John William Suthers (born October 18,1951) is an American attorney and politician who served as the mayor of Colorado Springs,Colorado,the Attorney General of Colorado,U.S. Attorney for Colorado,executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections,and Fourth Judicial District Attorney. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Suthers was born in Denver and adopted a month later by William and Marguerite Suthers of Colorado Springs. His father died when Suthers was 15,and his mother died when he was 23.[1]
From 1977 to 1981,Suthers served as a deputy and chief deputy district attorney in Colorado Springs. From 1979 to 1981,he headed the Economic Crime Division of the district attorney's office and co-authored a book on consumer fraud and white-collar crime. During his time as a prosecutor at the local level,he tried cases ranging from drunken driving to first degree murder and from shoplifting to securities fraud.
In 1981,Suthers became a litigation partner in the Colorado Springs law firm of Sparks Dix,P.C. He remained with the firm until 1989,at which time he defeated an incumbent[2] to become the elected district attorney of the Fourth Judicial District. He served as president of the Colorado District Attorneys Council in 1994-1995.[3][4][5] At the conclusion of his second term,Suthers returned to Sparks Dix in 1997 as senior counsel in charge of the firm's litigation section. He then ran for Attorney General in 1998 and lost 47.5% to 50% [6] to Colorado Department of Natural Resources Director Ken Salazar.
In January 1999,Suthers was appointed executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections by Governor Bill Owens. In that capacity he managed a department of 6,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $500 million.[7]
Suthers has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver School of Law[8] and as a scholar in residence at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.[9] He also has held several bar association leadership positions,including president of the El Paso County Bar Association and senior vice president of the Colorado Bar Association.[3] He served as Colorado Commissioner on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws from 1993 to 1997.[3]
United States Attorney
In August 2001,Suthers was appointed by President George W. Bush as United States Attorney for the District of Colorado. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate and assumed the position the week before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001.[10] During his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado,he led the state's anti-terrorism efforts and his office prosecuted several high-profile white collar cases,including cases against executives of Qwest.[11]
Colorado Attorney General
Following the election of Ken Salazar to the United States Senate,John Suthers was nominated by Governor Owens and confirmed by the State Senate as the 37th Attorney General of Colorado in January 2005. Suthers served the remaining two years of Salazar's term before running for reelection in 2006. In November 2006,Suthers won election to the Attorney General's Office,defeating challenger Fern O'Brien by nine percent. During the same election cycle,the Republican candidate for Governor,CongressmanBob Beauprez,lost 56%–40%.[12]
Despite being courted in 2008 and 2010 to run for the U.S. Senate,Suthers chose to run for re-election. Suthers defeated his Democratic opponent,Stan Garnett,in 2010 election by a 13-point margin[13] –the largest margin of victory in a two-way race in Colorado that year. In both 2006 and 2010,Suthers received the endorsement of virtually every major newspaper in Colorado.[14][15] including The Denver Post,which called him a "tireless public servant".[16]
Suthers served on the executive committee of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) from 2007 to 2013.[17] He chaired the NAAG Criminal Law Committee from 2005 to 2007 and was a member of the U.S. Attorney General's Executive Working Group on Prosecution from 2005 to 2015.[3] He served as the Chairman of the Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG) in 2009-2010.
In December 2008,Suthers personally argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Kansas v. Colorado. The issue was decided in favor of Colorado.
In June 2012,Suthers was awarded the Kelley-Wyman Award by the National Association of Attorneys General. It is the highest award given by the Association and is presented annually to the Attorney General who has done the most to advance the interests of the Association. Suthers had been a principal negotiator for the state attorneys general in the National Mortgage Settlement in which the nations five largest mortgage services agreed to pay $25 billion in compensation for loan servicing misconduct.
Suthers was the second longest-serving attorney general in Colorado history. Only Duke Dunbar,who served 22 years from 1951 to 1973,had a longer tenure as Colorado Attorney General.
On May 19, 2015, Suthers was elected Mayor of Colorado Springs, defeating former Mayor Mary Lou Makepeace in a runoff election by a 68% to 32%. Colorado Springs is the 39th largest city in the United States, with a population of 500,000. The population of the metropolitan area is 770,000.
Suthers stated his priorities as restoring a collaborative relationship with City Council and other governmental entities in the Pikes Peak region, addressing the city's infrastructure issues, particularly roads and stormwater, and aggressively promoting new job creation.
In November 2015, his plan to increase sales taxes for five years in order to raise $250 million to repair roads in Colorado Springs was approved by the City Council 8 - 1 and by voters by a 65% to 35% margin. The tax was extended by the voters in November 2019, again with 65% of the vote.
