Early career 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 to become the elected district attorney of the Fourth Judicial District. He served as president of the Colorado District Attorneys Council in 1994-1995. 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% 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. Suthers has served as an adjunct professor at the
University of Denver School of Law and as a scholar in residence at the
University of Colorado Colorado Springs. 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. 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.
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,
Congressman Bob Beauprez, lost 56%–40%. 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 – 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. including
The Denver Post, which called him a "tireless public servant". Suthers served on the executive committee of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) from 2007 to 2013. 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. 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. 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. In 2021, Colorado Springs secured the final approvals for the City for Champions 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 ==