Schultheis lauded for being true to his principles

On an afternoon in early April, Dave Schultheis was hobnobbing with fellow Republicans at the El Paso County assembly. When a fellow lawmaker stood up and read off a litany of bills that Schultheis had run at the Capitol, the entire building erupted into applause. The 70-year-old Schultheis was speechless.

“I was brought to tears. Because you don’t realize, as a public official, how many people are actually watching you and how many people are appreciating you,” said Schultheis. “It was one of the best memories of my life.”

During his six years in the state House and four in the Senate, Schultheis became known for his fearless and unapologetic ways, and proved to be a fervent idealist, beholden to no one. He chose not to run for another term, and Kent Lambert will succeed him when the General Assembly convenes next month.

(Read about Michael Merrifield, another outgoing lawmaker, here.)

As a lawmaker, Schultheis once got a personal visit from two of former Gov. Bill Owens’ staffers because Owens wanted him to kill a particular bill. The measure would have required married couples with children to go through a year of counseling before their divorce could be finalized. Schultheis flatly refused to yank the bill. It eventually died in a House committee.

For five years, his signature political issue has been illegal immigration. Every session, Schultheis has run varying bills in a continuing attempt to crack down on undocumented workers, but it has availed him little.

“When (the Democrats) are in charge, you know that you’re not going to get bills passed that have teeth in them, like we should have,” said Schultheis, who considers his greatest achievements to be bills that failed, such as measures he introduced to regulate abortion.

He criticized a special legislative session called in the summer of 2006, ostensibly to deal with illegal immigration. The result was a new law that denied non-essential public services to undocumented immigrants. But that wasn’t enough for Schultheis. So he’s continued his crusade, pushing punitive measures for employers that hire illegal immigrants, increased government oversight on employee documentation, and more.

“That has kept the issue on the table,” Lambert said.

At the same time, Schultheis’ brutal honesty has raised hackles across the state. In 2009, Schultheis was hammered from all sides for voting against a bill requiring all pregnant women to be tested for HIV, and for suggesting that babies born with HIV should stand as examples of the dangers of promiscuity. In 2006, Schultheis was pilloried for an email he sent to the Greeley Tribune asking if Latino victims of a deadly car crash were American citizens or undocumented immigrants. (The victims were citizens.)

Schultheis sees the immigration issue as a moral one, and in an odd way, his apparent lack of political savvy stems from honesty. Schultheis says exactly what he feels and what he believes. He sees America as a Christian nation, which has drawn all of its values from religion, and he says those morals need to be applied forcefully in law because religion has been slowly eroding over the years.

“We need more and more laws to control peoples’ behavior because it comes less and less from inside,” he said, referring to inner beliefs and principles.

That, along with his strong pro-life stances, has made him a favorite of the Christian right.

“The political class and the media don’t know what to do with people like Dave Schultheis because he’s a rare breed,” said Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Family, a Christian ministry headquartered in Colorado Springs. “We don’t want him to leave. We want 10 more like him.”

Even Schultheis’ political opponents say that, politics aside, his integrity is unimpeachable.

“If you define success as remaining true to your principles, then he’ll go down as one of the most successful legislators in history,” said Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs. “He did not have a high batting average, but... his face is marred from the blood and sweat from the battle of fighting for what he believes in.”

Though Schultheis could have served another four years in the Senate, he chose not to because his wife, Sandra, asked him a small favor — to spend more time with her, and with his five grandchildren. He’ll stay involved in politics; he’s the new chairman of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers.

A few Schultheis bills:

HCR 02-1006: Would have created a ballot measure asking voters to specify that Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refunds should not be issued to special interest groups. The bill was defeated.

HB 05-1072: Would have required abortion clinics to obtain state permits. The bill was run three consecutive years and was defeated each time.

HB 05-1271: Would have required anyone seeking non-emergency state services to provide proof of citizenship. The bill was defeated.

SB 07-071: Would have made killing a fetus a class 1 felony. This would not have banned abortions. It would have increased the penalty for criminals who beat pregnant women and cause the death of the fetus. The bill was defeated two years in a row.

SB 07-138: Would have required schools to distribute a “Religious Bill of Rights” to students. The bill was defeated.

Read more Colorado political coverage on John Schroyer's new blog, Second Reading.