This is an opinion piece. The views are my own.

The First Amendment guarantees five freedoms in one sentence: religion, speech, press, assembly, and the right “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The authors put them together for a reason. They knew the powerful would always prefer silence to scrutiny. So they made it the law of the land that citizens could speak, publish, and complain to their government without being punished for it.

There is a modern weapon designed to get around that promise. It’s called a SLAPP.

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What a SLAPP is

SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. The term was coined by two University of Denver professors, George Pring and Penelope Canan, who studied how people with money and power use courts to punish critics.

A SLAPP isn’t filed to win. It’s filed to hurt. The goal is to drag a critic into court, drain their bank account, consume their time, and send a message to everyone watching: speak up, and this will happen to you too.

The plaintiff doesn’t need a strong case. The process is the punishment.

Why it matters to you

You don’t have to be a journalist to be a target. Neighbors who object at a zoning meeting have been SLAPPed. So have people who wrote online reviews, testified before city councils, or filed complaints with regulators.

Every one of those acts is protected by the Constitution. And every one can be made expensive enough that ordinary people stop doing them.

That’s the real danger. A SLAPP doesn’t just silence the person sued. It silences everyone who decides it isn’t worth the risk.

How the law fights back

More than 30 states now have anti-SLAPP laws. Colorado passed its law in 2019. It lets a person who is sued over protected speech or petitioning file a special motion to dismiss early. The person who brought the case then has to show a reasonable likelihood of winning. If they can’t, the case is thrown out, and they can be ordered to pay the other side’s attorney fees.

Those protections exist because legislators in both parties recognized something simple: the courthouse door should not be a tool for shutting people up.

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Why I’m writing this

I filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee. That is petitioning the government, the very right the First Amendment names. One week later, I was in court defending myself against a protection order petition built in part on that complaint.

My attorneys have filed an anti-SLAPP motion. A judge will decide it. But the principle isn’t mine alone.

If a member of Congress can answer an ethics complaint by hauling the person who filed it into court, then the right to petition only belongs to people who can afford a lawyer. That isn’t the Constitution I learned about in Norwalk, Iowa, and it isn’t the one I’ll stop defending.

Speech that holds power to account is not a crime. It isn’t harassment. It’s the point.

DBW

Stand with me

Fighting a SLAPP costs real money, even when you’re right. Dan Ernst and Alan Feldman are defending this case in Weld County, and the next hearing is November 16.

If you believe the right to speak, publish, and petition the government belongs to everyone, not just people who can afford lawyers, please chip in to my legal defense fund. Every dollar goes to the fight.

Donate to David's 1A Legal Fund

Thank you.

David B. Wheeler

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Disclosure: I am the respondent in two of the cases below, including Rep. Boebert’s current Weld County petition, and I filed the House Ethics complaint that preceded it. My attorneys are contesting the order with a Anti-SLAPP Motion which will be reported on tomorrow.

Colorado court records obtained by American Muckrakers show Rep. Lauren Boebert has filed seven petitions for temporary protection orders since 2018, against five different people. Six of the cases are closed. Only one produced a permanent order.

The pattern is consistent. She files, gets a temporary order granted the same day, then lets the case collapse at the permanent order hearing.

The record

July 2018, Garfield County-Rifle (2018C80). Petition against a woman. Temporary order granted same day. The respondent was served July 17. At the November 6 status conference, the docket records a party’s failure to appear. The case was dismissed that day.

2018C80 | Boebert, Lauren Opal v. [Respondent]
07/12/2018 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
07/17/2018 Return of Service
11/06/2018 Status Conference: Party Failed to Appear
11/06/2018 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated
11/06/2018 Dismissed without Prejudice

December 2018, Garfield County-Rifle (2018C133). Second petition against the same woman. This is the one case that ended in a permanent order, granted January 2, 2019.

2018C133 | Boebert, Lauren Opal v. [Respondent]
12/21/2018 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
01/02/2019 Permanent Protection Order: Granted

February 2020, Garfield County (2020C14). Petition against a man, filed during her first run for Congress. Temporary order granted. At the March 11 hearing, the docket records a party’s failure to appear. The order was vacated and the case closed.

2020C14 | Boebert, Lauren v. [Respondent]
02/19/2020 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
03/11/2020 Temporary Restraining Ord Hrg: Party Failed to Appear
03/11/2020 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated

March 2020, Garfield County-Rifle (2020C51). Twenty days after the first case died, she filed again against the same man. A party failed to appear at both permanent order hearings. Dismissed.

