Purging...Dave Schultheis?

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by: Colorado Pols

Potentially a major development in conservative Colorado politics in the aftermath of Saturday’s victory for Denver attorney Ryan Call, elected with surprisingly strong support to the post of state GOP chairman–as the Colorado Independent’s Leslie Jorgensen reports:

[The Republican Study Committee of Colorado] claimed 34 Republican members in the state Legislature – 11 in the Senate and 23 in the House – prior to Tuesday. At least 10 legislators quit in the wake of allegations that it was crossing ethics boundaries in influencing lawmaker votes, directing legislative aides and meddling in the race for state GOP chairman…

The committee also took a strong stand in the race to replace Dick Wadhams as head of the Colorado Republican party this month. Schultheis and most conservative study committee members had endorsed RSCC member Senator Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch.

The committee members scrambled on stage last Saturday to nominate Harvey but their “we’ve got it nailed” confidence withered when the Republican Party Central Committee overwhelmingly elected state GOP Legal Counsel Ryan Call on the first ballot with 167.6 votes to Harvey’s 74.4…

Gone from the RSCC website membership page are photos and names of House Speaker Frank McNulty, Majority Leader Amy Stephens, Majority Caucus Chair Carole Murray, Majority Whip B.J. Nikkel and Representatives Cindy Acree, Kevin Priola, Ray Scott, Ken Summers, Spencer Swalm and Libby Szabo.

Several legislators recently questioned whether Schultheis and the group had crossed the line between a policy ad-hoc committee and a volunteer lobbyist coalition. They wondered whether the committee compromised a legislative aide who might have breached ethics by disseminating positions on bills and by twittering opinions.

Of course, it wasn’t the complete failure of the RSCC’s “Arizona copycat” anti-immigrant legislation drive, complete with testimony from witnesses linked to brazen white-supremacist organizations and enough general offense to turn Hispanics in Colorado off to Republicans for a generation, that forced all of these “moderate” Republican officials to ditch Dave Schultheis’ Republican Study Committee of Colorado policy group. Clearly, none of Schultheis’ numerous trips to the public-opinion woodshed for such offhand remarks as “What I’m hoping is that, yes, that person may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby…”

Nope. There are other rules Schultheis and the RSCC broke, as you can read above.

With that said, this remains a potentially very important and positive shift for Colorado Republican politics, which is an opinion we’ve heard voiced about Call’s election this past weekend as well. Whatever steps the Colorado GOP can take to distance themselves from the “bad old days” of Schultheis, and hardcore conservative politicos who are more interested in divisive ideological grandstands and purity purges than either governing or winning elections will directly help them at the ballot box. Call’s pleasing lip service to the idea of winning back Hispanics, and reaching out to independents, should be similarly encouraging to those hoping for a viable GOP twenty–or even ten–years from now. Will deeds match his hopeful words?

And will the “Tea Party”-energized Republican base go along with this?

11 thoughts on “Purging…Dave Schultheis?”

JeffcoBlue says:

March 31, 2011 at 3:36 am

Lynn Bartels has a ~~whitewash~~ story about basically the same thing, except that it’s a “fringe element” that’s upset with McNulty and Stephens.

Lynn, you know perfectly well that this “fringe element” has been a huge chunk of GOP politics for decades. They are brought out every election to fire up the nut vote. Then they put them back in the box as best they can.

If they’re suddenly “the fringe,” cool by me. But please don’t sweep under the rug how powerful they have historically been.

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1. Ralphie says:
  
  March 31, 2011 at 3:37 am
  
  End of discussion.
  
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  1. JeffcoBlue says:
    
    March 31, 2011 at 3:45 am
    
    She’s taking the people who won the election for Republicans last year and declaring them “the fringe” just like that. Either she’s trying to revise history, or the script has changed so much it would make Orwell blush.
    
    “We’ve always been at war with the Tea Party.”
    
    Yeah, right…
    
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abraham says:

March 31, 2011 at 7:18 am

I know it is fun to demonize the whole Republican Party and castigate them as part of teh DNA crazies of the Schultheis ilk. But there is much more going on here.

In the dwindling small pond that Schultheis and his ilk – can we call it a cult? – are living in, McNulty, Stephens, Waller and other very, very conservative Republicans are dealing with the reality of keeping the ship of state afloat. It is to their credit that they are looking over the precipice and seeing the bottom of Dante’s Inferno and stepping back and being prgamatic.

It is easy for the Schultheis’s and Union of Taxpayers (can you spell Penn Pfiffner cult)and Independence Institute (we’re still here – tell us you love us by sending more checks in larger denominations) to rally the anarchist movement but hope desperately that they do not succeed. These groups have a market niche of the disaffected and marginalized and they cannot survive without the responsible element of Colorado politics creating the stability that they have to have.

This is a group that should form the losers and failuire caucus.

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1. JeffcoBlue says:
  
  March 31, 2011 at 4:31 pm
  
  Did we live in the same state last year? They relied the Tea Party and now they’re cutting them lose as an inconvenience. And you’re helping.
  
  Please explain, wise one: why were they all members of the Dave Schultheis Club TO BEGIN WITH? Why did the GOP spend the last two years creating this monster?
  
  You have to get over your fantasies, bub.
  
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  1. BlueCat says:
    
    March 31, 2011 at 5:14 pm
    
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2. Republican 36 says:
  
  March 31, 2011 at 9:56 pm
  
  Speaker McNulty and Majority Leader Stephens are part of the group that now has to govern the state of Colorado. Responsibility for the state landed on their shoulders last November when the voters put the Republicans in charge of the Colorado House of Representatives. Responsibility has a great tendency to sober people up to what is really in front of them. Its real easy to assert silly, goofy positions like Sen. Schultheis has done when you’re in the minority, but once you’re responsible reality tends to change at least some people.
  
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  1. Phoenix Rising says:
    
    March 31, 2011 at 10:11 pm
    
    “at least some people”.
    
    Republicans proved last time they were in charge that “at least some people” didn’t include enough of them to responsibly govern the state. I do have to feel a little pity on any Republican in the State House who is actually trying tackle the important issues of governance – but I’m not convinced that Air Quotes Amy and Speaker McNulty are 100% committed to that yet…
    
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    1. Republican 36 says:
      
      April 1, 2011 at 3:52 am
      
      this time but there are some signs governing has sobered the House leadership. Hope springs eternal.
      
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Half Glass Full says:

April 1, 2011 at 1:49 am

Seriously: He’s way too conservative for me, but he did the right thing leaving this ridiculous Schultheis cluster.

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GalapagoLarry says:

April 1, 2011 at 6:03 am

And this isn’t going to get them safely off. They’d better hang on tight or hope the tiger dies. We’ll see how healthy he is in 2012. Looks like some Repubs think he’s getting a little tired.

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