The Colorado Republican Party has over a quarter-million dollars in debts, nearly all of which has been affirmed by a judge. Vice Chair Eric Grossman, who is serving as chair until a new one is elected on May 30, calls the debt a “poison pill from our former chair and her attorney, that technically our party already swallowed.”
During a recent virtual meeting of the party’s Executive Committee, Grossman said that RNC Committeeman Randy Corporon, to whom the party is paying a $10,000 legal fee to dispute the larger debt owed to previous attorney Steven Klenda, “is working on pumping out the stomach and making sure that we save the patient.”
As previously reported by Westword’s Hannah Metzger, Klenda’s legal fees stem from multiple lawsuits brought by former Chair Dave Williams and his allies, both while he was in office fighting a recall (brought by Horn and others) and then subsequently by his allies, once Horn became chair. Vice Chair Grossman was one of those allies, serving a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Horn. The attorney for a different lawsuit against Horn, Matthew Arnold, now works for Corporon.
Reached by phone, Klenda declined to comment.
Asked for an update via text, Grossman replied, “The Gordian Knot will be overcome.”
On the call, Corporon explained the six-figure tab in detail:
“One thing I think is really important for everybody on this call to understand is what went on with this $230,000 debt that the Republican Party is now at least temporarily obligated to,” said Corporon. “And as I recall, the chairman announced her resignation on March 12th. On March 17th, Steve Klenda filed what was called a verified complaint for forthwith entry of confessed judgment. And along with that complaint he included a fee agreement that he had with Brita Horn and it says Mrs. – I’m looking at it now – Mrs. Brita Horn, future chairman Colorado Republican Party, Never Give Up Consulting, LLC, it was signed in February of 2025. That’s what he submitted to show that he was, I guess, properly representing at least Brita. I don’t know. But along with that, he also submitted what is called an agreement to waive all defenses to and confess judgment regarding legal fees incurred by Klenda Legal LLC on behalf of the Colorado State Republican Central Committee. … But in any event, because of that stipulation, because there was no opposition, because Klenda and Brita Horn signed off on it, the court probably had no choice – maybe could have done more to inquire – but on April 16th, [the judge] signed the order. So it’s not that Klenda is suing the Colorado State GOP, it’s that he and Brita agreed together that the Colorado GOP owes him $233,000.”
Party Treasurer Tom Bjorklund, recently re-hired by Vice Chair Eric Grossman, followed Corporon’s update by listing other debts the party owes, including $25,000 of reimbursements claimed by Brita Horn, $5,000 in fundraising fees, and several thousand dollars to settle up with the state party assembly venue, CSU Pueblo’s Massari Arena. Bjorklund, who previously served as treasurer under Dave Williams, says he won’t pay any of these debts without detailed invoices, and noted that the party is owed at least $20,000 in badge fees from county parties, which is the money charged to county party delegates to attend the state assembly.
The assembly wasn’t cheap – Bjorklund noted that CSU Pueblo charged the state GOP $61,000 for security, which included snipers positioned on rooftops and an armored Bearcat personnel carrier on standby. In order to pay the upfront costs, Bjorklund says Horn apparently secured a $40,000 loan from someone named “Mr. Basi [or Bosse?],” which he now characterizes as an illegal donation.
“As far as the illegal donation, and I’m saying that, well there’s no other way to put it, there was an agreement made apparently with Mr. Basi for $40,000 to help pay for the venue. The party didn’t have the money, I understand the position they were in. And I can appreciate that they were in a position and they had to do something. So anyway, the solution that they came up with was to receive a $40,000 short-term loan. That’s what they called it. They drew up a promissory note. The promissory note is unsigned. If that promissory note had been signed and it really was a loan, we actually find that it could be a problem for the party, because individual loans are illegal. Well, you can give an individual loan, but it’s limited to $10,000. And that’s because an individual loan is viewed by the FEC as a donation. So that $40,000 is very problematic. However, it’s easily solved by just saying that it was an illegal donation and that the illegal donation was refunded. And so by doing that, because there was no promissory note that was signed. Anyway, my position is that that’s probably the easiest way to go about it, is just declare that it was an illegal donation that we refunded back to the donor. No harm, no foul.”
Before the meeting ended, attorney Chuck Bonniwell, who has recently rejoined the party’s executive committee, returned to the issue of the Klenda debt.
“I think there’s a gross misunderstanding of what Brita and Mr. Klenda did,” said Bonniwell. “You must understand he now has a judgment and they added into the judgment at 18%. He may now seize every account of the Republican Party, every account. He can take every penny contributed to the Republican party. You have potentially no money – no money! The action taken, in my view, is criminal fraud. You better go to the district attorney for Denver, and you better go to the AG for the state. This is a massive fraud on the party, and now it can conduct almost no business. Your accounts can be seized at any time, and moreover, you need to file with the attorney regulation an ethics complaint against Mr. Klenda, who apparently was representing, since there’s no other attorney there, both himself and his own party on a judgment to himself. I mean, there can be no greater conflict. There can be no greater conflict. This is a fraud. And you don’t seem to have a necessary urgency about what’s happening. And talking about $5,000 here, $2,000 there, you may find every penny seized legally!”
The Colorado Times Recorder also reached out to Corporon and Bjorklund, but neither of them responded to requests for comment. This article will be updated with any responses received.
