A document has been found which reveals that the Democrat candidate running in Colorado House District 55 has been giving free legal help to illegal immigrants.
Democrat Dan Robinson, a litigation attorney from Grand Junction, is running against the incumbent, Republican Ray Scott, for HD 55. Robinson’s campaign has been slow to pick up momentum, possibly because his positions on things like the “Asset Bill” go against the relatively conservative grain of Western Colorado.
In a letter from “21st JD Access to Justice,” an organization that helps to coordinate legal services for people who need assistance, Dan Robinson receives the following recommendation:
“Dan Robinson, a local attorney who does a lot of pro-bono work with undocumented immigrants, convinced a handful of his clients to come to the COURTHOUSE to talk to the ATJ group about the problems they face. (What do I do if I get pulled over? Etc.)This meeting was followed up with a meeting with local law enforcement to discuss these issues.”
It appears from the letter that Dan Robinson is a “regular” who routinely works with illegal immigrants, offering them free legal services. The letter states:
“The Pro-bono Project does not get a large number of attorneys participating, but it does get a lot of time from the “regulars.”
For those familiar with Dan Robinson’s history, this comes as no surprise. He sits on the board of trustees for Colorado Mesa University and earlier this year voted in favor of a resolution supporting the “Asset” bill,” which is Colorado’s version of the Dream Act. In an interview I had with Dan Robinson last March I inquired why he had supported giving “reduced tuition to illegal aliens.” He became quite agitated with my terminology and launched into a tirade about how the people to whom I referred as “illegal aliens” are “just like you and me. They have something to offer to society.”
Robinson has long considered himself an advocate of “undocumented immigrants” and had pushed for things like the hiring of more Spanish language teachers in public schools and increasing the number of Hispanic participants on the local school board.
These political stances may be problematic for Liberal Democrat, Robinson, because Mesa County is one of the most conservative regions in Colorado. With real unemployment at nearly 20%, the idea that Robinson would use his legal skills to assist a population of illegal aliens to either evade prosecution, or access employment that would otherwise go to legal citizens, may be a little hard to for local voters to swallow.
With the CLUB 20 debates literally hours away it will be interesting to see if Dan Robinson’s history of using his skills and knowledge as an attorney to aid illegal immigrants will become an issue.
Furthermore, Robinson may be impeded by an “elitist” attitude apparent is some of his past remarks. He has seemed at times disdainful of the very people he is running to represent. In a November 6, 2008 article in Grand Junction’s Free Press, Emily Anderson reported that the Democrats in Mesa County had lost all of the races in that election. She interviewed Robinson who was running for county commissioner at the time. Of the voters of Mesa County Robinson said “I think their voting reflects poor critical thinking.” He went on to say in the article that the Democrats’ best bet is to focus on young and Hispanic voters. He then finished his statements with this gem; “The Republican Party after this election is reduced down to a southern white party. Why Mesa County identifies with that value system is a mystery to me.”
Voters in Mesa County are probably wondering to themselves about Dan Robinson’s value system. His inference that Mesa County residents are racist is insulting enough. But why a man would use his position as an attorney–an officer of the law–to perform legal favors for people who are in the country illegally is a mystery that may stick with Mesa County voters in November.
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