If opponents of embattled Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams fail to remove him from the party’s top post later this month, they may be unable to dislodge him for the rest of his term, which ends in March.
A major bylaw amendment being proposed by Williams’ allies would make it harder starting next year to call a special meeting to remove the Colorado GOP chairman or other party officers.
Currently, it only takes a written request of 25% of the members of the central committee to force such a meeting and a vote. The amendment would require that request be made through a form developed and authorized by the party’s secretary, and that each member of the central committee who signs it disclose “sufficient identifying information so that the secretary can verify the requesters are voting members and that they do, in fact, desire that the requested meeting be held.”
Additionally, the amendment would create a seven-day challenge period after a request for a special meeting to remove a party officer is made. During that time, the Colorado GOP executive committee could postpone the gathering while the challenge is pending.
The bylaw amendment is scheduled to be considered at the central committee’s Aug. 31 meeting, which is about a week after Williams’ opponents on the committee are planning to take a vote on whether to oust the chairman.
Getting the votes to remove Williams may not be easy.
The Colorado GOP’s bylaws say a party officer can only be removed “by a vote of three-fifths of the entire membership of the (central committee) eligible to vote at a meeting called for that purpose.” There are two interpretations of the rule: It could mean 60% of those present at the meeting, or 60% of the entire central committee — which is made up of about 400 people.
Passing a bylaw amendment is arguably easier. It requires the support of two-thirds “of those members present and voting” at a central committee meeting.
There’s a scenario in which members of the central committee who dislike Williams show up to the Aug. 24 meeting organized by opponents of Williams to try to remove him and are unsuccessful, then skip the Aug. 31 meeting where the bylaw amendment is then adopted.
The bylaw change is particularly important because Wiliams’ opponents believe the party won’t take up a motion to remove him as chairman unless they run the meeting themselves. The bylaw change would be particularly impactful if Williams runs for reelection as chairman and wins.
Colorado Republicans voiced criticism of GOP Chairman Dave Williams at a meeting in a Brighton church on Saturday, July 27, 2024. (Sandra Fish, Special to The Colorado Sun)
The Colorado GOP executive committee has already ruled that the Aug. 24 meeting to remove Williams was improperly organized and that they won’t recognize the results of any action taken during the gathering. And it’s unclear if the party will take up the question of removing Williams at the Aug. 31 meeting if they don’t recognize the results of the Aug. 24 vote.
“It is exactly designed to prevent him from being removed,” Todd Watkins, vice chair of the El Paso County GOP and the leader of the effort to remove Williams, said of the bylaw amendment. “Textbook despot.”
Watkins called Williams “Xi Jing Dave,” a nod to Xi Jinping, the authoritarian leader of China.
Williams told The Colorado Sun “we are still deciding” if the amendment will be considered at the central committee’s Aug. 31 meeting. He argued that even though the change was borne out of the effort to remove him, it will have no effect on removing party officers, calling any claim to the contrary a “deceptive narrative.”
Dave Williams speaks during a Colorado GOP chair debate sponsored by the Republican Women of Weld Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023 in a pizza restaurant in Hudson, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
He also emphasized that the change wouldn’t take effect until next year to comply with a state law preventing political parties from altering their bylaws in election years.
“Our critics are free to continue doing what they wish for the rest of the year, regardless of any bylaw changes that may occur at the end of this month,” Williams said.
The proposed amendment isn’t the first time Williams and his allies have tried to change the party’s bylaws to their benefit. Last year, they unsuccessfully tried to pass an amendment that would have made it easier for the GOP to block unaffiliated voters from participating in their primaries, a major objective of Williams and other ultra conservative Republicans in Colorado.
And the Colorado GOP isn’t exactly broadcasting that the amendment will be considered Aug. 31.
In a notice about the gathering, the party said the principal purposes of the meeting will be to consider a bylaw change on fractional voting that wouldn’t be implemented until after the 2024 election. Also on the agenda are an update on the party’s open primary lawsuit and consideration of party officer removal requests “that were properly submitted and verified.”
The only way people would know about the bylaw amendment around removing party officers is if they read the entire report of the party’s bylaws committee.
Shoring up the effort to remove Williams
Williams’ opponents — led by Watkins and Jefferson County GOP Chairwoman Nancy Pallozzi — are taking steps to quash claims from current Colorado GOP leadership that the Aug. 24 meeting will be “invalid and illegal” because the legitimacy of the list of people who asked for it is unverifiable.
Chris Murray, the former Colorado GOP lawyer now representing Watkins and Pallozzi, said in court last week, as the matter went before a judge, that he had collected nearly 50 declarations from people confirming they had requested the meeting to oust Williams.
“We are in the process of gathering declarations from everybody who signed that petition,” Murray said.
But, he added, even if he can’t get declarations from everyone who signed the petition, if at least 25% of the central committee shows up to the Aug. 24 meeting, that will prove there is enough support for a gathering to vote on whether to oust Williams.
Murray said Williams has been trying to prevent a quorum as a way to protect his position. “Tell people it’s a bogus meeting. Tell them not to show up. And if they don’t have a quorum, they can’t do anything,” he said in court, as he successfully asked for an order halting the special meeting to be lifted.
It takes a third of the committee to constitute a quorum to even hold a valid meeting — more than is required to request the gathering in the first place.
If Williams is removed, who will replace him?
If Williams is removed, any candidates vying to replace him would only have to win a majority of those present at a central committee meeting called to fill the vacancy to take over the party’s top leadership post.
Watkins has added filling any officer vacancies to the agenda of the Aug. 24 meeting.
The Republicans who are seeking to replace Williams so far include Eli Bremer, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2020 and formerly served as chair of the El Paso County GOP; state Rep. Richard Holtorf, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress this year; former Routt County Treasurer Brita Horn, who ran unsuccessfully to be state treasurer in 2018; and Douglas County GOP Chair Steve Peck.
Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Publish date : 2024-08-12 22:00:00
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