Prostitution charges against Denver porn baron Troy Lowrie were dropped. Some might be tempted to suggest that Lowrie’s campaign contributions to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock played a role in the city attorney’s decision to dismiss the case. The city attorney is a mayoral appointee, after all.
I suspect that the web of power and privilege in Denver is a tad more complicated and insidious. The Lowrie case is a textbook illustration.
In an exclusive interview with CBS4 after the charges were dropped, an aggrieved Lowrie asked for his reputation back. He and his attorney offered a version of events completely at odds with the police complaint. CBS4 didn’t bother to note the glaring discrepancies. Lowrie’s attorney said that the city attorney agreed with Lowrie’s version of events — discounting the work of Denver Police. (Are Denver cops really that lousy at their jobs? Does the city attorney routinely ignore police work? Hello. This is a news story.)
Please watch the video. It’s not a news report. It’s a Pity Poor Troy Lowrie piece, portraying him as a good man wronged. It’s pure spin, intended obviously to rehabilitate Lowrie’s (alleged) image as an upstanding member of society.
Why on earth would a legitimate news outlet allow itself be used so shamelessly as Lowrie’s self-serving public-relations tool?
To understand why, you have to be aware of the incestuous interrelationship of money, media, politics, and philanthropy in Denver.
Troy Lowrie serves on the board of directors of the American Transplant Foundation, a charity founded by powerbroker Stever Farber of law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. The law firm represents Lowrie’s VCG Holdings. The firm also represented Mayor Michael Hancock, most notably regarding allegations that the mayor was a john of the Denver Players prostitution ring.
Hancock’s Chief of Staff Janice Sinden serves with Lowrie on the board of directors of the American Transplant Foundation.
Another notable name among the foundation’s directors is Walt DeHaven, CBS4′s general manager. Perhaps you’ll recall that media critic Jason Salzman praised CBS4 for refusing to report the prostitution allegations involving Hancock. Dehaven is married to PR maven Wendy Aiello, one of the high-profile community leaders who publicly endorsed Hancock for mayor.
Lowrie is tied to Farber, Hancock, Sinden, DeHaven, and Aiello in a web of mutual self-interest. Lowrie’s pornotainment lucre supports Farber’s foundation, law firm, and political candidates. In turn, Farber et al have a stake in maintaining Lowrie’s upstanding reputation. If Lowrie were convicted of furthering prostitution, it would reflect badly on Farber’s philanthropic foundation and those involved with it.
Presumably, all are friends, too, and friends tend to do favors for friends. But that’s not my gripe.
What bothers me is that most Denver voters are unaware of all this. They don’t know that city hall top dogs, Denver’s elite socialites, and Denver’s established media are interwoven by multiple relationships involving money and influence. I’d go so far as to claim that these relationships and interests take precedence over public interest, as illustrated by Lowrie’s case.
As I wrote in a previous post:
In Denver, selective enforcement of anti-prostitution laws and selective media coverage don’t expose and abate criminality. They protect privilege. They protect the people in power.
Who dares to pursue that story in this little fishbowl town?
This is Denver you’re discussing. Why should we be surprised? Hancock, Romer, Webb, and Pena are as dirty as they come. The Hickster is dancing so fast we can’t really see his feet, yet. But we will. Hancock was a John and we all know it. I certainlhy hope Denver doesn’t let him get away with it, but I’m realistic enough to know that he probably will. Did you ever wonder what it takes to get a Grand Jury going in Colorado? The Denver DA can abuse people all he wants; why, I don’t know, but he’s become a master at intimadating and abusing people, and we let him keep going. We should be sitting in his office demanding an explanation for his behaviour, but nobody seems to care enough until they get roughed up. Does it sound like I’m not thrilled with Denver? You’re very perceptive!
Thank you for writing this. I got here via completecolorado.
This would be a great story for Westword to report. But they won’t. Westword’s blog “The Latest Word” revels in sleazy stories and loves to post mug shots. Strangely, they didn’t even mention Lowrie’s arrest. Well, it’s not so strange considering how much money Westword makes from running ads for Lowrie’s clubs. Westword can’t afford to piss off their patron. That’s why people in denver don’t know who’s pulling the strings in this town. The media won’t report stories that might be damaging to their buddies.
You hit the nail on the head, Muckety. You won’t be reading this story in 5280, either, because the magazine is a slavishly devoted to kissing the asses of Denver elitists. Wendy Aiello is 5280′s PR rep.