2020C51 | Boebert, Lauren v. [Respondent]
03/31/2020 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
04/14/2020 Permanent Restraining Ord Hrg: Party Failed to Appear
04/28/2020 Permanent Restraining Ord Hrg: Party Failed to Appear
04/28/2020 Dismissed without Prejudice

June 2022, Garfield County (2022C30220). Petition against me, filed with attorney Suzanne Taheri. I was served June 30. Boebert was a no-show. The judge dismissed the case and vacated the order.

2022C30220 | Boebert, Lauren Opal v. Wheeler, David
06/23/2022 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
06/30/2022 Return of Service
07/20/2022 Dismissed without Prejudice
07/20/2022 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated

In her new Weld County petition, Boebert claims she dropped the 2022 case because I was never served, last week said I “had gone into hiding” and she hoped I would “just go away.” The Return of Service is on the docket.

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February 2024, Garfield County-Rifle (2024C15). Petition against her ex-husband, Jayson Boebert, filed as domestic abuse. Temporary order granted. After two continued hearings, the case was dismissed and the order vacated March 11, 2024.

2024C15 | Boebert, Lauren v. Boebert, Jayson
02/02/2024 Complaint: TPO Domestic Abuse
02/02/2024 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
03/11/2024 Case Closed: Dismissed
03/11/2024 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated

September 2026, Weld County (2026C1286). Seven days after I filed a sworn ethics complaint against her with the House Ethics Committee, Boebert went back to court against me. A temporary order was granted the same day, requiring me to stay 100 yards away. Her petition cites the ethics complaint’s allegations among its reasons.

2026C1286 | Boebert, Lauren v. Wheeler, David B
09/24/2026 Complaint: TPO
09/24/2026 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
09/30/2026 Motion to Dismiss
11/16/2026 Permanent Restraining Ord Hrg (scheduled)

Boebert is represented by Scott Gessler and Tanya Light. My attorneys, Dan Ernst and Alan Feldman, have filed a motion to dismiss and an anti-SLAPP motion arguing the petition targets First Amendment protected reporting. Judge Dana Nichols kept the temporary order in place and is allowing briefing by both sides on the SLAPP motion. She could have dismissed it. The next hearing is November 16, two weeks after Election Day.

Why it matters

Protection orders exist for people in real danger. A judge found grounds once. But six of her seven petitions did not end in a permanent order. In at least four, the case died at a hearing where she was absent or a party failed to appear. Two targeted the same journalist. And the latest arrived one week after an ethics complaint and six weeks before an election.

A temporary order is easy to get. It is granted on one side’s word, the same day, with no response from the other side. Boebert seems to know that.

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A personal note

I’ve been a journalist since I was 16. In all that time, I’ve never had to write a paragraph like this one.

Being falsely accused of stalking someone is painful. It follows you. It shows up in headlines next to your name, in search results my kids can read, and in the minds of people who will never look at a court docket. Lauren Boebert knows that. A temporary order costs her a filing fee and a sworn statement. It costs me my reputation, my time, and thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend reporting that is protected by the First Amendment.

I have never threatened her. I have never harmed her. What I have done is report on her, file a sworn complaint with the House Ethics Committee, and publish the records. That is not stalking. That is journalism.

I’m going to keep doing it. But I can’t do it alone. Dan Ernst and Alan Feldman are fighting this in Weld County, and the next hearing is November 16.

If you believe a sitting member of Congress shouldn’t be able to use the courts to silence a reporter, please chip in to my legal defense fund. Every dollar goes to the fight.

Donate to the legal defense fund

Thank you. It means more than you know.

David B. Wheeler

I am barred by court order and unable to contact Boebert’s to request for comment. However, if her office would like to respond, I will post it in full here.

Full court records are attached below.

Have information about these cases or other tips? Contact me at david@americanmuckrakers.com.

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Boebert Protection Order Records Redacted

1.95MB ∙ PDF file

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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A personal word from David B. Wheeler

I want to step out of the legal language for a moment.

Being called a stalker has been painful. I am a reporter. I am a dad. I am a son. I am a political activist who cares deeply about the First Amendment. I am not a stalker, and seeing that word next to my name in a court file and in national headlines has been hard on me and on the people I love.

I have never involved her minor children. I have said publicly that they are off limits, and I have kept that promise. My reporting is about the official conduct of a Member of Congress and how public money is spent. That is the job. I was doing my job.

Stalking is a serious charge. Real victims of stalking deserve to have it treated seriously. Here it has been leveled in an unserious way, in response to an Ethics complaint and a request for comment.

