March 31, 2011 03:08 AM UTC

Purging...Dave Schultheis?

•  
• 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?