Legislator blasts colleague as racist, 'disgrace'

April M. Washington And Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Rep. Rosemary Marshall called Rep. Dave Schultheis a racist, a "son of a b---- and a disgrace to the chamber" on the House floor Friday, saying she felt he made light of an e-mail sent to a colleague that spoke of lynching.

"I seem to get my annual chewing out from Rosemary each year," Schultheis, a Colorado Springs Republican, said later. "I don't know what her problem is, but I think she was totally out of line."

The blowup came a day after Rep. Terrance Carroll, a Denver Democrat like Marshall, revealed that he had received a threatening e-mail earlier in the week.

The writer told Carroll he was "lucky" that lynching wasn't still practiced.

Carroll, who is black, had poked fun at the Minuteman Project, a group of anti-illegal immigration volunteers who patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. That, he said, apparently angered the e-mail writer.

On Thursday, Schultheis suggested that Carroll was "making a big issue" out of the e-mail before verifying that it actually was sent by a Minuteman member.

Schultheis, a member of the Minuteman Project, said there is no proof that the e-mail came from a bona fide Minuteman.

On Friday, he stood by his opinion that Carroll was "blowing the issue out of proportion," and called Marshall's attack uncalled for.

Marshall, who is black, later said she has had enough of "blatant racism."

"In this day and age, for someone to make light of a reference to lynching a black man is sickening," the Denver Democrat said. "With Schultheis, racism is his common practice. My words met his level of understanding."

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said the e-mail Carroll received was "as close to a death threat as I've ever seen in this body."

The e-mail began: "Get off the tequila binge, sir. How dare you sell out those who got you in office, and protect your sorry a-- every day of your life.

"You wanna help illegals??? Go to their country and represent them. . . . there's no one HERE gonna put up with you and your kind."

"You are Soooo lucky lynching and the firing squad for treason aren't available punishments anymore . . . I'd vote you in, in a heart beat."

Romanoff said he had seen such language from neo-Nazi groups in the South, but hadn't seen such vile language in Colorado.

"There is no place for such language here," he said.

The Colorado State Patrol and the Denver police are investigating the e-mail.

The debate over how to stem illegal immigration has inflamed passions in the Capitol as well as across the state and nation, leading to a series of protests in recent weeks.

Rep. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, said he agreed with "99 percent of what the speaker said," but added that Romanoff went too far if he was comparing the Minutemen, which Harvey described as law-abiding, patriotic Americans, to neo-Nazis.

Carroll himself compared the Minutemen to the Ku Klux Klan, saying their claims of being war veterans and God-fearing Christians out to defend the American way of life resemble similar statements made by KKK at the height of its power.

The KKK's main objective was to maintain white supremacy in the South, which it felt was under threat after the South's defeat in the Civil War.

It was responsible for the lynching of hundreds of blacks.

"The language they (Minutemen) use in the debate surrounding illegal immigration is eerily similar," Carroll said. "If left unchallenged, it can fuel an environment we saw in America post Civil War and during Jim Crow."

Carroll said he considers the e-mail threatening and the very suggestion that he's overreacting is out of line.

"Lynching is not a word you pull out of the sky," he said.

"Everyone knows that it has deep-rooted meaning to black people. It's symbolic of hatred at its worst."

Marshall added, "It's amazing in 2006 that people think it's OK to threaten an elected official."

It marks the second time during the session that charges of racism have been lodged at a House member.

Rep. Jim Welker, R-Loveland, came under fire for sending a racially charged e-mail about black Hurricane Katrina victims, even after he was warned in 2003 by his own party about forwarding offensive material.

Welker also was admonished by Romanoff after sending an e-mail quoting a conservative study that discussed the lifestyles of gays and lesbians.

washingtonam@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5086