I spoke with my 91 year old mother today and talked her off the ledge. She’s tough and smart but was worried that the Petitioner would pull a fast one. I have also spoken with my kids (10, 14 & 16) and gave them the facts and told them why it’s important to speak up about alleged illegal acts by public officials. The kids, along with my mother, gave me their full support and love. That has calmed my nerves.

I am not going to fight this on social media. I look forward to resolving it the right way, through the legal process and with the Court, and I trust that process.

Thank you for reading, and for standing with me.

David B. Wheeler

Help Pay the Legal Fees

What the court did Oct 1st

On October 1, the Weld County Court held its first contested hearing in Boebert v. Wheeler, Case No. 2026C1286. The Court sits in Greeley, Colorado. Here is where things stand.

The Honorable Dana Nichols presiding. Rep. Lauren Boebert appeared in person with attorneys Scott Gessler and Tanya Light. I appeared by Webex, and my attorneys, Alan Feldman and Dan Ernst, appeared in person.

Three things matter most:

1. The court stated on the record that my reporting will not violate the temporary protection order.

2. The court gave both sides time to file briefs on my special motion to dismiss under Colorado’s anti-SLAPP statute, C.R.S. § 13-20-1101. The case will proceed after the court rules on that motion.

3. The temporary order stays in place until a hearing set for November 16, 2026, at 8:30 a.m.

I agreed not to “tag” the Petitioner in social media posts while this is pending. The court also allowed CBS Colorado to use the Webex conference in their reporting and as a pool.

The contempt motion that wasn’t on the calendar

On the day of the hearing, the Petitioner’s lawyers filed a Motion for Contempt Citation and tried to slip it into a proceeding that was set for something else entirely. That is not how the procedure works. A contempt request requires a citation issued by the court and a separate show-cause hearing with notice. The court said so plainly: this was not a contempt hearing. Their proposed order sits unsigned. Below is what they filed.

Mtn For Contempt Citation

161KB ∙ PDF file

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Petitioner's Motion for Contempt - Exhibits

1.25MB ∙ PDF file

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Read the exhibits to the Contempt Motion that was not heard.

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The motion’s theory, in my opinion, is that five posts on my X account between September 24 and 26, which mentioned her public, verified accounts, amount to “contact” with her. These were public posts to my followers about a public official and this case, including one about her financial disclosure report filed with the House Clerk. My attorney opposes the motion. The court told both sides that anyone who believes the order was violated can contact law enforcement.

Her lawyers also tried to ask for discovery. This is county court, on a protection order petition. Discovery is not allowed here. They asked anyway.

Put those two moves together and the pattern is clear: a case filed days after my Ethics complaint is now being used to try to punish my posts and dig through my files. That is exactly what the anti-SLAPP statute exists to stop.

What our motion says

The petition was filed on September 24, one week after I submitted a sworn complaint to the U.S. House Committee on Ethics on September 17, and two days after I sent a demand for correction and retraction.

Our motion argues that the petition treats reporting, requests for comment, a retraction demand, public-record reporting, and an Ethics complaint as stalking. Under Colorado law, that is protected speech and petitioning. If the motion succeeds, an award of attorney fees and costs is mandatory.

Wheeler SLAPP Motion

2.74MB ∙ PDF file

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Read the Motion filed by Wheeler which the Judge ruled she will rule on Nov 16, 2026.

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Exhibits for SLAPP Motion

1.38MB ∙ PDF file

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Read the exhibits to the SLAPP Motion filed by Wheeler here

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What I told the court under oath

• I had exactly three written contacts with the Petitioner in 2026, all by email: two requests for comment and one legal demand. None contained a threat. Two bounced because her official House mailbox was full.

• I had no involvement in the Daily Mail photographs. I reposted a published article.

• I live about 1,500 road miles away in North Carolina and have not been in Colorado since March 2023. I was last in Weld County in the summer of 1984 when I was a Cheley camp counselor and went to do my laundry in Longmont.

• I have never threatened, followed, or surveilled her, or gone to her home or offices.

• I have never tried to lure her to a hotel room.

• I have no criminal record and do not own a firearm. My boys have bb guns.

The only in-person contact alleged is a handshake at a public campaign event on May 26, 2022. It lasted about eight seconds and is on video here.

What’s next

Briefs on the anti-SLAPP motion, our opposition to the contempt motion, then a ruling, then the November 16 hearing. The House Ethics complaint remains pending and will be amended

I will keep reporting, as the court confirmed I can. Stay tuned and please consider donating to keep holding Boebert accountable.

DBW

Tips: david@americanmuckrakers.com

Help Pay the Legal Fees

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Friend,

Tomorrow morning we’ll be in a Weld County courtroom with Rep. Boebert.

