Citing an article in the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle during the June 11 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show, frequent guest Bob Cote baselessly claimed that during the fourth annual Project Homeless Connect (PHC) services fair on April 20, the homeless could get Colorado “identification cards without questions about legal status in the United States.” While the article made the unsubstantiated assertion that "[t]here were stations for ... identification cards without question about legal status in the United States," it did not report that homeless participants were given official Colorado IDs. Furthermore, Chronicle publisher Charles Bonniwell contradicted the article the next day on Boyles' show, asserting that volunteers “weren't per se issuing” identification cards.

Cote -- who has frequently promoted misinformation about the homeless on Boyles' show -- repeatedly noted on the June 11 broadcast that the Chronicle reported "[t]hey were passing out IDs" during the PHC fair held at the University of Denver. Cote insisted that one of the services at the fair was giving the homeless “Colorado IDs” and that the “identification cards” were given away “without questions about legal status in the United States.” When Boyles said, “I don't know how you can grant somebody an ID on the spot if they're homeless,” Cote insisted, “They did it.” And when Boyles asked, “What elected official or bureaucrat was involved in that?” Cote claimed, “The mayor's task force on the homeless” and its director, Deborah Ortega, were responsible for handing out Colorado identification cards at the services fair.

However, a PHC press release about the event noted only that “525 homeless individuals accessed on-site services such as personal identification,” but did not state that any were issued official state IDs with a waiver of the required documentation. That information also did not appear in other news reports about the event, such as an April 21 article in the Rocky Mountain News, a March 19 article in the Denver Post (accessed through the Nexis database), and a University of Denver item.

Further, during his appearance on Boyles' June 12 broadcast, the Chronicle's Bonniwell backtracked on the newspaper's report that identification cards were given away “without questions about legal status in the United States.” Bonniwell claimed PHC volunteers “weren't per se issuing” identification cards and that he “didn't watch” the identification service because “the line was so big I couldn't get in that line”:

BOYLES: So, I read this: “The 2007 event was intended to be part of a one-day crash course to help the homeless in virtually every manner that could be humanly conceived. There were stations for food, clothing, free legal advice” -- and this is the one -- “identification cards without questions about legal status in the United States.”

BONNIWELL: Yeah, and at station four they weren't per se issuing them. I didn't watch -- you know, the line was so big I couldn't get in that line. And there's lots of ways to get identification cards, quite frankly. City and County of Denver can issue identification cards. They can issue a state one or drivers' license, which gets you the cornucopia of, of state assistance. Or they could, I, I suppose, direct you to the Mexican consulate where you could get your matricula consular card, which Denver recognizes. I noticed when, in The Denver Post when they did their editorial opposing [House Bill] 1313, they had talked to the Colorado Department of Revenue --

From the June 11 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

COTE: They were passing out IDs over at DU.

BOYLES: They were doing what?

COTE: Yeah. Something about the, I don't know the whole paragraph. They were giving them IDs, Colorado IDs.

BOYLES: Get out of here.

COTE: Well, read it. The Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle.

BOYLES: You get that up, Greg?

COTE: Get Bonniwell on there.

BOYLES: Yeah, we'll get -- let's get Bonni-, let's get Chuck on the air this morning. Yeah. Amazing.

COTE: Flu shots, screening access to emergency care, referrals for available housing, deposits, rent, evaluations, eligibility for public food stamps. Here it is. There were stations for food, clothing, free legal advice, ident -- identification cards without questions about legal status in the United States.

BOYLES: [laughs]

COTE: They are just going to go ahead and pass them out anyway.

[...]

COTE: You have to read this Glendale Cherry Creek --

BOYLES: We will.

COTE: It's June 2007. I got it last week, but, they had 900 volunteers -- DU students and 500 homeless.

BOYLES: Yeah.

COTE: You know? And they're givin' 'em all the goodies, including ID. I mean, it's just, it's --

BOYLES: I don't know how you can grant somebody an ID on the spot if they're homeless.

COTE: They did it.

BOYLES: Whose name? What elected official or bureaucrat was involved in that?

COTE: Well, the usual suspects, you know. The mayor's task force on the homeless. Debbie Ortega they mentioned.

BOYLES: Sure.

