According to a news release, a criminal complaint was filed today with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s office by Colorado Congressional District 5 candidate Joshua Griffin, who is alleging that El Paso County Chair Vickie Tonkins and Colorado GOP Chair — and CD5 candidate — Dave Williams withheld delegate lists from candidates to the advantage of Williams.
In a short video released this morning, Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams and insurrectionist attorney John Eastman teamed up to explain why they need loyal Colorado conservatives to pony up $50,000. The money won’t support the party’s political activity, but rather will pay Eastman to continue his attempt to overturn the state’s open primary process, which was passed by voters eight years ago. The QR code displayed on the screen takes viewers not to the state party’s website, but to Eastman’s own Claremont Institute.
The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has had the unintended consequence of potentially turning federal elections into referenda on abortion. Without the federal protections of Roe, a future Republican majority could pass a national abortion ban.
The Colorado GOP’s leadership will hold a vote in January to formally endorse former President Donald Trump. This decision takes place despite a number of obstacles, including a longstanding tradition of party neutrality in primaries and the fact that the state’s Supreme Court just ruled Trump is not allowed on the ballot.
After state Rep. Ken DeGraaf (R-Colorado Springs) nominated his GOP colleague Scott Bottoms to be speaker of the Colorado state House in January, Bottoms – who, like DeGraaf, had only just been sworn in for his first term in the Legislature that morning — startled some in the chamber by speaking up and seconding his own nomination.
The chair of the Colorado Republican Party says he doesn’t want civil war, but he’s sees one in America’s future under two scenarios: one, if courts remove Trump’s name from the ballot or, two, if “they’re successfully able to keep engaging” in blatant election fraud (even though Williams or other Republicans have yet to produce evidence for such “blatant fraud”).
Dave Williams, the chair of the Colorado Republican Party, has used his position to put pressure on fellow Republicans who he deems not conservative enough. Earlier this year, he negotiated an agreement with Colorado Libertarian leadership that would encourage Libertarian candidates to run against insufficiently conservative Republicans.
"So everybody, send money to the GOP."
The Colorado Republican Party today not only announced its censure of state Sen. Larry Liston (R-Colo Springs), but shared a video calling on him to resign immediately.
The state Republican leadership’s failure to opt out of Colorado’s open primary at Saturday’s central committee meeting garnered the headlines, but another significant rule change did pass, with less fanfare if not less controversary. After a short debate and a “standing count” rule vote tally determined solely by Chair Dave Williams, the Colorado GOP changed its bylaws to allow leaders to both endorse and oppose their own candidates in primary elections, a likely unprecedented break from the longstanding party neutrality.
