Colorado’s attorney general is charged with enforcing the state’s consumer protection and antitrust laws, prosecuting white-collar crimes and taking on certain natural resource and environmental matters. The AG represents the state’s interests in criminal appeals and must manage an office of 360 employees, including 230 lawyers. Among them, they handle an estimated 10,000 legal issues a year.
It is demanding duty, with public-policy challenges that run a wide gamut.
Voters chose Ken Salazar for the position in 2002, and on his election to the U.S. Senate, the governor appointed then-U.S. Attorney John Suthers to succeed him. Suthers is a first-class prosecutor who is now seeking election to a full term in his own right. We urge Coloradans to give him their vote.
Suthers isn’t what you’d call a flashy guy. The Colorado Springs Republican takes a sensible approach to his work and seems drawn to dense and complicated issues, such as water rights. (A good thing, since the AG will have to defend Colorado’s interests in nine interstate river compacts.) He is pushing to finalize hazardous waste cleanup projects that have lingered for as long as 20 years. And he has taken on mortgage fraud in a state that has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
His challenger, Democrat Fern O’Brien, is a well-spoken Boulder lawyer and a quick study on state issues. But she has never held office, and her lack of background in important policy matters would require a formidable learning curve.
Suthers’ experience will serve the state well. Before serving as U.S. attorney, he ran the state Department of Corrections under Gov. Bill Owens, managing almost 6,000 employees and an operating budget of $500 million. He was elected twice as district attorney for El Paso and Teller counties.
Given the misguided political rhetoric this election season, we feel the need to defend Suthers’ plea bargain record. At 98 percent, it’s higher than that of Bill Ritter, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who is being excoriated in GOP attack ads for his 97 percent rating as Denver DA.
Suthers has stayed out of the political fray, but we’ve paused once or twice in surprise as the AG’s office has stretched itself to prolong the secretary of state’s attempt to preempt the legislature and single-handedly change campaign funding rules. As counsel to the secretary, we wish he had advised her to drop the disputed rules (later stopped by a panel of state judges).
Even so, Suthers has proven a talented officeholder and is well-prepared to serve as attorney general. He deserves election to the office.
