Anyone violating the rules for use of NCIC could be charged with improper use of a computer and face misdemeanor charges of up to a year in jail, Troyer said. Aggravating circumstances - such as giving information in exchange for money - could bump those charges up to a felony, punishable by as many as 10 years in prison.

Campaign workers could also be at risk.

"They could certainly be in trouble if they knew what was happening, conspired to make it happen or directed it," said Troyer, who served more than five years in the U.S. Attorney's office before moving into private practice two years ago.

What's more, he said the relevant federal statute gives no exemption to whistle-blowers. That could nullify Beauprez's assertion that the source was revealing information critical to the public.

Three former federal prosecutors said Friday that misuse of the NCIC criminal database intended for law enforcement only is a serious offense. "It's a powerful tool with sensitive information," said Robert Blume, a former federal prosecutor for eight years in Washington, D.C., and now a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Denver.

The FBI is investigating whether an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent illegally tapped NCIC - National Crime Information Center database - to provide information to the campaign of GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez. That information was later used in a TV ad.

Blume, who has not taken sides in the gubernatorial race, said anyone with access to NCIC must go through training and get a code to get into the system.

"It's certainly an ethical issue in that anyone granted access to sensitive information has a duty to protect that information and use it only for the purposes for which it was intended," Blume said.

He said investigators and prosecutors could move quickly because the charges come in the midst of a highly contested campaign, with fairness being paramount.

"These are questions that demand serious attention," Blume said. "It needs to be approached in a bipartisan way and done thoroughly so there is not a question that the line between objective law enforcement efforts and politics is blurred."

Another former federal prosecutor, Bob Troyer, said he got extensive training about the privileged use of the NCIC database.

"We were told in the strongest possible terms that there was never to be use of that system for anything but a proper law enforcement investigation."

When 9NEWS asked Beauprez campaign manager John Marshall why he believed they are the same man he said, "In federal criminal databases, the guy's information matches up."

Marshall also told 9NEWS the FBI numbers are the same.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for eliminating vulnerabilities in the nation's border, and with economic, transportation and infrastructure security.

Trailing far behind in the polls, Colorado Republican Bob Beauprez was almost certainly not going to win the governor's mansion on Nov. 7. Now, after launching an attack ad earlier this week against his opponent, Democrat Bill Ritter, Mr. Beauprez may have no political future at all.

Using such information for purposes other than law enforcement is a violation of federal and state law.

"I'm a Republican, but Beauprez is a crook. Lauding a criminal is insane."

The biggest irony of all is that it's actually Mr. Voorhis and ICE that are the weakest link in the chain of our immigration policy. It's also Beauprez's Republican controlled-Congress and Republican President that have failed to bring about a single piece of meaningful reform to deal with Immigration. Strike Three.

What's even more disturbing about all of this is what it shows about Beauprez's character. He has completely disregarded the rule of law. He isn't concerned with right or wrong, or being held accountable for his actions. He has shown he is only interested in power, and is now championing "political vigilantism" (no wonder he supports mercenaries in Iraq).

It's obvious now that Bob Beauprez thinks he's owed the Governor's mansion by the citizens of Colorado, and like a spoiled only child will stop at nothing to make it happen.

"I want an Oompa-loompa right now!", a young Beauprez was heard screaming.

Law enforcement sources told 7News that a federal law enforcement officer in Denver was identified as the person who accessed the database.

The officer, who has not been publicly identified, has retained a lawyer and has refused to speak with investigators, 7News reported.

This incident is a very good example of why we should be concerned about the G.O.P.'s stand on warrentless wire tapping - they try to convince us that they would never misuse the system for political gain. Bob the Bush-Backer didn't seem to have a problem doing that, and in short order, too.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

AP: GOP gubernatorial ad illegally used classified info

Sometimes silence is golden. Other times, it’s useless. The Beauprez campaign’s silence has proven to be the latter because although Bob Beauprez and John Marshall did their damndest to keep their “confidential source” confidential, those pesky folks at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation have determined the source’s identity. Now the Beauprez campaign will be forced to reveal to the Federal Bureau of Investigation what it knew, when it knew it and why it stayed silent. Lawyer up, boys.

(CBS/AP) DENVER The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has identified the person who accessed a national criminal database and retrieved information that eventually appeared in a campaign ad by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez against opponent Bill Ritter. CBS4 has learned that person is a federal law enforcement agent from Colorado.

Just as the major newspapers on the Front Range are digging into this story on their main news pages to Thursday's editorial in the Denver Post,a couple of hundred miles away, "Beauprez-gate” was also landing on the front page of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

...the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has determined someone accessed an FBI database to obtain information the Bob Beauprez campaign used in a TV ad. Using such information for purposes other than law enforcement is a violation of federal and state law.

Musgrave has made regulating the bedroom behavior of her fellow Americans the focus of her entire career. An evangelical Christian who married her Bible-camp sweetheart, Musgrave does not believe in the separation of church and state. She entered politics in 1990, running for her local school board on a crusade to end sex education as part of the curriculum. By the time her tenure was over, the schools taught "abstinence only" -- and offending passages in health textbooks had been blacked out.

.... (Rep. Barney) Frank notes one thing he admires about Musgrave: "If you're going to have someone who's a hater, it's best that she's not very bright. I appeared with her in a couple of forums to debate her bill, but she's totally incapable of even explaining what it says."

the undisputed king of Republican bigotry -- is Tancredo, a dark-horse presidential contender for 2008. "He's got the best track record in Congress," raves Gordon Baum, head of the Council for Conservative Citizens, a "pro-white" group that lauds Tancredo for protecting America from a "full-scale invasion" of Latin immigrants.

...Even the right has noted his unbridled looniness on the subject: In July, when Tancredo proposed that America respond to any future terrorist attack by bombing Mecca and other holy sites, the National Review came to an unavoidable conclusion: "Tom Tancredo is an idiot."

I just went through Trailhead's 3rd quarter form 8872, available on the IRS web site.

There are several expenditures to CBI for "research".

Maybe Moon can fill us in on what kind of research CBI is doing on behalf of Trailhead.

CBI, FBI probe Beauprez ad

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has asked the FBI to join the probe into how GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez got confidential police information used in an attack ad.

His campaign has retained Mike Norton, a former U.S. attorney for Colorado and the husband of Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, to represent it while the CBI questions Beauprez campaign officials.

...when pressed about whether anyone might have broken the law to get negative information against Ritter, Beauprez appeared to hedge, saying: "Well, certainly nothing that we had control over."

"Does Bob Beauprez have the same protection as Bob Woodward?...We asked four legal experts whether that immunity extends to political campaigns, and they all said, 'no'."