In announcing his decision not to seek re-election as the leader of Colorado’s House Republicans, state Rep. Patrick Neville (R-Castle Rock) issued an unvarnished critique of the Colorado Republican Party.

His primary target: Republican consultants, who, says Neville, make millions of dollars and attack Republicans while going soft on Democrats.

Neville told KNUS morning-show host Peter Boyles Friday that he won’t seek his leadership post so he can “get back, get closer to the grassroots, work with the grassroots; I think they’ve been ignored far too long.”

RELATED: How Conservatives Lost Colorado

Here’s an excerpt of his discussion with Boyles:

Neville: The Republican Party has some trouble here in Colorado because it’s run by a certain set of consultants that have been kind of just hanging onto power and doing whatever they can. That’s really more important to them than winning. We see it here in the state where these different groups get together and they’ll spend — you know, at least in the state House races — probably four or five times more [than] what they’ll spend — [correcting himself] four or five times more in the primaries than what they actually spend in the general elections. And unfortunately, some of the same folks that are, you know, working on the Trump campaign and working for these different groups are out there now trying to play the blame game because it’s looking like the elections in Colorado are not going to be as great as we’re hoping. And so they’re trying to play the blame game and try to blame Trump. But the fact of the matter is, it’s because these same guys will go after Republicans with complete vigor and with everything they have. But then, when it comes to Democrats, they kind of like to sit on their feet and then sit back. And so, we’ve released some ads that are pretty hard-hitting. We’re not playing around. And what we’re starting to see is there’s certain Republicans out there that are, you know, criticizing us for doing that, and [saying], “Oh, this is so bad. You can’t do it!”

BOYLES: …What happened? What’s going on with the Republican Party in Colorado, and how and why? And I know you’re willing to name names. Pat, what are they doing?

NEVILLE: I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily the official party apparatus; It’s the different IECs and the different groups that are outside of the Republican Party that are really controlled by different consultants, the same consultants who have made millions. They live in many times bigger houses than the donors here in Colorado, and they keep losing time and time again. They go completely after Republicans with everything they have. They ignore the grassroots. And I’m kind of done with it.

NEVILLE: It’s one of the reasons I’ve decided I won’t be running for leadership after the November election. I want to get back, get closer to the grassroots, work with the grassroots. I think they’ve been ignored far too long. And it seems like every time we try to work with them in a leadership sort of position, then we get criticized. Every time we participate in the recall effort, these same guys come out and criticize us: “Oh, no! You can’t do that!” …

NEVILLE: Man! [those same consultants] will take out Republicans, I mean, look what they did in some of these primary elections, just the mean, nasty mailers and some of the stuff they’re willing to say about Republicans and, you know, even some of the stuff they’ve said about me in the past.

BOYLES: Cory Gardner?

NEVILLE: The consultants want to try to push us to be this, like, kind of milquetoast sort of group.

BOYLES: Why?

NEVILLE: They’re scared to take the hits.