Two lawyers are ready. The evidence is ready. The money isn’t. We’ve raised about a third of the $15,000 we need, and the bill comes due whether we hit the goal or not

I won’t make this long. If you’ve been meaning to help, now is the moment.

Chip In To Expose Boebert

$25, $50, $100, whatever you can. Every dollar goes to the legal defense first.

Thank you. I’ll report back from the courthouse.

David B. Wheeler
President, American Muckrakers

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Chip In To Expose Boebert

GREELEY, Colo. On Thursday morning, October 1, a Weld County District Court judge will decide whether a sitting member of Congress can use a civil protection order to stop a journalist from reporting on her.

Rep. Lauren Boebert filed the petition on September 24, twelve days after I submitted a sworn ethics complaint against her to the House Ethics Committee and one week after her office put out a press release calling me a perjurer. She checked the box for stalking. She checked the box for “imminent danger.” She asked the court to keep me 1,000 yards from her home and workplace and to bar me from “engaging in conduct that impairs” her employment.

Her employment is representing Colorado’s 4th District. The conduct is journalism.

This is the linchpin evidence for Boebert.

May 26, 2022 · Sky Ute Casino, Ignacio, CO · unedited, 1:06 · Watch the video

You decide. Did I try to wrestle Boebert to the ground with five police officers, two staffers, and her 250-pound, 6’2” husband standing nearby? Or did I shake a congresswoman’s hand at a public event?

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What she swore to

I have read the petition several times now. So have my lawyers. It runs nine pages, and the case it makes is thinner than the paper.

Her “most recent incident,” dated September 18, is that I “resurfaced” and published an ethics complaint. The form asks what the threat or act of violence was. That is her answer.

JDF 402, page 2, section 4(a): “The most recent incident”

Location: Weld County, “all day.” I was in North Carolina.

Her “most serious incident,” dated September 22 and 23, is a tweet noting she had public court dates that week, plus a photo of her running errands that someone else posted online. “I fear that he may already be in Colorado,” she wrote. I was in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, where I live.

JDF 402, page 2, section 4(b): “The most serious incident”

Her own narrative page moves the errand photo from Sept. 22 to “Sunday,” which was Sept. 20.

Attached narrative, page 2

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Court dates are public record. Knowing them is called reading. She calls it stalking.

The physical allegation is from May 26, 2022, at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio. She swore that I “squeezed and hurt my hand and would not let go.”

JDF 402, page 2, section 4(c)

That is the handshake in the video above. Watch it again.

On the next page, her own incident checklist for that event lists the location as Durango, 25 miles away, the physical injury as “N/A,” and police contact as none. There were five officers in the room.

JDF 401 Incident Checklist, “Grabbing” row

Same incident, different page. Location: Durango. The video is from Ignacio. Physical injury: N/A.

Attached narrative, page 1

Third telling: now she had to “forcibly pull it away.” Five officers stood there. None of them moved.

JDF 401 Incident Checklist, first two rows

Under “Harassing Phone Calls” she wrote “emails, online.” Under police contact, “No.” Four years of alleged harassment and not one police report.

She also wrote that in 2022 I “went into hiding” to avoid being served. In 2022 I was suing her for defamation in federal court under my own name. My home address appears on page 8 of her petition.

Attached narrative, page 1

“Went into hiding.” She wrote my home street address on page 8 of this very filing.

JDF 402, page 2, section 5

“Imminent danger.” From a reporter who emailed her office for comment and got no reply. That is the whole case.

Chip In To Expose Boebert

Why this matters beyond me

Boebert has tried this before. In June 2022 she sought a protection order in Garfield County; a judge dismissed it on July 20 of that year at a hearing she did not attend. It did not work then. But she learned something: a restraining order is cheaper than a defamation suit and faster than a rebuttal. File the petition, issue the press release, and every headline in Colorado leads with “restraining order” instead of the $200,000 payment, the family member on the payroll, or the district director.

If it works this time, every reporter and every critic in her district will know the price of writing about her. That is the point. That is what the First Amendment was written to prevent.

What happens Thursday, and after

Two attorneys who know her playbook are representing me: the one who took Boebert to federal court with me for defamation, where we partially prevailed, and the one who beat her 2022 petition. We will answer every allegation with her own filing and the tape.

If the court denies the order, I am not going home. I intend to travel eastern Colorado, through the towns of CO-4, and tell this story in person: at public events, to local papers and radio, to the voters who will decide her future in five weeks. She has an official press office and a taxpayer-funded website. I have a car, a camera, and the record.

What I need from you

Legal fees for Thursday are $15,000. The tour after that runs on gas, halls, and printing. There are two ways to help, and both matter today, not next week.

