August 21, 2024 11:20 AM UTC

New Financial Woes Add to Colorado Republican Party's Long List of Problems

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Colorado Republican Party has been getting a lot of terrible press coverage lately for sending emails in support of various state legislative candidates that contain flat-out disgusting rhetoric and ridiculous accusations. Those emails have been so bad, in fact, that Republican candidates intended to benefit from them are speaking out in condemnation instead.

For Colorado Republicans, the only upside to these email blasts is that they are free. This is important because the State GOP is having a hell of a time raising money.

The latest campaign finance reports for July demonstrate a stark difference between Colorado’s two major political parties:

You’re reading that correctly. The Colorado Republican Party raised less than $13,000 in July…and that’s the good news from its latest financial filing.

The bad news is that the State GOP spent $1,000 on “court fees” related to defending State Party Chairman Dave Williams from ongoing efforts to oust him from his leadership role. A $1,000 expenditure for infighting might not seem like a lot of money on its own, but it looks different when you consider that this accounts for 1/13th of what the State GOP raised in total last month:

Republicans have been largely focused on internal battles for most of this election cycle. The on-again, off-again efforts to oust Williams are back on — with a scheduled meeting in Brighton on August 24 that may or may not result in an official vote to remove Williams from his position. As Ernest Luning reported recently for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

Colorado Republicans who want to depose state party chairman Dave Williams can proceed with a meeting called for that purpose, a district court judge ruled late Friday.

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Thomas W. Henderson said in a five-page order that the court lacks jurisdiction to decide the party’s internal dispute over attempts to oust its elected leaders, including Williams, citing Colorado law and prior court rulings.

In response, El Paso County Vice Chair Todd Watkins told Colorado Politics that organizers plan to move ahead with a meeting scheduled for Aug. 24 at a church in Brighton, where Williams’ detractors plan to vote on whether to replace Williams and his lieutenants, state Vice Chair Hope Sheppelman and party Secretary Anna Ferguson.

Williams said on Saturday that the State GOP plans to appeal the Arapahoe County decision — the same decision that cost the Party $1,000 in “court fees.” In the meantime, Williams and his minions are pretending that Saturday’s meeting is illegitimate:

The party’s statement said that Williams and other state party leaders will “only respect” actions taken at a central committee meeting it has called for Aug. 31 at a church in Castle Rock, which it characterized as “the only legitimate meeting.”

The Aug. 31 meeting in Castle Rock is at least scheduled to take place inside an actual building with walls and a roof and everything! Maybe that’s progress.

At one or both of these meetings, someone might want to ask about the State GOP’s fundraising plans in general. July’s campaign finance report included some other curious expenditures:

In short, the State Republican Party spent nearly $30,000 on fundraising consultants in July…a period that resulted in less than $13,000 in actual, you know, fundraising. This would be a poor return on investment (ROI) for anyone, let alone a group of people who fancy themselves as “fiscal conservatives.”

It’s hard to believe that a major political party could function any less effectively than the current model of the State GOP, but Dave Williams and his staff always seem to find a new way to underperform.

It’s almost impressive.