After repeatedly and falsely claiming on past broadcasts of his KHOW 630-AM radio show that former Denver mayor Wellington Webb “proclaimed” Denver a so-called “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants, Colorado Inside Out Live host Peter Boyles during a March 28 interview on the KBDI Channel 12 program did not ask Webb about “sanctuary” policy or any other immigration-related topics. As he explained on his March 29 radio show, "[W]e'll discuss the ... sanctuary stuff at another time. But that wasn't the time last night."

The March 28 broadcast of Colorado Inside Out Live (aired on Wednesdays) was to be Boyles' last as host of the public television interview show. His final broadcast as host of KBDI's roundtable discussion Colorado Inside Out (aired on Fridays) was scheduled March 30.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, Boyles stated on his July 28, 2006, radio broadcast that “It's a clown show because Denver is a sanctuary city, proclaimed so by former Mayor [Wellington] Webb. And ask him about sanctuary policy and, jeez, he just didn't know anything about it.” Similarly, on his September 11, 2006, broadcast, Boyles referred to an executive order issued by Webb that several conservatives, including Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton), have argued established Denver as a sanctuary city.

As Colorado Media Matters pointed out, while attempting in 2005 to make the case that Denver is a sanctuary city, Tancredo debated with Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan on Boyles' show. As The Denver Post reported on May 13, 2005 (accessed through the Nexis database):

During the radio show, Tancredo and Finegan sparred over two executive orders signed by former Mayor Wellington Webb that Tancredo points to as evidence Denver has a sanctuary policy. One, signed in 1998, prohibits discrimination against foreign nationals in delivering city services. The other, signed in 2002, established Denver's policy for accepting some forms of foreign ID cards.

Those orders do not discourage cooperation with immigration authorities and, therefore, do not represent a sanctuary policy, Finegan said.

Though Boyles and Tancredo argued at the time that “comments Webb made while signing the executive order in 1998 amounted to a de facto sanctuary policy,” the Post made clear that regardless of the legal effects of Webb's oral proclamations accompanying his signing of the orders, his “prepared remarks from the event refer[red] only to legal immigrants.”

Finally, as Colorado Media Matters noted, on his October 2, 2006, broadcast, Boyles again suggested that the Webb administration endorsed a “sanctuary” policy in Denver. Discussing the upcoming gubernatorial election, Boyles said:

The next governor of the state of Colorado. My mind was made up this weekend, when some excellent investigative work was done on Bill Ritter as D.A. and releasing people. Now, this is very much a part of sanctuary. As you know, Bill Ritter was the D.A. during all the [Wellington] Webb administration and the first part of the administration of John Hickenlooper. And now these cases that have been raised of how Bill Ritter treated illegal immigrants, and it is just -- it makes up -- certainly I can only speak for myself, but it makes up my mind for me that I will vote for Bob Beauprez.

Colorado Media Matters also has noted numerous other instances in which Boyles has repeated the “sanctuary city” falsehood without mentioning Webb.

But despite Boyles' repeated accusations, he failed to mention the subject of Denver being a “sanctuary city” during the March 28 interview with the former mayor. Instead, Boyles asked Webb about his childhood and his first mayoral campaign in 1991.

On this radio show the following day, Boyles attempted to explain his decision not to discuss immigration issues -- or any of his other frequent on-air criticisms of the former mayor -- with Webb:

BOYLES: But he told me some, I mean, laugh-out-loud funny stories about the insanity that was going on in his childhood and everything, so I -- I knew how I wanted to do the show. ... and I didn't know if, you know, we could -- we could do it. And he came in and it was -- and then after the show was over we sat and talked. And so, I mean -- he said to me, and we talked about the show and, you know -- we'll discuss the Rosa Linda's restaurant ... and sanctuary stuff at another time. But that wasn't the time last night. And it was -- and it was just nice. It was really nice, and it was like, you sit there with a guy that you know at one time, you know -- you know, that just wasn't good.

From the March 28 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Colorado Inside Out Live:

BOYLES: Good evening, and welcome to Colorado Inside Out Live. I'm your host, Peter Boyles from KHOW radio. Tonight, this is a good one. First African-American mayor of the city. Remains a powerful voice in Colorado politics. Currently President and CEO of the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce. Recently, his autobiography, Wellington Webb: The Man, the Mayor, and the Making of Modern Denver. The mayor is here. We were just talking -- we've been sitting here, actually in the green room, and then in here, and that should have been the show. [laughs] Good night, everyone. You were saying, the book -- and I'm almost done with the book. I'm as far as you've won your second term and then -- but it's very little, I mean -- I say this, that's all, that's the end of the book, because the book really isn't that much about, about politics. It's about you. And -- and I was saying that I think that when people read this, they'll see different aspects of themselves, I think, through you.

From the March 29 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

MICHAEL SPEER [sponsor/market reporter]: I really have to say, Pete, I enjoyed your show last night on Channel 12 --

BOYLES: Yeah.

SPEER: -- with your interview with Wellington Webb. It was really an interesting walk through time.

BOYLES: You know, it -- it was -- that was the final Wednesday night show --

SPEER: Yep.

BOYLES: -- and he's gonna come on the radio show; we made a -- and we'll talk about the immigration policies of his administration, but last night. The book is very -- it's very -- it's a very kind book.

SPEER: Mm-hmm.

BOYLES: And he and I didn't always get along. That's a real secret.

SPEER: Yeah, right.

BOYLES: And I -- so I finished his book, and I was saying, OK, now, this is last Wednesday night's show, you know, and it's interesting that he would be the guy to be there given all the enormous fights that he and I had. We just had some really bad knockout-dragouts. And another one -- his media, press secretary was a guy named Andrew Hudson. Andrew and I are now very close friends. We're on a board together. I mean, it almost came to nose-to-nose a couple of times with Andrew. And -- and just that whole time period. So, when you read the book, he really doesn't -- I mean, it isn't about politics, it's about his life. And he really does talk about the issues with his mother and stuff about his divorces and, you know, I mean -- and just -- and he lost a baby, a daughter.

SPEER: Yeah.

BOYLES: I never knew about that, and in the book and he talks about it. So -- you know. And, you know what, to his credit, most of those guys that come in, they got 28 people with them.

SPEER: Yeah.

BOYLES: Parks his car, walks in on his own. He's there a half an hour early.

SPEER: Yep.

BOYLES: We sat in the green room and chat -- I mean, he and I -- we never -- I can't say we ever got along, because we did not get along.

SPEER: Yeah.

BOYLES: But we sat in the green room, and he -- he told me some stories that I can -- I, as I said, I can never tell.

SPEER: Of course.

BOYLES: But he told me some, I mean, laugh-out-loud funny stories about the insanity that was going on in his childhood and everything, so I -- I knew how I wanted to do the show.

SPEER: Uh-huh.

BOYLES: And I didn't know if, you know, we could -- we could do it. And he came in and it was -- and then after the show was over we sat and talked. And so, I mean -- he said to me, and we talked about the show and, you know -- we'll discuss the Rosa Linda's restaurant --

SPEER: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

BOYLES: -- and sanctuary stuff at another time. But that wasn't the time last night. And it was -- and it was just nice. It was really nice, and it was like, you sit there with a guy that you know at one time, you know -- you know, that just wasn't good.