In April 2016, Colorado Springs entered into an intergovernmental agreement with Pueblo County under which the city of Colorado Springs committed to spend at least $460 million over the next 20 years on its stormwater program. The agreement paved the way for a new water delivery project, The Southern Delivery System (SDS), to go online as scheduled. The system is expected to meet the water needs of Colorado Springs for the next 50 years. In November 2017, Colorado Springs voters approved by a 54% to 46% margin a stormwater fee to fund its stormwater program.
In April 2018, Colorado Springs approved an amended annexation agreement for Banning Lewis Ranch, paving the way for development of 24,000 acres that will accommodate the growth of the city for decades to come.
In December 2015, Suthers was awarded the Colorado Governor's Citizenship Medal, the highest award given to a citizen of Colorado, in recognition of his service as attorney general and for his work as Mayor, to put Colorado Springs on a "very positive trajectory".
In November 2016, Suthers was named Colorado Technology Advocate of the Year for his efforts in establishing a National Cybersecurity Center in Colorado Springs and advancing the city's efforts to become a cybersecurity hub for the nation.
In May 2017, Suthers was listed among others on a short list of candidates to replace James Comey as the FBI Director after a recommendation to the first Trump administration from Colorado Senator Cory Gardner.[18] While Suthers expressed gratitude for being listed amongst leading law enforcement officials from around the US, he expressed disinterest in moving into any federal position as well as disinterest in any future runs for the office of Governor of Colorado.[19] On April 2, 2019 Suthers was re-elected to a second term as mayor, capturing 74% of the vote in a four way race.
Under Suthers' leadership, Colorado Springs has become widely known as "Olympic City USA", for its identity as the home of 24 National Governing Bodies, as well as the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. In July 2020, the nation's only U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum opened in Colorado Springs.[20]
In 2021, Colorado Springs secured the final approvals for the City for Champions[21] initiative, a five-project effort that saw the City add a downtown stadium, a new indoor arena on the Colorado College campus, the Olympic Museum, the Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center on the campus of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and a new Visitors Center at the United States Air Force Academy.
During Suthers' tenure as mayor, Colorado Springs' gross domestic product (GDP) has grown by a third from $30 billion to $40 billion annually. According to the Milken Institute, the city's economy was 98th among the nation's 200 largest cities when Suthers took office in 2015. In 2022, the city ranked among the nation's top 10 municipal economies. According to U.S. News & World Report, Colorado Springs was ranked the Most Desirable City in America from 2019 to 2022.
Electoral history
Colorado Springs Mayoral General election, 2019
Candidate
Votes
%
John Suthers
61,830
74%
Juliette Parker
9,512
11%
John Pitchford
8,478
10%
Lawrence Martinez
4,160
5%
Colorado Springs Mayoral Runoff election, 2015
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Non-Partisan
John Suthers
65,991
67.58
Non-Partisan
Mary Lou Makepeace
31,666
32.43
Colorado Springs Mayoral General election, 2015
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Non-Partisan
John Suthers
40,900
46.37
Non-Partisan
Mary Lou Makepeace
20,783
23.56
Non-Partisan
Joel Miller
13,794
15.64
Non-Partisan
Amy Lathen
10,352
11.74
Non-Partisan
Lawrence Martinez
1,125
1.28
Non-Partisan
Tony Carpenter
1,048
1.19
Non-Partisan
Moses Humes (Write In)
5
0.01
Colorado Attorney General election, 2010
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
John Suthers
960,995
56.3
Democrat
Stan Garnett
744,601
43.7
Colorado Attorney General election, 2006
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
John Suthers
789,034
52.4
Democrat
Fern O'Brien
652,268
43.4
Libertarian
Dwight K. Harding
64,122
4.29
Personal life
Suthers and his wife Janet have two adult daughters, Alison and Kate. Alison is a Deputy District Attorney in Denver, and Kate is a Commander in the United States Navy. Suthers has two grandchildren.
On July 1, 2019, Suthers' son-in-law Dr. Mark Karla died following a crash where the Uber in which he was riding was struck by a stolen car fleeing from Denver police.[22] The Uber driver was also killed, and the driver of the stolen vehicle was convicted of two counts of vehicular homicide.
Suthers has authored six books, including No Higher Calling, No Greater Responsibility: A Prosecutor Makes His Case (Fulcrum Publishing, 2008) and Becoming a Good Ancestor (Morris Publishing, 2011). His autobiography, "All This I Saw and Part of It I Was" (Gracepoint Publishing, 2023) was published in June 2023.
