get back to what I think has been part
Speaker 3: of the Republican Party platform for a really long time,
Speaker 3: and that is that we are a rule of law
Speaker 3: country and we need to get back to that as
Speaker 3: a guiding principle.
Speaker 2: So what do you think the biggest issues that you
Speaker 2: would be tackling as attorney general? Obviously you are in
Speaker 2: the criminal justice system already, so you probably have a
Speaker 2: better idea into where.
Speaker 1: That focus should be.
Speaker 2: What would you like to see the Attorney General's office
Speaker 2: really focus on in your say, your first year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, there's a wide swath of authority
Speaker 3: that the Attorney General's office brings to bear, and most
Speaker 3: of it is in the civil realm, defending the state
Speaker 3: against all kinds of lawsuits, different agencies, that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: But I think the biggest place that we can have
Speaker 3: and the impact, is changing the way that we look
Speaker 3: at criminal prosecution. And the Attorney General's Office, despite what
Speaker 3: some people will say, does have a pretty wide swaths
Speaker 3: of authority there as well. They have you know jurisdiction
Speaker 3: over certain specific cases, but they also help out with
Speaker 3: smaller jurisdictions around the state on their prosecutions. And if
Speaker 3: you just look at, for instance, motor vehicle theft in
Speaker 3: the state, we've obviously been on the wrong side of
Speaker 3: the ledger as far as our ranking where I think
Speaker 3: forty seventh in the nation in the rate of motor
Speaker 3: vehicle theft in the state. That's not where we need
Speaker 3: to be. And that's a result of policies. It's a
Speaker 3: result of bad legislation, and it's a result in some
Speaker 3: places of maybe not prosecuting those cases the way they
Speaker 3: should be. And what we've done down here in the
Speaker 3: fourth Judicial District is we dedicated a prosecutor an investigator
Speaker 3: towards those those types of cases. In twenty twenty four,
Speaker 3: we had over five thousand motor vehicle theft cases. Twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five, we dropped that down to less than fifteen
Speaker 3: hundred by roughly the end of November of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: So that shows you that you can take resources that
Speaker 3: you have in staff, apply them to specific problems and
Speaker 3: have an immediate impact. And where this impacts the wider
Speaker 3: communit is We've got some of the highest motor vehicle
Speaker 3: insurance rates in the entire country because of natural disasters
Speaker 3: obviously hail and that kind of thing, but also because
Speaker 3: of the motor vehicle theft issues that we've got in
Speaker 3: the state. And so if you can attack a problem
Speaker 3: that way, that has an economic benefit for the rest
Speaker 3: of the state that doesn't have their carstole even though
Speaker 3: they're paying higher intern rates because we have that problem
Speaker 3: existing here.
Speaker 2: What are these things that I don't know if this
Speaker 2: would even be appropriate for the Attorney General to involve
Speaker 2: him or herself in, but the issue of the rape
Speaker 2: kit backlog here in the state of Colorado, I mean
Speaker 2: I find that appalling. I can't even imagine being sexually
Speaker 2: assaulted and then being told, oh, we might get to
Speaker 2: it in the next eighteen months, right, I mean that's
Speaker 2: not okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is absolutely not okay. What that means is
Speaker 3: that one what you just hit on the human effect
Speaker 3: of this, that victims have to live knowing that their
Speaker 3: attacker is out there in the community. They have not arrested,
Speaker 3: the investigations not been completed, DNA samples have not been
Speaker 3: processed and identified, and so these victims are living in
Speaker 3: a state of fear that also potentially victimizes other people.
Speaker 3: If this is somebody that is, you know, taking advantage
Speaker 3: of multiple people or looking to take advantage of multiple people,
Speaker 3: and frankly, it's a failure of government. One of the
Speaker 3: fundamental requirements of government is to provide public safety. And
Speaker 3: if we can't do that on an effective basis because
Speaker 3: of backlog issues, that needs to be addressed, and it
Speaker 3: should have been addressed a long time ago. But I
Speaker 3: certainly can weigh in on that as well, I mean
Speaker 3: as much as I can.
Speaker 2: Last I saw there were literally like women just raising
Speaker 2: money to see if they could send them.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that is shameful. Now.
Speaker 2: One of the other things that I think when people
Speaker 2: think about, you know, criminal justice in this state is
Speaker 2: sort of the way that the attitudes towards law enforcement
Speaker 2: since the summer of quote love in twenty twenty. Is
Speaker 2: there anything that the Attorney general can do to fur
Speaker 2: or bridge the gap, because I do think in the
Speaker 2: last year or so that I do think strides have
Speaker 2: been made a little bit. But is there anything that
Speaker 2: the Attorney general can do to either set the tone
Speaker 2: or change the tone or tenor of that conversation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, there certainly is something that the
Speaker 3: Attorney general can do, and what we've seen from current
Speaker 3: leadership in the Attorney General's officers to actually file lawsuits
Speaker 3: against individual law enforcement officers around the state because they
Speaker 3: happen to be working on a criminal case that involves
Speaker 3: immigration issues. And that's a direct attack from a cheap
Speaker 3: law enforcement officer for the entire state of Colorado against
Speaker 3: uniform law enforcement on the street trying to protect all
Speaker 3: of us. So that's one way that we can have
Speaker 3: a big impact on both the morale and support to
Speaker 3: law enforcement is to stop some of that nonsense, don't
Speaker 3: I can't imagine a scenario where I would be in
Speaker 3: a position where I'd want to file a civil lawsuit
Speaker 3: against law enforcement for doing their job.