Donate. Every dollar goes first to the legal defense, then to getting this story in front of CO-4 voters.

Chip In To Expose Boebert

Subscribe. A paid subscription to this Substack is the most reliable money we have. It is what pays for records requests, sourcing, and the reporting that led to the ethics complaint in the first place. If you have been reading for free, now is the time.

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She has the House Republican Conference behind her. I have you. Thursday morning we find out whether that is enough. I think it is.

If you have information about Rep. Boebert, write me directly: david@americanmuckrakers.com. Sources are protected.

David B. Wheeler
President, American Muckrakers

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Boebert didn't answer the records. She answered by accusing me of a crime.

Her official House press release was published on a taxpayer-funded government website says I "likely committed perjury and broke a federal law." Read that again: a sitting member of Congress used her official office to accuse a private citizen of a federal crime, in writing, on a .gov domain paid for by the public. I committed no crime. My complaint is sworn under 28 U.S.C. § 1746, the standard federal perjury exposure for a false statement, and it asks the Ethics Committee to do its job and investigate.

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That's not a rebuttal. That's a threat dressed up as a press release.

The Manufactured Restraining Order

A few days later, the New York Post ran a story claiming Boebert has had a restraining order against me since 2022. That's false, and it's false in a way that's easy to check.

The case the Post is pointing to is a Garfield County, Colorado filing from June 2022. It was **dismissed on July 20, 2022.** No permanent order was ever entered. No order was ever served on me. Nothing has been in effect for over four years. The Post's story links to a record that isn't about an active order against me — because there isn't one.

According to the sheriff's return of service and the court's own docket, Judge Paul Metzger dismissed the case and denied any permanent order at a hearing that neither Boebert nor her counsel bothered to attend.

That's the pattern here: an accusation gets made, it lands in a headline, and the underlying paperwork tells a completely different story — if anyone bothers to read it.

I Sent Her a Cease-and-Desist

On September 22, I sent Boebert, her chief of staff, and her staff a formal cease-and-desist and retraction demand. It's not a strongly worded email. It's a legal notice, and it demands specific things:

- Stop saying I committed perjury or broke federal law.

- Correct both press releases, and every outlet that ran them, within 10 days.

- Stop claiming any restraining order exists against me.

- Preserve every record, including the release her office has already quietly pulled from its own site.

A false accusation that a named individual committed perjury and violated federal law imputes criminal conduct. That's defamatory per se under the law of most states, North Carolina included, and I've put her on formal notice ahead of a defamation lawsuit. If her office doesn't correct the record, I expect to file.

Why This Matters Beyond Me

I could let this go. It would be easier. But there's a reason a member of Congress reaches for "you committed a crime" instead of "here's why your records are wrong": it works. It's designed to make the next person who finds something uncomfortable in her filings think twice before publishing it. It's designed to make donors, sources, and watchdogs flinch.

American Muckrakers doesn't flinch. That's the whole premise of the organization — we go where the disbursement records lead, we name what we find, and when a sitting member of Congress responds by trying to criminalize the person doing the finding, we don't back down. We push back, in the open, with the paper trail to back it up.

But pushing back against a member of Congress with a taxpayer-funded office, taxpayer-funded staff, and taxpayer-funded lawyers takes something I don't have an unlimited supply of: legal counsel to carry the ethics complaint through the process and defend against exactly the kind of retaliation she's already started.

**Chip in $25 to help fund the fight: Contribute now

$25, $50, $100 or $250 — whatever tou can.

Defeat BettleJuice Boebert

Thank you for reading, and thank you for standing with me.

David B. Wheeler

President, American Muckrakers

---

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes. The allegations described above are allegations; no finding of wrongdoing has been made, and every person named is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

FEC ID C00896951. American Muckrakers PAC II, 237 Rockledge Rd, Spruce Pine, NC 28777.

Five days ago I filed a sworn ethics complaint against Rep. Lauren Boebert, built on House payroll records, FEC filings, court records, and written statements from named sources with direct knowledge. I signed it under penalty of perjury because I believe every allegation in it deserves investigation by the proper body.

Her response was not to address the records. It was to attack the messenger, the process and the press.

Her office published official press releases, on your taxpayer-funded house.gov website, accusing me of “likely” committing perjury and calling my sworn filing “his lies.” She attributed to CNN a finding CNN never made. She called the complaint “a scam.” And she claimed she has had a restraining order against me since 2022.

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Here is what the court record actually says: Boebert sought a protection order in June 2022. It was never served on me. On July 20, 2022, a Garfield County judge dismissed the case and denied any permanent order, at a hearing neither Boebert nor her lawyer bothered to attend. No order against me was ever in effect. That is not my characterization. That is the public court docket.