Kenneth Lee Salazar is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martínez (R-Florida) were the first Hispanic U.S. senators since 1977; they were joined by Bob Menendez in 2006. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as Attorney General of Colorado from 1999 to 2005.
Thomas Lee Strickland is an American lawyer who was formerly chief of staff to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in the Interior Department. Strickland served as United States Attorney for Colorado and was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate for Colorado in 1996 and 2002. He joined WilmerHale as a partner in September, 2011.
Troy A. Eid is an American attorney who served as United States Attorney for the District of Colorado from 2006 to 2009. He is also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and University of Denver College of Law, where he teaches civil and criminal law with a focus on energy, natural resources, environmental regulation, and American Indian law.
The 2010 United States Senate election in Colorado took place on November 2, 2010, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. In December 2008, President-elect Barack Obama nominated incumbent U.S. Senator Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior. After Salazar resigned from his seat, Democratic governor Bill Ritter appointed Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to fill the seat.
Mark Waller is a former Colorado county commissioner as well as a former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado and county level assistant district attorney. Elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Republican in 2008, Waller had represented House District 15, which encompasses portions of northeastern Colorado Springs, Colorado. Waller also served in the US Air Force from 1993 until 2000, joining the Air Force Reserves in 2001, and following his graduation from the University of Denver Law School, he worked as an attorney prosecuting insurgents during the Iraq War; he was deployed in 2006.
The 2010 Colorado gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the Governor of Colorado, who would serve a four-year term that began in January 2011. One-term incumbent Democrat Bill Ritter announced that he would not run for re-election in 2010. Dan Maes, backed by the Tea Party movement, won the Republican nomination in the primary with 50.6% of the vote and a 1.3% margin over rival Scott McInnis. In claiming victory, Maes called on former representative Tom Tancredo, running as the Constitution Party's nominee to "stop your campaign tonight." Denver mayor John Hickenlooper was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Hickenlooper won the race with over 50% of the vote.
The 2010 congressional elections in Colorado were held on November 2, 2010, to determine who will represent the state of Colorado in the United States House of Representatives. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 112th Congress.
The 2014 Colorado gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Colorado, concurrently with the election to Colorado's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Philip Cole Finegan II is an American lawyer who served as the United States attorney for the District of Colorado from 2021 to 2024. He served as Denver's city attorney and chief of staff to then Denver mayor John Hickenlooper from 2003 through 2006. He was also the regional managing partner of the Americas for Hogan Lovells and managing partner of the law firm's Denver office.
Joseph Anthony Salazar is an American attorney and politician. A Democrat, Salazar served as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. In 2018, Salazar ran for Colorado Attorney General, but lost the primary to eventual victor Phil Weiser by a margin of less than one percent of the vote.
Cynthia Honssinger Coffman is an American attorney and politician from the state of Colorado. A Republican, she was elected Attorney General of Colorado in 2014, serving a single term from 2015 to 2019.
The 2015 Colorado Springs mayoral election took place on April 7 and May 19, 2015, to elect the mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The election was held concurrently with various other local elections. The election was officially nonpartisan.
The 2018 Colorado gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor of Colorado. Incumbent Democratic governor John Hickenlooper was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term. The primary election was held on June 26.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Colorado on November 6, 2018. All of Colorado's executive offices and all seven of its seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Democrats swept the statewide offices up for election, leaving the at-large seat on the University of Colorado Board of Regents and the Class 2 U.S. Senate seat as the last statewide offices held by Republicans.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Colorado was held on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennet won reelection to a third term, defeating the Republican candidate, businessman Joe O'Dea. Originally appointed to the seat in 2009, Bennet won full terms in 2010 and 2016.
The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the seven U.S. representatives from the state of Colorado, one from each of the state's seven congressional districts. The Republican and Democratic Party primaries in Colorado were held on June 26, 2018. The elections coincided with the gubernatorial election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections.
Jason R. Dunn is an American attorney, who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Colorado from 2018 to 2021. He was previously an attorney in private practice in the Denver office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado were held on November 3, 2020, to elect the seven U.S. representatives from the state of Colorado, one from each of the state's seven congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections.
The 2022 Colorado Secretary of State election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the Secretary of State of Colorado. Incumbent Democrat Jena Griswold won re-election to a second term, improving on her 2018 results.
The 2023 Colorado Springs mayoral election was held on April 4, 2023, to elect the mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado, with a runoff scheduled for May 16. Incumbent mayor John Suthers was term-limited and could not seek a third term in office. The election was officially nonpartisan.
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