{"id":28289,"date":"2024-04-09T01:07:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T07:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/legislators-defend-reporter-who-was-kicked-out-of-gop-state-assembly\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:26:08","slug":"legislators-defend-reporter-who-was-kicked-out-of-gop-state-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/legislators-defend-reporter-who-was-kicked-out-of-gop-state-assembly\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislators defend reporter who was kicked out of GOP state assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dave
Dave Williams speaks during a Colorado GOP state central meeting on March 11, 2023, in Loveland where he was elected chairman of the party. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A Colorado Sun politics reporter was escorted out of the state GOP assembly by a sheriff\u2019s deputy Saturday after being told that party Chairman Dave Williams found her \u201ccurrent reporting to be very unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reporter Sandra Fish, who has covered politics since 1982, received a text at 3:45 a.m. Saturday from a Colorado Republican Party event organizer saying that she was no longer allowed to attend. Fish went anyway to the assembly at the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo, where she checked in at the door and received a press credential to enter.<\/p>\n

About an hour later, she was told to leave.<\/p>\n

Fish initially refused, but was later escorted out by a law enforcement officer, who told her, \u201cYou have to be invited here. They don\u2019t want you here. We have to get you out of here,\u201d according to video of the scene taken by other journalists.<\/p>\n

In the past year, Fish has written news articles about the 2023 election of Williams to lead the state party, as well as stories about the party\u2019s financial struggles. In February, she authored a Sun article about the state GOP sending a pro-Donald Trump mailer that attacked William\u2019s congressional primary opponent, calling it \u201cthe latest example of Williams using his party leadership position to benefit or defend himself and his allies.\u201d Williams is running to replace U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado\u2019s 5th Congressional District.<\/p>\n\n

Williams was elected as party chairman on a platform that included falsely insisting that former President Trump won the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

Several Republican leaders criticized the ousting of a reporter from the state assembly, one of the most important events of the year as the party chooses its candidates for the November election.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican lawmaker from Weld County, called it \u201cdisgusting\u201d and embarrassing in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cSandra Fish is a fair, honest and respected reporter. As a Republican I\u2019m embarrassed by the GOP chair,\u201d she posted. \u201cAs a state senator I\u2019m stunned by the blatant disregard for our Constitution \u2014 and by a former legislator no less. Disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the most recent GOP state chair before Williams blasted the move. Kristi Burton Brown, who is currently running to serve on the state board of education, called it a \u201cdangerous take\u201d by the party, noting that Fish is \u201cwidely known to be hard-hitting but fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTransparency is necessary for our nation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n

In the predawn text from the GOP, Fish was told by Eric Grossman, who was working logistics for the assembly, that the party had decided the event was not an \u201copen press event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is to inform you that your name is not included in my final press credentials list currently being typed up,\u201d he texted, adding that the party chairman thinks her reporting is \u201cvery unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fish said she decided to attend the event anyway. \u201cIt\u2019s important for the public to see these things, to have these things reported on,\u201d Fish said.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Sun politics reporter Sandra Fish, left, talks to Pueblo County Sheriff\u2019s deputies Saturday morning after being told to leave the Colorado Republican Party state assembly at the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo. Fish was told she was being removed because state party chair Dave Williams doesn\u2019t like her reporting. (Ernest Lee Lunin\/Colorado Politics)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado Sun editor Larry Ryckman called Fish an \u201cexperienced, accomplished journalist\u201d who was working to report important news for the Colorado public.<\/p>\n

\u201cA free press is a pillar of a healthy democracy,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Founding Fathers understood this, and that\u2019s why they enshrined freedom of the press in the very first amendment to the Constitution. The public has a right to know who is running for political office, and Sandra was there to represent the public today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryckman said the situation was reminiscent of his days as a Moscow correspondent for The Associated Press. \u201cIt\u2019s a sad day when politicians get to decide who can and cannot report for the American people,\u201d he said. \u201cI once lived in and covered a place like that. It was called the Soviet Union. We deserve better in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams responded Sunday to The Sun\u2019s request for comment Saturday. He called Fish a \u201cfake journalist\u201d and accused her of sneaking into the event, despite that she received press credentials at the door.<\/p>\n

The Sun, he said, \u201cis just an extension of the Democrat Party\u2019s PR efforts, and the only backlash we see is from the fake news media, radical Democrats, and establishment RINOs who hate our conservative base and who always look for opportunities to boot lick the crooked press or pundits who hate true Republicans and President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sun is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit statewide news outlet.<\/p>\n

The Sun learned Thursday that the Colorado GOP was possibly planning to prevent Fish from attending the statewide assembly Saturday. Ryckman and another editor reached out to Williams proactively, but the chairman did not respond to multiple messages.<\/p>\n

Republicans at the state assembly are advancing candidates to the primary ballot for University of Colorado regent at large as well as selecting representatives to the Republican National Committee, which helps choose the nominee for president. The party was also working to set its platform for the upcoming election season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

editor: \u2018It\u2019s a sad day when politicians get to decide who can and cannot report for the American people\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289","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=28289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80367,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289\/revisions\/80367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28289"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}