Then it got stranger. Within 48 hours, one of the two press releases quietly vanished from her office’s press page. Its web address now redirects to the other release, which was itself edited after publication. We caught all of it, because the Internet Archive preserved the original before they touched it. The perjury accusation against me, notably, stayed up.

So today I served Rep. Boebert, her chief of staff, and her entire staff with a formal cease and desist and retraction demand. The full letter, with all 69 pages of exhibits, is attached below. Read it. It walks through each false statement, side by side with the document that disproves it: the court record on the restraining order, the CNN article that contains no such finding, the Internet Archive captures of what her office published and then altered. Under North Carolina law, she now has ten days to publish a full and fair correction. Every recipient is under a litigation hold covering every draft, email, and edit log, including the ones documenting what her office changed after publication. Tomorrow I file the amended complaint as a public submission.

Let me be clear about one thing, because her office will spin it: I have not retracted anything. I narrowed the complaint to its core, the payments and conduct the government’s own records document, as an editorial judgment. I stand by my reporting and I stand by my sources.

I have done this before. When we investigated Madison Cawthorn, they said we were lying too, right up until he lost. Boebert’s team is running the same play: deny everything, smear the reporter, hope it fades. It will not fade. More sources have come forward since the filing, with new allegations and receipts. We’ll publish them here first.

But here is the honest part: this is heading toward a legal fight, and legal fights cost money. Court records, certified documents, filing fees, and, when the time comes, lawyers. She has a taxpayer-funded press operation and campaign consultants. I have you. I need your support now, not later.

Please donate or subscribe.

Donate To Keep Up Pressure on Boebert

If you believe elected officials should answer for what the records show, and that no member of Congress gets to call a citizen a criminal from an official government website without consequence, chip in today. Every dollar goes to the work: the records requests, the filings, and the legal battle ahead.

We keep pushing while others hide and dither. Please reward us for taking risks no one else will.

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David B. Wheeler
President, American Muckrakers PAC, Inc.

Contact me anytime: david@americanmuckraker.com or text/WhatsApp/Signal: +1 312 213 6001

Read the full Cease and Desist letter to Boebert and her staff here. (Redactions are only personal contact details.)

Wheeler Cease And Desist Demand 9 22 2026 Redacted

43.9MB ∙ PDF file

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Sworn complaint filed with the House Ethics Committee alleges Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) carried on a years-long affair with her female District Director, rewarded her with taxpayer-funded bonuses, disguised a $5,000 campaign payment as “consulting,” and arranged a $200,000 hush money payment after the staffer threatened her.

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Our DatumSignals.com model has North Carolina at Cooper 54, Whatley 46 as of this week. Not the probability of the vote share, the probability of winning the seat. That makes NC the tightest marquee Senate race in the country, and one of a handful that will decide who controls the chamber in 2027.

Read the full forecast here: DatumSignals: NC Senate 2026

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Why it’s this close

The model sees three forces pulling in different directions. North Carolina’s structural lean actually favors Democrats by about three points before anything else is considered. It’s an open seat, with Thom Tillis walking away rather than defending it, which makes everything more volatile. The national midterm environment is shifting toward Democrats. But the state’s own public mood is moving the other way, toward Republicans, and that’s what keeps Whatley in this race.

The polls tell the same story. Roy Cooper led by double digits in the spring. A Public Policy Polling survey this month had it at four. Whatley raised $5 million from March to June; Cooper raised $14.8 million. Money isn’t destiny, but attention is, and this race is about to get all of it.

The record Whatley is running from

Michael Whatley is running as the law-and-order candidate. His record says otherwise.

As chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, Whatley appointed Harvey West to the party’s rulemaking committee, multiple times. West is a registered sex offender who served six years in prison for crimes against children. West himself says party leadership knew about his record “from day one.” Whatley has refused to answer questions about it.

Just this month, a different man, a pastor who is a twice-imprisoned registered sex offender, delivered the opening prayer at a Whatley campaign rally.

And this spring, Whatley flew to Chicago to raise campaign cash alongside Rod Blagojevich, a convicted felon who spent eight years in federal prison for trying to sell a Senate seat.

That’s not one lapse. That’s a pattern. And “tough on crime” doesn’t survive contact with it.

So we made a radio ad. Two, actually.

We put the record on tape, in English and in Spanish, and we’re raising $5,000 to put it on radio stations across North Carolina before Election Day. Radio still reaches the voters the campaigns forget: rural counties, drive time, Spanish-language stations from Charlotte to the coast.

