Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams tried and failed to consolidate his power last night via a series of proposed party bylaw changes. If adopted, the amendments would increase the power of the GOP’s small executive committee, and banish his enemies from ever holding leadership positions. Those enemies include state chair candidate Brita Horn, who would not be allowed to lead the party should the amendment punishing her and the other Republicans who attempted to depose Williams last fall pass. He called a virtual meeting over Zoom for the four hundred or so members of the State Central Committee, intending to pass five amendments.
Philosopher-pugilist Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” In Williams’ case, the punches came from angry Republican elected officials armed not with fists, but with Robert’s Rules of Order.
Williams began the meeting by taking a barely veiled shot at his own party’s congressional delegation, calling out Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, Gabe Evans, and Jeff Hurd (by deed if not name) for a joint public statement they issued opposing Williams’ amendments.
“Over the last few days we’ve seen some in our party who preach unity when convenient, but resorted to divisive personal attacks because they were unable to articulate any true problems with the proposals being put forward, said Williams. “When challenged to have a merit-focused debate before the vote, they all stayed silent and backed down. … This state party actually looks forward to the day when its elected officials publish a unified letter against Democrats in power.”
Williams went on to decree that only civil debate, not personal disputes, would be permitted. Purporting to model such behavior, he offered an example argument for the sixth amendment, which was the most objectionable to party leaders, as it would disenfranchise nearly all GOP elected officials from their party business voting rights. He said that this amendment had been withdrawn, but then gave an extended argument as to why federal and state elected officials didn’t deserve voting membership on the party’s Central Committee.
When Boebert broke in to ask why he was arguing for the sixth amendment already, Williams responded, “There will be no interruptions. I will not tolerate that.”
The discussion went downhill from there. Another member objected to the meeting on the grounds that the normal registration requirement showing personal identification upon check-in did not take place.
Various discussions ensued, with Williams attempting to hold a vote on the objection, but state Rep. Rob Weinberg (R-Loveland) repeatedly objected that the vote hadn’t been properly called according to proper parliamentary procedure.
“I have a point of order,” said Weinberg. “There was a motion made. I didn’t hear you name a second. I didn’t see us go into comments. And we just pressed on. Is that what we’re doing? It’s just a motion made. No second confirmed. No discussion on any bloody topic. And then when anybody decides to make any type of inquiry, your staff –whoever’s controlling the Zoom– is muting people on the side end. I’m sorry, but that’s very frustrating. … You ask for plain discipline with actionary items and so on and so forth.
“Yet everything that I’ve felt right now in the past three minutes has pushed me to this point where now I’m literally angry. … When you rush people out of point of orders and everything else under the sun. … When you push people out of place. And you keep jabbing them with your bloody finger in their chest. They’re going to get irritated. So put the rules into order. And gain this meeting under control. To make sure that the Republican Party in the state of Colorado doesn’t look like a bloody embarrassment!”
Ultimately, only one vote occurred. Williams lost the vote over credentialing by a slim margin, 155-162. Instead of moving forward with another means of identification, such as members holding their driver’s licenses up to the camera, Williams decided to end the meeting.
Following the meeting’s abrupt termination, Williams sent an email to all Central Committee voting members, with the following explanation and a promise that the fight over his proposed amendments is not over.
“Tonight, a small majority with a 7-person lead voted to have a highly scrutinized credentialing process even though this issue has never been raised in prior zoom meetings.
“Given these results, we will decide on how to proceed with the remaining agenda items–whether they will be considered at another special meeting or we include them at the next regularly scheduled meeting. After tonight’s result, a large amount of members, approaching 25 percent, have called for another meeting to occur because they feel their ability to vote on the real issues was silenced.
“Rest assured, these items will receive an up or down vote after we create a new process that satisfies membership’s desire to have a more thorough check-in process.
“At the end of the day, this administration respects the votes of the body, and while we were never in doubt about the true identities of the participants in the meeting, the body wanted more inspection of each others identities so we will carry out their wishes moving forward.”
Online chatter about the meeting amongst GOP leaders broke down along pro- and anti-Williams sides. State Rep. Brandi Bradley (R-Littleton), a Williams supporter, attacked former party chair and current State Board of Education member Kristi Burton Brown, comparing her to Colorado Republicans’ favorite boogeyman, 9News anchor Kyle Clark.
