DES MOINES (AP) — After four tumultuous years adamantly pursuing voter fraud and lobbying for voter identification, Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz is preparing to leave office with no regrets and a determination to prosecute criminals of another kind.
Schultz said he’s excited to return to the practice of law after winning easy victory in the Nov. 4 election for Madison County attorney.
He’ll take a cut in pay and have a much smaller staff as he prosecutes crimes in the county southwest of Des Moines with less than 16,000 residents, but he said the job will keep him close to home and allow him to continue public service.
“I learned a lot as secretary of state and I’m proud of my service here,” he said, sitting at his desk in the ornate office at the Iowa Capitol. “I think just the experience I’ve had will just help me be a better public servant, especially on the local level.”
He leaves the office unable to get voter ID through the Legislature and with a controversial legacy, including lawsuits and harsh criticism that he tried to suppress votes.
Schultz paid $250,000 over two years to investigate voter fraud cases that resulted in election-related charges against 27 people. Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which says Schultz spent too much time and money pursuing cases of a small number of voters who didn’t intend to break the law.
The ACLU sued Schultz in 2012 over a rule he passed that would have removed voters from registration rolls if they could not confirm their citizenship. A judge found state law does not authorize the secretary of state to cancel a voter’s registration based on citizenship questions. Schultz has appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, which hasn’t yet ruled.
“I truly believe that our system is built on having this trust in our elections and that voter ID and making sure that if you’re voting that you’re eligible to vote is an inherent part of that,” he said.
As he campaigned for county attorney, he faced doubters who accused him of not living in the county but staying in a house owned by his mother-in-law.
The truth, he said, is that his wife’s mother wanted to move from Washington to Iowa to be nearer to her daughter and grandchildren. Schultz said he and his wife decided to pool resources with her mother and buy a home big enough for their growing family, which now includes five children ranging in age from 12 to 1. His wife and her mother are listed on the deed.
They moved to Truro, a city of about 485 people 40 miles southwest of Des Moines, in March 2013 when he thought he’d likely run for re-election. Then U.S. Rep. Tom Latham made the surprise December 2013 announcement he would retire. Schultz decided the next month to run for Congress. That ended when the Republican Party in June chose David Young out of the crowded field of six candidates as the nominee. Schultz said he didn’t even know he’d be running for county attorney when he moved to Madison County.
“People tried to make an issue of that. They would make fun and tease and they’d attack and say I moved there to run. The voters of Madison County saw that I was genuine,” he said.
He won the race with 61 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Julie Bardwell-Forsyth, who had been county attorney for eight years.
She didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
Schultz said he’s not looking beyond the county attorney job, which will include prosecuting criminal cases including drug violations and domestic abuse.
“Quite frankly I’m a better lawyer than I am a politician, so I’m excited about getting into the courtroom and using those skills and being able to serve that community,” he said.
He didn’t deny that he might seek statewide office again.
“I’ve always been a big believer in term limits. I don’t expect to be county attorney forever. So when that time comes could I run for something else? I’m not going to say no,” he said. “I’ll be there at least four years and maybe more.”