Listen to the English spot:

Escucha el anuncio en español:

Every claim in both spots is sourced to ABC News, NC Newsline, the Daily Beast, and C-SPAN. We don’t fabricate. We don’t need to.

Put it on the air

$25 buys airtime. $100 keeps the spot running all week on a rural station.

DONATE: Put this ad on North Carolina radio →

Donate to NC Radio Ads Fund

We fired Madison “Face-Humper” Cawthorn and Mark “Nude Africa” Robinson in this state. You did that, with us. Let’s finish the job.

— David B. Wheeler President, American Muckrakers PAC II americanmuckrakers.com · muckrakers.today

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Friends,

You paid for a lot of trouble these last two months. Here’s what it bought.

We put the Boebert family courtroom on your screen

In August we got court orders to broadcast Tyler Boebert’s Colorado hearings live. When they came, we streamed them on Muckrakers.Today, X, YouTube, and LinkedIn. No filter, no spin. Just the courtroom.

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September 4, Weld County: 20 days in jail with work release and 12 months probation after Tyler pleaded guilty to child abuse. September 10, Garfield County: 20 more days and two years supervised probation in his identity theft case, running concurrent. Congresswoman Boebert showed up at both hearings to beg for leniency. We showed up so her constituents could watch her do it.

We’ll be back with cameras for every hearing they’ll let us in.

Billboards are going up in CD-4

Around the hearings we ran a rapid-response campaign to fund billboards, radio spots, and broadcast court orders in Colorado’s 4th. Locations are mapped. The campaign is rolling. Boebert’s voters are going to learn who represents them whether she likes it or not. Please donate to that effort here:

BeetleJuice Boebert Billboards

Our FEC complaint against her (MUR 8390) is still pending. The book is still coming. More on that soon.

And Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert is out now. A coloring book for grown-ups who are tired of being played. Buy two, give one to a Republican.

Color the Crooks Book

Muckrakers.Today keeps swinging

Chuck Edwards quit his NC-11 re-election race after the Ethics Committee recommended censure. We covered it. The Putin Watch Index keeps counting. The Grifters docket keeps growing.

This month we also filed an ethics complaint against the president of the University of South Florida after USF handed game-day photo ops to two Republican statewide candidates and confirmed no plans to invite their Democratic opponents. A public university is not a campaign prop, and now Florida’s ethics commission gets to say so.

Read Muckrakers Today

DatumSignals is live

We launched Datum Signals at datumsignals.com. It forecasts elections from what voters actually do, not what they tell pollsters. In backtests it scored between 0.119 and 0.137 on the Brier scale, which matches or beats the big public forecasters. Built for 2026 and beyond. VoteROI.com is the first licensee.

Learn About Datum Signals

VoteROI is ready for 2026

VoteROI.com sits on 86.9M FEC records from 2000 to 2026, and the race pages for this cycle are live. The idea is simple: stop pouring money into races that are already over and put it where it moves the needle. Give through our pipes and processing runs about 2.75 percent instead of the roughly 6 percent the big platforms take. More of your dollar in the fight, less in their pocket.

Support Your Candidates Here

The bottom line

All of the activity is aimed at one thing: making the crooks answer for it. Cameras in courtrooms, billboards on highways, complaints on desks, and better tools for your money.

Want to keep it going? Chip in at

Donate to Win

Firing Fools Since 2021,

David B. Wheeler President, American Muckrakers

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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American Muckrakers won a court order to broadcast Boebert court proceedings LIVE. No filters, no spin. Voters saw it as it happened.

On Friday, Rep. Lauren Boebert begged a Weld County judge for mercy before her son Tyler was sentenced to 20 days in jail for child abuse and neglect, after his toddler was found wandering outside unsupervised three times.

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This Thursday, September 10, Tyler faces a second sentencing in Garfield County, and we expect the Congresswoman there again. He also faces five pending felony counts, including three child sexual exploitation charges.

The catch: our broadcast order covered one courtroom. Colorado requires a separate order from each judge, in each case. We have to win them one by one.

Help us hit $5,000 by Thursday to fund the court filings for broadcast orders at every remaining hearing, plus radio and billboards putting the footage in front of CO-04 voters.

CHIP IN NOW

We help fire her from one district once. Let’s finish the job.

David B. Wheeler
President, American Muckrakers

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Watch the boss of the Lauren Boebert Crime Family (aka BeetleJuice) make a pathetic plea to keep Tyler Boebert out of jail. It failed and the judge gave him a 20 day sentence in jail, with a work release daily.

Tyler has additional cases against him that could carry additional jail time and several are felonies.

We’ll stay on top of this story and keep bring you updates.