NEVILLE [00:05:49]when my brother puts out a hard-hitting ad like that, I mean, the mediais going to come after him. The media is, you know, going to do all these pieces of, you know, how terrible Joe Neville is and how terrible Pat Neville is. [10.7s]NEVILLE [00:06:00]it’s easy to be a consultant when you can put out these milquetoast pieces that just really say nothing. I got a piece in the mail the other day — I mean, I love Trump to death, but this piece I got in the mail today from, you know, the state-run area — you know, the Trump campaign was just–. I’m like, first off, why are they sending this to me? I mean, I’m a–. [15.3s]BOYLES [00:06:16]What — what–what does it say? I haven’t gotten my mail yet. What does it say? [3.7s]NEVILLE [00:06:20]Oh, it was just, you know, “Get out and vote!” And it kind of had this — it was a wonderful mailer that had like a– you know, it was wonderful in like as far as the design of expensiveness of it, that had a kind of Trump hat cut-out — a MAGA hat cut out, and–. But it didn’t say anything much. And then, “Come on and get out and vote!” Like [it] didn’t– you know, it wasn’t even really powerful. [19.1s] [00:06:43]my household is three ofthree Republicans. [1.2s] BOYLES [00:07:19]Minority Leader Pat Neville,who wrote me a really lengthy piece and like, –you know, transparency: we have lunch together. I think he’s tremendous. He’s one of the hopes I have for — I don’t want to say [for] the Republican Party, but at least [for] conservative thought, is Pat. And there’s a handful of these young guys, and they are good! [14.0s] [00:08:30]I would not put you on the spot, Pat, to ask you about what you think Colorado is going to do in November. But it isn’t good. [7.7s] NEVILLE [00:08:44]it’s not looking that great in Colorado. That’s kind of the some of the polling that we’re seeing. We got to get out there and step — and step it up. And what we’reseeing, instead of getting out there and stepping it up and, you know, actually running some hard hitting pieces and when not, we’re seeing these same consultants try to turn to say, “Oh, well, it’s just all Trump. We couldn’t overcome Trump.” [15.9s]NEVILLE [00:09:01]It’s the same thing they did in 2018. [2.5s]BOYLES [00:09:04][I] remember Mike Coffman running ads that he’ll stand up to Trump. And I’m like, “You don’t stand up to Barack Obama. Why are you going to stand up to Trump?” And he was their pick. [7.3s]NEVILLE [00:09:30]the unaffiliateds are unaffiliateds because they don’t like either party. [2.1s]NEVILLE [00:09:35]to–we’re not going to win elections by saying just, “Yay, Republican! Yay, Republican!” We’ve got to define what a Republican is and actually stand for something that’s going to attract people. [6.4s]BOYLES [00:09:58]this friend of mine and I just watched the replay of the Cory Gardner [vs.] Hickenlooper debate. Cory Gardner clicked him, man! He beat him! And my friend says, “Why don’t they take some of the cuts from those ads and run them as commercials?” I still don’t understand why they don’t run the homeless ads– John Hickenlooper’s Road Home. You know, I mean, just a million different things — the roads, you know, all the kind of stuff that really are good ads. Instead, we’re washing off a Mazarati. We’re standing outside of a private jet –without saying, “Where did he go when he took that private jet ride,” or, “Where did he go when he went to Italy?” They went to Turin. What were they doing in Turin? They weren’t tourists. What were they doing? [40.1s] NEVILLE [00:10:51]I think it’s starting to look pretty gloomy, at least in Colorado. That’s kind of what I’m seeing from the certain polls we’re seeing and whatnot. You know, it’s tough. People are doing their best. You know, I don’t– I don’t– you know, again, I don’t blame the state party apparatus. [14.2s] [00:11:07]It’s different in Colorado. A lot of people don’t understand, the state party apparatus can’t do a whole lot. It’s mostly these outside groups that go and get outside– you know, get the big dollar donations. [9.5s] [00:11:19]in certain House primary races, there was like $500,000 spent in a House primary. I mean, when we’re sitting here and we’ve raised–. Luckily, you know, in our arm, we kind of saw that the establishment wasn’t going to be favorable to us. So we we started up Take Back Colorado. [16.4s]NEVILLE [00:11:51]spending $2 million in primary races, I’m just looking at it, going, “Wow! I wish, you know, I had that much money to spend in the general election!” No one has ever spent that much on House races in the general election. [8.3s]BOYLES [00:12:04]–as my grandma would say, God forbid, Biden wins, this is going to totally embolden all of these guys in Colorado. If Hickenlooper wins, it will totally emboldenall of them in Colorado. [12.5s] NEVILLE [00:12:20]And that’s the worry, and that’s if we don’t take back the Senate, [if] we don’t win back some seats in the House. We think what they did in the 2019-20 legislative session is bad — oh, my goodness!– we’re going to be in for it in Colorado! And so, that’s what — that’s why we’re running these hard hitting pieces and this stuff from TakeBack Colorado. We’re not trying to play games. We’re — we see the writing on the wall. [22.2s]BOYLES [00:16:48]the people that want to die on the tips of the spears of the Republican Party, I’m — burn the thing down! Start again! Make it the Phoenix Bird, you know, bring it back. Bring it back! It happened! [9.9s] [00:17:07]The establishment of the Republican Party did not want Ronald Reagan. They wanted Poppy Bush. [4.9s] [00:17:34]And you need the “Reagan guy.” Reagan brought the Republican Party out of the Nixon fire. And we need somebody to come along in the Colorado Republican Party and take it away fromCory Gardner and the rest of the people who run it, the Beauprezs and the rest. [13.9s] [00:17:49]they need to flame it, and stand up and say, “All right, we’re going to start again!”[2.6s] [00:18:02]again. I thought Trump had it–. [2.4s]NEVILLE [00:18:05]–we can’t give up, either. [0.0s