May 23, 2023 10:58 AM UTC

The Colorado Republican Party: Not Just Morally Bankrupt

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• by: Colorado Pols

Regular readers of Colorado Pols are well aware that the Colorado Republican Party has been caught in a downward spiral for many years now. Despite getting absolutely hammered in the last three election cycles, Republicans haven’t yet hit rock bottom…

But they’re pretty damn close.

As The Colorado Sun reports today in its “Unaffiliated” newsletter, the Colorado Republican Party has advanced from “morally bankrupt” to “almost literally bankrupt”:

If the Colorado Republican Party had employees in April, they didn’t get paid.

It’s the first time in at least 20 years the party didn’t pay any employees. [Pols emphasis]

And the party’s actual bank accounts have less money than the $120,540 a recent filing said the party had on hand, according to an addendum to the GOP’s Saturday filing with the Federal Election Commission.

“The executive board has formed a committee to investigate the discrepancy and will likely lead to the restatement of previous reports to account for the error,” the addendum concluded.

The Colorado GOP raised only about $58,000 in the first four months of the year, including less than $15,000 in April. The party spent more than $15,000 last month, with more than $9,100 going to health and dental benefits. It’s unclear if anyone is working for the party; no staff is listed on its web page. [Pols emphasis]

Party Chairman Dave Williams, a former Colorado Springs state representative elected to lead the party in March, didn’t return phone calls, text messages or emails from The Colorado Sun seeking comment. Colorado Public Radio reported last month that Williams was also working a full-time job as a legislative aide.

Tom Bjorkland, the party’s new treasurer, referred questions to Williams. The initial April report Bjorkland filed late Saturday night reported only $3,000 in contributions. An amended report was filed late Sunday.

As you can see from the image below, the Colorado Republican Party doesn’t even seem to know how much money it doesn’t have:

New State GOP Chair Dave Williams has been earning a living lately by taking an apparent no-show job as a state legislative “aide.” The Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party is (theoretically) a full-time paid position, but Williams has acknowledged that the Party hasn’t yet been able to write him a check for whatever it is he does there.

Williams has also openly talked about the need to “fix” some internal problems left over from the Kristi Burton Brown era (2021-23). To be fair, the problems facing the Colorado Republican Party are a multi-year train wreck. It’s no doubt hard to get Republican donors excited about a Party that has been pummeled at the polls for three straight election cycles; there is not a single statewide elected Republican left in Colorado, and the GOP’s biggest star (Rep. Lauren Boebert) spends most of her time speaking at fundraisers in other states.

Colorado Republicans also have something of a spending problem, which is ironic for obvious reasons. Back to the Sun:

From January through April, Colorado’s GOP spent more than $263,000. That compares with $539,000 spent in the first four months of 2021, a nonelection year. Of this year’s spending, $73,000 went to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck for legal services. [Pols emphasis]

A significant portion of this legal bill is probably related to a January lawsuit in which the  El Paso County Republican Party sued the State GOP. You read that correctly: The Colorado Republican Party can’t afford to pay salaries in part because it has been pissing away money defending itself from other Republicans. Oddly enough, Williams was active in the El Paso County GOP when it sued the State Party — before he was elected State Chair — so he essentially ended up suing himself. Good times.

It’s hard for Colorado Republicans to start planning ahead for 2024 when they’re still figuring out how to pay the bills next month. We’d end here by saying things can’t get much worse for the Colorado GOP, but we don’t want to underestimate their abilities.