In the video, Lowrie says “At this point I think it’s probably a form of discrimination against what I do for a living.” He’s a multimillionaire pornographer, and you know how those guys are always victimized. Good one. Can’t wait for him to sue the city and Golden High School for violating his civil rights.
You need to make a distinction between the City Attorney, an appointee, and the District Attorney (DA). The DA is the one who decides to prosecute cases, the City Attorney advises the mayor and city on legal issues without an power to prosecute.
You have a lot of background material but your mistake of fact on this simple issue let all the air out of your piece.
David, please watch the video or read the CBS4 article linked above. Harvey Steinberg (Lowrie’s lawyer) clearly states that the city attorney — yes, the mayoral appointee — dismissed the case.
The Prosecution and Code Enforcement Section of the Denver City Attorney’s Office does in fact prosecute municipal ordinance matters. Prostitution-related crimes in the city are defined by Denver Municipal Code Section 38-158.
In other words, it’s a municipal ordinance matter, so it’s not unusual for the city attorney’s office to be involved. If you know otherwise — if the city attorney’s involvement in Lowrie’s case is unusual — please tell me more.
Yes, the city attorney and the district attorney are different people with different jobs. One is appointed by the mayor. One is elected. People tend to confuse the two. Even so, your assertion that the city attorney has no power to prosecute is mistaken.
Denver City Attorney’s Office:
http://www.denvergov.com/city_attorney/DenverCityAttorney/tabid/380868/Default.aspx
Denver District Attorney’s Office:
http://www.denverda.org/Office_Overview.htm
It’s ironic that Brownstein is the lawyer for Lowery’s holding company and his son just made $5 million trading on inside information but wasn’t charged either. Must be nice to have friends in high places. If I ever get caught trading on inside info or running a prostitution ring, I’m calling Brownstein. Heck, I bet Lowery was an investor in Brownstein’s hedge fund.
aren’t we still waiting for hancock to release his bank records detailing that those 3 “pay day” hooker expenditures don’t correlate to his transactions?
No one seems to be able to address my suggestion of starting a fund that we who want justice and the truth to come our concerning Mr. Lowrie case and Denver Sugar/ Denver players can contribute to. I pledge $100.00 of my hard earned money to this fund in hopes that witnesses will come forward to expose the truth.
I have never heard or read this blog until today and really dont have an opinion of Lisa other than what I heard today on Peter Boyles show. It was very apparent that Lisa has an agenda aimed at what she perceives as pornography. She was basically “undressed” and it showed that she is more concerned about making she stand against porn than the truth. I have no attachment to Mr. Lowrie whatsoever, but he sure did sound convincing with his facts. Lisa really sounded stupid on the show asking rather asinine questions. Lisa’s argument has been totally devalued based on what showed on the radio this morning. And how you are tying all these people together, I just dont get. I looked at this blog due to Peter talking about this, but this will be my first and last. All we need is another Feminist with a slanted agenda. As Lowrie said, he is doing nothing illegal and for you to try to go after him really makes no sense.
Heard you on the radio this morning. Please post the links to your conversation with Peter Boyles.
Seven o’clock: http://www.khow.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?podcast=fullshow_boyles&selected_podcast=083011PETE7A.mp3
Eight o’clock: http://www.khow.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?podcast=fullshow_boyles&selected_podcast=083011PETE8A.mp3
The audio of his interaction with the “hooker” is on completecolorado.com. He clearly does not solicit prostitution in the conversation. He was charged with “Furthering”, which is waving a hooker over to your car (according to Lowrie.) The charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
This is but another example of what is now becoming more and more obvious – we are living under a government that is itself becoming more and more lawless. Apparently we can afford to spend uncounted thousands of thousands of taxpayer dollars to entrap a few dirty jeans “johns” (by a “law enforcement” woman who is soliciting prostitution), but we don’t have the resources to perform the same kind of sting on the hundreds of thousands of Illegal Aliens swarming around our towns and cities. We have a government who won’t enforce the laws the people’s representatives have enacted, but they will use their brute force, brown shirt authority to harass the citizens. The rot and stench of corruption is at all levels – the Federal Government, State government, local government, school boards, tax assessors and probably dog catcher! This is kind of lawless behavior by government who is supposed to represent the law only invites anarchy.
Interesting reading.