Agent apologizes for disrupting campaign

DENVER—A federal agent cleared of misusing a restricted criminal database apologized for disrupting Bob Beauprez's gubernatorial campaign and defended his action as public service rather than political activism, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The information Cory Voorhis accessed later appeared in an political advertisement slamming eventual winner, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter.

Voorhis said he initiated the contact with the campaign and he felt his apology was appropriate because he had been mistakenly described as a confidential informant for Beauprez.

"My view of the relationship and situation has always been that it was I who utilized the opportunity of your involvement in the public debate about immigration matters to expose what I perceived as a dangerous public policy," Voorhis said in a letter to Beauprez, dated Thursday, a day after his acquittal.

Voorhis also thanked Beauprez for weathering personal attacks when he didn't publicly identify Voorhis as the source, because that would have portrayed Voorhis as "something I never was, a political activist."

Voorhis was found not guilty of exceeding his authorized access to government computers, and prosecutors argued he had acted for political purposes during the 2006 campaign.

In a statement, Beauprez praised Voorhis as a "hero" and said he never spoke to him until after the trial.

The information taken from the criminal database dealt with suspects who accepted plea deals with Ritter when he was Denver district attorney.

One of those suspects, an illegal immigrant facing a heroin charge, was allowed to plead to a less serious charge of agricultural trespassing, which allowed him to avoid deportation.

An ad run by Beauprez, Ritter's opponent in the race, alleged that after getting that plea deal, the suspect was charged with a sex crime in California. Ritter criticized the ads, saying they mischaracterized the case.