Watch the forum here.

Three Democratic primary candidates running for Colorado attorney general used a forum Wednesday night to call out the absence of a fourth contender at an event hosted by the Denver Press Club.

In their opening statements, candidates Hetal Doshi, Michael Dougherty and David Seligman said they are disappointed that Secretary of State Jena Griswold did not attend, although none of the candidates specifically mentioned her by name.

Griswold, who is term-limited in her current role and announced last year that she would seek to succeed Attorney General Phil Weiser, has skipped several public candidate events so far, Seligman said.

The Denver Press Club confirmed that Griswold was invited to the forum and that she was contacted multiple times. The event was moderated by Colorado Politics reporters Ernest Luning and Marianne Goodland, who also serves as the club’s president.

A statement from Griswold’s campaign said: “As Secretary of State, a mom, and candidate for AG, Jena has a full schedule. We immediately told organizers she had a conflict when the date was suggested. It is inaccurate to say that Jena is not attending forums.”

A spokesperson for Griswold said she has attended several forums, and will be attending other public events, and plans to host some town halls. Her office did not provide specific details or dates.

The candidates who attended said the attorney general’s office should not be treated as a political stepping stone.

“Fundamentally, this job is too important for the same old stepping-stone politics we see too often, especially given the immense power of this office to hold those with wealth and power accountable when they trample our rights,” Seligman said.

Dougherty said that while Doshi and Seligman described Griswold’s absence as disappointing, he found her continued avoidance of public forums “telling.”

Dougherty, the current Boulder County district attorney, added, “If you’re going to be the people’s lawyer, then you show up and answer the people’s questions.”

Doshi and Seligman agreed with Dougherty’s characterization of the attorney general as the “people’s lawyer.”

When asked about the office priorities, the three candidates laid out different visions, pledging to rein in abuses of power, bolster public safety and hold corporations and polluters accountable.

Seligman, an attorney specializing in consumer issues, said his top priorities would be to “go after the corruption of wealth and power held by the elite who have been trampling our rights with impunity.” That means standing up to major social media platforms, who Seligman said are “manipulating my kids and building the data centers to boil our planet.”

Dougherty said his top priority will focus on public safety.

“We’ve seen public safety suffer in Colorado over the last several years,” he said. “The attorney general has the power to prosecute multi-jurisdictional cases. That’s the kind of work I’ve done throughout my career. The attorney general is responsible for assisting smaller jurisdictions — so, having handled, for example, a cold case homicide down in La Plata County or a serial killer down in the San Luis Valley.”

He added: “That’s what it means to help rural jurisdictions ensure that their communities are safe. The attorney general should also fight for our environment and hold people responsible who commit crimes against the environment, like Suncor, which paid a $10 million fine last year, when they make $2 billion a year.”

Doshi, a former federal prosecutor, said the attorney general’s office has to focus on the “necessities of life,” adding that housing, healthcare, food and safety are her top priorities.

“But to provide a little bit of granularity than that, I wanted to focus on the idea that the idea of corruption exists not just in our government, not just in boardrooms, but it’s a fundamental distortion of the backbone of the American society and our democracy,” Doshi said. “And so all of those things — the necessities of life, public safety, all the things that we are talking about — is something that has to exist through the lens of holding power to account, to make sure that power does not corrupt.”

There was little disagreement among the three candidates as they answered questions on corruption, public safety, specific cases to take or reject, and how they would handle the Trump administration.

The three lawyers agreed that when taking on the Trump administration, whoever is serving as Colorado’s attorney general should be selective, taking on only battles they could win. The three also agreed that the attorney general should not use the office to play politics and should take legal action only when laws are being broken and Coloradans are being harmed.

“It can’t be just out of alliances to other AGs around the country, or based on appearances or political affiliation,” Seligman said. “It has to be, is it actually causing harm to Colorado? Because the resources of the AG’s office are finite.”

“So, when we make decisions about fighting for Colorado, it has to be because it’s something we’re going to win. And what I mean by that is it’s easy to say, ‘We’re going to fight Trump’. And many of us in this room may feel that way. Fighting Trump and losing isn’t the answer,” he added. “You’re wasting taxpayer dollars at the expense of the confidence and trust of the people of Colorado. So, it’s about fighting Trump, but also having the ability to win those fights. And if you take in Donald Trump to court, it sure as hell can’t be your first time walking into a courtroom.”

Doshi, along with Dougherty and Seligman, said that the current Colorado Attorney General, Phil Weiser, has done a good job of choosing which battles to take to court against Trump. Colorado has filed around 50 lawsuits against the administration; Doshi noted that other states have filed as many as 70 or more. The lawsuits have so far cost the state $600,000, according to Weiser.

“That reflects discernment and decision-making in terms of which cases impact Coloradans and impact our way of life,” she said. “And so that audit process, in my opinion, would be thinking about the trajectory of those cases against the opportunity cost of future cases in the Constitution.”

Dougherty also said Weiser has done a good job “standing up and fighting for our democracy.”

“You look at how many wins his office has had and the impact of that,” he said. “So, think for a moment if they had not won, or if you had a Republican attorney general who refused to bring lawsuits against Trump, we can’t afford to lose the attorney general’s office at this time. We do, and we failed to stand up against Trump, only violating the law and hurting Colorado.”

The Democratic candidates for attorney general will face off in the June primary election.