COTE: And then, Philip Mangano, our friend -- executive director the Interagency Council on Homelessness was flew in from Washington, D.C., for the event at the University or Denver campus -- it was April the 20th, but they put it in the June issue of the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle.

[...]

BOYLES: I do have that piece -- “DU holds court for homeless.”

COTE: Well, when you read that, that will --

BOYLES They did; they gave away IDs.

COTE: Sure they did. Along with everything else. So, I mean, how much do we have to give here? As long as you keep giving 'em, they don't have to do anything. Here, you want an ID, here. Sign up for food stamps? You don't have ID? Go over to that table.

From the June 12 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: All right, so I read this piece, “DU holds court for the homeless.”

BONNIWELL: Right.

BOYLES: As we know, glorious people end homelessness except when Democratic National Convention comes, then glorious people get rounded up.

BONNIWELL: Pretty quick.

BOYLES: All right, now -- but I gotta ask you this. I'm reading your piece. First of all, the Chronicle has really become a very cool newspaper. And I, I really congratulate you guys. You and Eddie and everybody.

BONNIWELL: Thank you.

BOYLES: How do people get the Chronicle? I'll do the setup question.

BONNIWELL: Well, we mail to 53,000 people in the Cherry Creek Valley, which goes from LoDo to, to the dam. If you want to give us a call, we'll send it to ya for, for what it costs in postage and so I'll, I'll --

BOYLES: Is the Chronicle online?

BONNIWELL: It's partially online and so forth; we love the people who get it themselves. So we make our money on the advertising, and the advertising is, is what pays for everything.

[...]

BOYLES: All right, so, did you go out to the glorious people end homelessness conference?

BONNIWELL: Actually, I did, I --

BOYLES: Thought so.

BONNIWELL: I came out at -- when it opened up at 9 o'clock, I was there for a couple hours; we had people there from the paper all day.

BOYLES: Now, we invited you on for a number of reasons but one, two, three, four, the fifth paragraph -- swear to God I'm reading it. “The 2007 event was intended to be part of a one-day crash course to help the homeless and virtually” -- by the way, how did they get there?

BONNIWELL: They're usually -- well, they're usually bused; they have --

BOYLES: Ah.

BONNIWELL: They went down to the DOA and other places, although they said in their announcement that people get there by their own personal cars, which I'm wondering why the homeless have their own cars, but --

BOYLES: [Laughs] I watch that guy. He is my favorite homeless guy. He's my favorite mooch. He sits at Colfax and Speer and feeds the pigeons. Ever seen that guy?

BONNIWELL: I think I have.

BOYLES: He's got a, he's got a baseball hat on, and he's got one of those iPods in his ears.

BONNIWELL: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

BOYLES: And I watched him answer a cell phone one day.

BONNIWELL: Well, that -- well, they actually give them cell phones, because in theory they have to -- employers, if they want to get a hold of them, they have to get 'em -- so they actually give them cell phones.

BOYLES: Huh. All right. So -- so, they got out there on buses --

[...]

BOYLES: So, I read this: “The 2007 event was intended to be part of a one-day crash course to help the homeless in virtually every manner that could be humanly conceived. There were stations for food, clothing, free legal advice” -- and this is the one -- “identification cards without questions about legal status in the United States.”

BONNIWELL: Yeah, and at station four they weren't per se issuing them. I didn't watch -- you know, the line was so big I couldn't get in that line. And there's lots of ways to get identification cards, quite frankly. City and County of Denver can issue identification cards. They can issue a state one or drivers' license, which gets you the cornucopia of, of state assistance. Or they could, I, I suppose, direct you to the Mexican consulate where you could get your matricula consular card, which Denver recognizes. I noticed when, in The Denver Post when they did their editorial opposing [House Bill] 1313, they had talked to the Colorado Department of Revenue --

BOYLES: Yes.

BONNIWELL: -- which recently established a flexible process for folks, if I remember.

BOYLES: Yes [laughs]. Yes.

BONNIWELL: Since May 9th, 199 people have applied for state-issued ID through this conduit, so it's possible that was also part of it.

BOYLES: OK. When I read it I thought to myself, issuing IDs at DU without --

BONNIWELL: Well, yes. You know, DU is, is the place where they house it and so forth, but it's really the City and County of Denver, and there were, quite frankly, state officials there from Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and other state agencies.