October 24, 2023 11:10 AM UTC

Dave Williams Creates New Grift, Drops Legislative Aide "Job"

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado State Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams has had what you could charitably call an awful first eight months on the job. He’s spent a majority of his time insulting other Republicans; sending out horrible emails and social media posts; and raising so little money for the GOP that the Party STILL hasn’t even been able to pay staff members. Inexplicably, Williams is also forcing the State Republican Party to take a position in the Speaker of the House battle.

As The Colorado Sun reports in its “Unaffiliated” newsletter, Williams has at least found a temporary workaround for the GOP’s money woes:

Two Republican presidential campaigns paid the Colorado GOP “ballot-access fees” in September totaling $60,000, making up the bulk of the nearly $87,000 the party raised last month.

Donald Trump’s campaign paid $40,000 while North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s campaign paid $20,000.

The Colorado Republican Party adopted in August these new stickup rules “presidential candidate qualification rules” that require 2024 hopefuls to pony up $40,000 to the State GOP or pay $20,000 and visit the state and hold a fundraiser (Presidential candidates are also required to post on social media about “their excitement to be on the Colorado ballot.”) North Dakota Doug Burgum apparently went with the “$20k and a fundraiser” option, but how many potential donors in Colorado could even pick Burgum out of a lineup?

How or why is this possible? Back to the “Unaffiliated”:

Colorado law requires state parties to approve candidates seeking to be on their presidential primary ballots.

“Colorado Republicans have an interest in making sure non-serious candidates don’t crowd the primary ballot,” Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams told The Unaffilaited in a text message. “These rules are in line with many other state parties across the country and serve to further professionalize our operations.”

The Colorado Democratic Party doesn’t charge such a fee. “We can fundraise without shaking people down,” Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Shad Murib said. [Pols emphasis]

Oof. That was a solid punch from Democratic Party Chairman Shad Murib, who has not demonstrated any problems raising money and already has several 2024 voter outreach programs underway.

Thanks in part to Williams’ new [cough] fundraising strategy, the “Unaffiliated” also reports that Williams will no longer be working as a “legislative aide” to Republican Rep. Brandi Bradley:

Williams began working as an aide for state Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Littleton, in February, a month before he was elected to lead the state Republican Party. He had earned $19,000 in taxpayer dollars through mid-July, in addition to about $11,000 in state-paid health, dental and vision insurance benefits for himself, his wife and their children.

Williams did his aide work almost exclusively remotely, raising questions about how he was managing his full-time duties to Bradley — he reported working 40 hours most weeks for Bradley — in addition to running the state party. He previously told The Sun that he had worked every hour that he billed the legislature for.

Fellow Republicans were not pleased that Williams was taking taxpayer money to make up for the fact that he couldn’t raise enough money to pay himself a salary as GOP Chair. Much of that ire came from the fact that Williams was rarely even seen at the State Capitol, only showing up after media reports started to question whether he was really doing the work of a legislative aide.

Forcing GOP Presidential hopefuls to pay up for ballot access may help the State Republican Party wheeze along for another month or two, but Donald Trump’s continued dominance of the Republican Primary field means that there aren’t a lot of potential new victims for Williams to squeeze (former Sen. Cory Gardner’s 2024 horse, Sen. Tim Scott, is among those whose candidacies are nearing an end already).

What will Williams do for money then? Perhaps he can start offering early discounts for Republicans looking at 2028 Presidential Primary ballot access in Colorado.