Speaker 2: What is do you think the biggest criminal issue facing Colorado?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 3: I think it's multiple layers there. I think we've seen
Speaker 3: criminal justice reform over the last several years that's had
Speaker 3: a really detrimental impact on what's happening in crime. We've had,
Speaker 3: like you said, the attack on law enforcement from our
Speaker 3: legislative legislative branch with our Police Accountability bill that really
Speaker 3: impacted retention and recruitment efforts and really are permissive drug culture.
Speaker 3: When we have a situation in Colorado that dangerous drugs
Speaker 3: like fentanyl and heroin and methamphetamine are decriminalized to a
Speaker 3: misdemeanor for four grams or less, that creates the perfect
Speaker 3: recipe for what we saw with the fennyl epidemic, where
Speaker 3: we've had thousands of our friends and neighbors and relatives
Speaker 3: die from fentyl poisonings. So, you know, I think it's
Speaker 3: multiple factors that go into all of the issues that
Speaker 3: we're dealing with, and we've got to start being more
Speaker 3: common sense approached in how we attack those problems and
Speaker 3: using resources like I used the example on the motor
Speaker 3: vehicle theft.
Speaker 2: Michael Allen is my guest. He's running for district attorney.
Speaker 2: One last question and I got it in multiple ways. Oh,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, he's running for attorney general. He is currently
Speaker 2: a district attorney.
Speaker 3: Ye.
Speaker 2: I got this text top ten in the nation for
Speaker 2: human trafficking.
Speaker 1: What are you doing about this?
Speaker 2: This It's so weird to me that the concept of
Speaker 2: being concerned about human trafficking is somehow seen as a
Speaker 2: right wing idea. I don't understand how we got here,
Speaker 2: but that seems to be what it is. A lot
Speaker 2: of my listeners are super concerned about that. I have
Speaker 2: probably three or four text messages about it. I don't
Speaker 2: have a ton of text messages. So what is the
Speaker 2: state of human trafficking? Should that be something that we
Speaker 2: pushed to the forefront.
Speaker 3: Absolutely should be something that we pushed to the forefront.
Speaker 3: You know, I think it was last legislative legislative session
Speaker 3: where there was a built to require prison for sexualistlip
Speaker 3: on children and that failed. In some the comments that
Speaker 3: were voiced in committee, we're worried about what will happen
Speaker 3: to the offender if they have to go to prison
Speaker 3: under that sort of a triumph.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: So that's looking at it from the exact opposite way
Speaker 3: that it should be looked at, in a common sense
Speaker 3: way that should be looked at it. I am heartened
Speaker 3: that we maybe are going to have some good legislation
Speaker 3: on that this session. You know, we had a press
Speaker 3: conference just last week. I believe it was with many
Speaker 3: different people from both sides of the aisle supporting something there.
Speaker 3: But that's another area I think that the Attorney General
Speaker 3: can be effective. They have the ability to use the
Speaker 3: state wide grand jury to deal with you know, wide
Speaker 3: ranging criminal activity that affects the entire state through that
Speaker 3: grand jury process, and something that would definitely look at
Speaker 3: using against human trafficking too, because it's not just an
Speaker 3: isolated thing that happens in one neighborhood. For human traffing
Speaker 3: to occur, it requires networks and a coordination between many
Speaker 3: different people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I said, I don't understand how that ever
Speaker 2: became a left right thing.
Speaker 1: I really don't.
Speaker 2: That seems like so baffling to me. I truly don't
Speaker 2: understand it.
Speaker 1: Michael Allen.
Speaker 2: I appreciate the time today. I'm excited that you're in
Speaker 2: the race.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I like having what I perceive to be good, strong candidates,
Speaker 2: and I believe that you're a good, strong candidate for
Speaker 2: Attorney General. So we'll have you on again before we
Speaker 2: get up to the primaries and get out there and
Speaker 2: pound the pavement, because we cannot allow the wildly partisan
Speaker 2: Jenna Griswold to get into that office. I can only
Speaker 2: imagine after seeing what she's said to the Secretary of
Speaker 2: State's office, which is like the least controversial office in
Speaker 2: statewide elected office. I shudder to think what she would
Speaker 2: do as attorney general. I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you, Mandy. I appreciate it and I'd be
Speaker 3: happy to come on any time you will.
Speaker 2: Have me, all right, That is Michael Allen. Thanks sir,
Speaker 2: we will talk to you again soon. And nice guy.
Speaker 3: I like him.