|
Professional Experience:
-
Beth McCann is currently the Deputy Attorney
General in charge of the Civil Litigation and Employment Law
Section of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office,
supervising 33 attorneys, 11 paralegals, and 7 administrative
assistants. In this capacity, she defends the state and its
employees when they are sued in state and federal court. Through
this work, she has gained tremendous experience in the operation
of state government which has prepared her well to serve as a
legislator.
|
-
Ms. McCann began her legal career as a law
clerk for now-deceased U.S. District Court Judge Sherman G.
Finesilver. McCann then served almost eight years as Deputy and
then Chief Deputy District Attorney in Denver, prosecuting
hundreds of cases, including child abuse and murder. As a
prosecutor, she enforced the state’s criminal and
sentencing laws. She continued her career in private practice for
seven years with the Denver law firm of Cooper & Kelley,
P.C., earning a partnership in that firm in 1985.
|
|
-
In 1991, Mayor Wellington Webb asked McCann to
be his first Denver Manager of Safety. She managed one of the
largest agencies in Denver city government, including the Denver
Police, Fire, Sheriff’s Departments with a budget of $170
million and a staff of almost 3,000 employees. As Manager, McCann
oversaw preparations for Pope John Paul's historic 1993 visit,
and led the department through the challenges posed by the Rodney
King verdict and the Klu Klux Klan demonstrations. McCann also
revised the city's disability pension plan for disabled officers
and assisted in implementing the ordinance that created the
Civilian Review Board for police actions. She established the
handicapped parking enforcement program, using persons with
disabilities to partner with police in that effort.
-
Mayor Webb then tapped McCann to start the
Mayor's Safe City Office in 1994, a crime prevention effort
undertaken in the wake of the terrible 1993 Summer of Violence.
This program distributed a million dollars a year into the Denver
community to support anti-violence efforts to keep our young
people from getting involved in crime and being victimized by
crime. Along with Charlotte Stevens, McCann initiated Denver's
juvenile curfew program, a summer yourth employment program, and helped establish the Police Impact
Team system. McCann was subsequently appointed Director of Excise
and Licenses for Denver by Mayor Webb in 1995, a position she
held until August 1999. In that role, she oversaw the granting
and revocation of business licenses throughout Denver, including
liquor licenses.
Recognition and Awards:
-
McCann was awarded an East High School Angel
award in 2007 for her work as Chair of the Security and Safety
Committee at East, working to keep our kids safe in school and at
school activities, and for her help in coaching the winning East
High Constitutional Scholars team who won first place in the
nation in 2007.
Community Involvement:
-
Beth has also been active in community and
non-profit organizations, including serving as Chair and Co-Chair
of the East High School Security and Safety Committee, Board
member and Chair of the Long Range Planning Committee for the
Denver Botanic Gardens, President of Seats for Kids, a program to
provide loaner car seats to low income children, a Board Member
of HIPPY, a home instructional program for young mothers, a Board
member of the Denver Legal Aid Foundation, and on many committees
for her children’s schools.
- Beth is a member of the Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church.
Education:
Personal:
-
Beth has lived in Denver for thirty-three
years. She and her husband, Christopher, have two children, a
daughter, Lizzy, 15, and a son, Chris, 18, who just graduated
from East High School. Their dog, Rascal, is five.
-
She enjoys skiing, jogging, hiking, biking,
theater, photography, politics, and travel.
|
