{"id":26255,"date":"2024-08-07T18:41:48","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T00:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-reverses-course-lifts-prohibition-on-meeting-to-consider-ouster-of-colorado-gop-chairman\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:36:38","slug":"judge-reverses-course-lifts-prohibition-on-meeting-to-consider-ouster-of-colorado-gop-chairman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-reverses-course-lifts-prohibition-on-meeting-to-consider-ouster-of-colorado-gop-chairman\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge reverses course, lifts prohibition on meeting to consider ouster of Colorado GOP chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Republican
Republican candidate Dave Williams speaks during a debate at Centennial Hall in Colorado Springs on May 16. (Jerilee Bennett\/The Gazette via AP)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A judge Tuesday cleared the way for opponents of Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams to hold a gathering in about two weeks to vote on whether the embattled leader should be removed and replaced.<\/p>\n

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Thomas Willard Henderson IV rescinded the temporary restraining order he issued last month blocking the gathering.<\/p>\n

Henderson wrote in his ruling Tuesday, which was issued after a hearing earlier in the day, that he was wrong to issue the order in the first place because he lacked jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

Henderson\u2019s decision opens the door for a meeting of the Colorado GOP\u2019s central committee in as few as 15 days to consider a motion to remove Williams, whose work as chairman has been marred by accusations of self-dealing and disorganization. Indeed, immediately after Henderson issued his ruling the gathering was scheduled for Aug. 24.<\/p>\n

One-third of the committee will need to be present for any vote taken during the gathering to be considered valid, though 60% of the entire central committee will have to vote to remove Williams for the effort to be successful.<\/p>\n

Williams filed a lawsuit in Arapahoe County last month seeking to block a meeting scheduled for July 27 at a church in Brighton to consider whether to oust him, citing a ruling by the Colorado GOP\u2019s executive committee that the gathering was invalid. The executive committee has a maximum of 25 members, most of them allies of Williams, whereas the central committee is comprised of as many as 400 people.<\/p>\n

The meeting to consider the motion to oust Williams was organized by El Paso County GOP Vice Chairman Todd Watkins and Jefferson County GOP Chairwoman Nancy Pallozzi, who are the defendants in Williams\u2019 suit. The pair gathered support from more than a quarter of the central committee to force the meeting, which the executive committee said it couldn\u2019t verify and used as the basis for ruling the meeting invalid.<\/p>\n

Henderson issued his temporary restraining order July 26. The meeting in Brighton a day later was transformed into a forum for the list of candidates vying to replace Williams as chairman. Republicans also used the occasion to air their grievances against Williams.<\/p>\n

This week, Pallozzi and Watkins asked Henderson to reconsider his order, forcing the hearing Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"The
The podium of the Colorado Republican Party stands bare following a watch party of 2022 candidates at the DoubleTree By Hilton in Greenwood Village. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Chris Murray, a former longtime lawyer for the Colorado GOP, is representing Pallozzi and Watkins in the case. He argued that state law says only the party itself \u2013 and specifically the GOP central committee \u2013 can work out controversies, making Henderson\u2019s ruling inappropriate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis court lacks, as a fundamental matter, jurisdiction over this case,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n

Murray also argued that if Henderson were to uphold his ruling, it would effectively give the executive committee carte blanche to protect the chairman against efforts to remove him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not how the bylaws of the Colorado Republican committee work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

David Pigott, a lawyer for Williams, said he wasn\u2019t asking the court to solve an internal controversy, but rather enforce the executive committee\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking the court\u2019s assistance in enforcing the (executive) committee\u2019s decision,\u201d Pigott said. \u201cWe\u2019re not asking you to decide the controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henderson said when he issued the temporary restraining order, he thought he was enforcing a decision by the central committee, not the executive committee\u2019s ruling. In the ruling he handed down Tuesday, he acknowledged that misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

\"A
A view inside Courtroom 201 at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial. (Brennan Linsley\/Associated Press pool, file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWhen a dispute is within the jurisdiction of the state central committee of a political party, that central committee is the \u2018sole tribunal to determine such controversies,\u2019 and as a \u2018necessary sequence, the courts do not have concurrent jurisdiction in the premises,\u2019\u201d Henderson wrote, citing the law. \u201cThe disputes here at issue \u2026 are clearly internal controversies within the jurisdiction of the CRC to make a final determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams didn\u2019t immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday night. Neither did Colorado GOP Vice Chairwoman Hope Scheppelman.<\/p>\n

But in an unsigned email to central committee members, party leadership brushed off the ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour state party will not sit idly by while Watkins violates proper process and procedure,\u201d the email said. \u201cIf anyone wants a special meeting for whatever purpose then they must follow the rules to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

The central committee was already scheduled to meet on Aug. 31 in Castle Rock, but it seemed the question of whether to remove Williams might not come up because of the executive committee\u2019s determination that the effort by Watkins and Pallozzi to remove the chairman was invalid.<\/p>\n

The Aug. 24 meeting will allow Williams\u2019 opponents to try to sidestep any attempt by the chairman\u2019s allies to stop the vote.<\/p>\n

Williams is facing growing pressure to resign<\/div>\n

Six of the state\u2019s eight Republican congressional candidates, as well as state Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, signed a letter late last month urging Williams to resign.<\/p>\n

Additionally, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Windsor Republican, suggested in a Facebook post that Williams should step down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past month of public dissension and infighting in the Colorado Republican Party has been embarrassing to watch as we have a golden opportunity this November to flip seats at every level of government,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about competing policies or ideologies; this is about a failure from Chairman Williams to lead after our primary election and simply reach out to candidates and organizations throughout Colorado and beyond to offer support, mend bridges, and present a clear game plan of how we can win together in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams was elected chairman in March 2021 and almost immediately began taking flak for his leadership.<\/p>\n

He first faced blowback for the party\u2019s lackluster fundraising and because he was working as a full-time aide to a Republican state lawmaker while leading the state Republican Party.<\/p>\n

The criticism intensified as he launched an unsuccessful run for Congress this year.<\/p>\n

When U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, announced in January that he would step aside, Williams used the state party email to announce that he would run for the 5th Congressional District seat in El Paso County. Williams rejected calls to step down as party chairman while he campaigned, and then spent party money to criticize his opponent, conservative commentator and activist Jeff Crank.<\/p>\n

In April, Williams had a Colorado Sun reporter tossed out of the state party assembly. The party also sent out a homophobic email during Pride month calling for people to burn Pride flags.<\/p>\n

\"Dave
Dave Williams speaks during a Republican state central meeting on March 11, 2023, in Loveland where elections for a chairman, vice chairman and secretary of the Colorado GOP were conducted. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Then, for the first time in recent memory, if ever, the Colorado GOP endorsed candidates in competitive primary elections, drawing anger from many in the party. Of the 18 candidates endorsed by the party, only four won their contests.<\/p>\n

The party also spent $58,000 in late May and early June sending mailers urging voters to support Williams and criticizing Crank. Williams donated $60,000 to the party from his campaign account in June, which posed questions about whether the mailers and the apparent reimbursement represented a violation of federal postal regulations.<\/p>\n

Williams lost to Crank in the Republican primary in the 5th District by roughly a two-to-one margin.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Thomas Willard Henderson IV rescinded his temporary restraining order<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,28,1304],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-republican-party"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79286,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26255\/revisions\/79286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26255"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}