Help us fund this work so voters of Colorado learn more about the Boss. Please donate here:

Hold Boebert Accountable Fund

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

Share

SPRUCE PINE, NC: Polling asks voters what they think. Datum Signals (datumsignals.com), launched today by Parallax Advisory LLC, forecasts elections from what voters actually do: observable behavior that doesn’t depend on who answers the phone.

In back-testing against past elections, the model scored in the 0.119 to 0.137 Brier range (a standard forecast accuracy measure where lower is better), matching or beating leading public forecasters.

How it works: Datum Signals tracks observable voter behavior rather than survey responses. A fast model follows week-to-week shifts in that behavior while a slow model anchors on fundamentals like incumbency and district history. The two are blended with an error structure that assumes misses correlate across similar states, so one bad assumption can’t quietly wreck the whole map. Outliers are trimmed before they can distort the forecast.

Who it’s for:

• Newsrooms can use Datum Signals to pressure-test the polling narrative in the races they cover.

• Ca…

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Lauren Boebert has spent four years trying to shut us up. A restraining order. Threats against our donors. Calling us liars on Fox. A federal judge sided with us and she settled.

Fund the Cameras and Team, $2,500 Goal

On August 19, Weld County Court Judge Michele Meyer granted our request to put a camera in the courtroom for Tyler Boebert’s sentencing on September 4 at 1:30 p.m. Here’s the order:

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Some guys buy a park bench with their name on it.

Donald Trump became president and decided that wasn’t nearly enough.

So he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He brought back Mount McKinley because apparently mountains need branding. The Strait of Hormuz has reportedly been floated as the Strait of Trump, because nothing says “America First” like renaming a body of water we don’t own.

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What Happened at Tyler Boebert’s Advisement Hearing

Tyler Boebert appeared (remotely) before a Colorado judge for a formal advisement hearing. No plea was entered. The judge made that explicit: “Today’s not the day where you plead guilty, not guilty, anything like that.”

The court advised him of five counts, all alleged to have occurred between January 1 and February 29, 2024:

Counts 1 and 2: Sexual exploitation of a child, both class 3 felonies. Count 1 alleges he knowingly caused, induced, or enticed a child to engage in explicit sexual conduct for the making of sexually exploitative material. Count 2 alleges possession with intent to deal, sell, or distribute such material. Each carries 4 to 12 years in the Department of Corrections, three years mandatory parole, a fine of up to $750,000, and mandatory sex offender registration under C.R.S. 16-22-103.

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Count 3: Sexual exploitation of a child (accessing, viewing, possessing, or controlling sexually exploitative material, including video)…

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I keep coming back to one number.

$194 million.

That is how much was spent on advertising in Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary this year. Nobody had ever spent that much on a state midterm primary before.

About $64 million of it went toward helping Haley Stevens try to defeat Abdul El-Sayed.

Two Democrats.

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While Rep. Lauren Boebert prepares to testify on her son’s behalf at two criminal sentencing hearings next month, a new case has landed on the docket.

On August 14, 2026, a petition for a protection order was filed against Tyler Boebert in Mesa County Court (Case No. 2026C925). Three days later, on August 17, Judge Matthew B. Hardin granted a Temporary Protection Order against him.

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Colorado court records show a new felony case filed August 6 in Garfield County District Court: The People of the State of Colorado v. Boebert, Tyler J, case 2026CR234.

Five counts. Three of them felony sexual exploitation of a child charges, including induce/entice and possession with intent (both Class 3 felonies). Two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

A warrant issued August 7. Bond set at $10,000. He walked out of jail August 9.

And in four weeks, his mother, Rep. Lauren Boebert, is scheduled to testify on his behalf at his sentencing hearings in two SEPARATE cases (Weld County Sept 4, Garfield County Sept 10).

He is presumed innocent. The court records are public. We published them. But the question has to be asked: WHERE THE FUCK IS THIS YOUNG MAN’S MOTHER AND FATHER?

👉 Read the full story with source documents at Muckrakers.Today

We broke this…

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American Muckrakers has obtained a county jail “Recent Releases” log showing Tyler Jay Boebert, 21, released from custody on August 9, 2026.

The timing matters. Tyler Boebert faces two sentencing hearings next month: Weld County on September 4 (case 2025M2424) and Garfield County on September 10 (case 2024CR57). His mother, Rep. Lauren Boebert, is expected to testify on his behalf at both.

A release log means a booking preceded it. We are pulling the intake records now to confirm when he went in, why, and on what charges.

We will publish the documents as soon as we have them.

🔴 Full story coming on Muckrakers.Today 🔴

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