Two weeks ago Los Angeles celebrity attorney Gloria Allred brought the traveling press conference that provides muscle to her law practice into the basement of Denver’s Crawford Hotel at Union Station. Any doubt that Americans live in a fame-obsessed culture was erased by 10 video cameras squeezed into a tiny meeting room. Allred’s website declares she is the “most famous woman attorney practicing law in the nation today.” Critics argue she more accurately operates a reparations racket, rather than a law office, shaking down the bad boys of Hollywood.

Characterizing her legal practice as focused on the defense of civil rights, with an emphasis on women exploited or harassed by their employers or the male partners in their lives, she has carved more than a few notches on her professional nightstick. Commencing with a suit against the SAV-ON pharmacies in California for segregating children’s toys into boys and girls sections, she successfully challenged the powerful Friars Club’s male-only policy, trumpeted the resignation of Oregon Republican Senator Bob Packwood due to serial harassment of his female Washington staffers, filed California’s first gay marriage challenge in 2004, blasted Meg Whitman of eBay in the California Governor’s race for knowingly employing an illegal immigrant in her home and filed a suit on behalf of Sandra Fluke against Rush Limbaugh under an obscure Florida statute that prohibits “maliciously imputing to (any woman) a want of chastity…” And these are merely the highlights.

The recent resurgence of date rape drugging allegations against Bill Cosby attracted Allred to Denver. She represents half the women who have registered complaints. Cosby was scheduled to perform a pair of shows at the Buell Theatre in Denver. Reportedly well attended, he received standing ovations from his fans although nearly 40 percent of original ticket purchasers supposedly requested refunds.

Coincidentally, the Anschutz Entertainment Group was in the midst of re-negotiating its incentive pay contract with city hall for selling as many tickets as possible. Denver City Councilwoman Susan Shepherd of District 1 found herself in the position to take advantage of this routine review to raise questions about the suitability of scheduling an accused rapist as a public entertainment. Shepherd reports she received numerous calls from rape victims and constituents who believe this was an unsuitable use of a public venue. “Speaking on their behalf, I decided to take this opportunity to raise awareness regarding the seriousness of sexual assault,” Shepherd explained. “I hoped we could let victims know there is a help-line and counseling available to them.” Fellow Councilwomen Judy Montero of District 9 and at-large member Robin Kniech joined her in abstaining. “There has been lip service from AEG about refunds, but I haven’t found or heard from anyone who has actually received a check,” Shepherd reported.

Beth Ferrier of Denver, who modeled for Jo Farrell’s JF Images during the 80s, accepted the microphone from Allred and recounted her nearly four years of involvement with Cosby. When she finally complained about his continuing and unwelcome contact, Farrell fired her. (Allred interrupted Ferrier here to point out that none of her clients are nuns.) In 2004, when the National Enquirer was preparing to publish a story based on lie-detector-validated questioning of Ferrier and other Jane Doe accusers, Allred claims Cosby’s attorneys offered the Enquirer an exclusive interview with the comedian if it would agree to pull its pending story.

There the matter lay dormant until a young black comedian named Hannibal Burress labeled Cosby a rapist during a Philadelphia club performance late last summer. This rant soon went viral and Cosby found himself facing pickets demanding he reply to the rapidly expanding accusations against him. A problem for Allred and her clients is that, so far, all the alleged violations occurred far outside state statutes of limitations, the most recent occurring in 1996. Allred outlined three challenges she has made to Cosby’s lawyers: (1) waive the limitations and go to court on the merits of the allegations, (2) place $100 million in a trust for mediators to distribute to the “women who have been hurt,” or (3) submit the dispute to the court of public opinion in a defamation proceeding.

Cosby has refused each of these.

“Those who say that Cosby should be presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law must recognize we can’t get there today,” she complained. When a belligerent reporter who identified himself as having been sent by his editor in Washington, D.C., demanded to know whether “this entire circus isn’t about filing a huge civil lawsuit,” Allred responded, “I hope so. The real victims here are my clients — it is their medical bills, their therapy bills that need to be paid.”

What’s to be made of this pattern of sexual assaults coupled with date rape drugging? What weird, sick compulsions are we talking about here? For several years, Cosby has adopted the role of “scold” within his own community, admonishing black parents to do a better job raising their kids. If Cosby is just another hypocrite, who, as Michael Eric Dyson writes, “betray(s) classist, elitist viewpoints rooted in generational warfare,” then he has earned no protection.

Allred’s briefing was followed by protests at the Denver Center prior to Cosby’s shows. The afternoon demonstration included chanting, sign waving and shouts of “We believe the women!” in front of the Buell. Before the second show, police cordoned off a free speech zone on the 14th Street sidewalk, far from the Galleria theaters. Although Councilwoman Shepherd attended this earlier protest, she received complaints of police intimidation, harassment and mistreatment before the later performance. “Police were present both times, so I’d like to know what changed?” Shepherd asked. “We understand there is now both an internal affairs investigation and a police monitor inquiry intended to get to the bottom of what happened and why. I assure you we haven’t heard the last of this.”

Miller Hudson can be reached at mnhwriter@msn.com.