June 11, 2024 01:16 PM UTC

The Knives Are Finally Out For Dave Williams...Too Late?

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As Colorado Public Radio reports today, the crisis within the Colorado Republican Party over the reckless, self-dealing party chairman and congressional candidate Dave “Let’s Go Brandon” Williams is coming to a head following last week’s over-the-top smearing of LGBTQ+ people in honor of Pride Month blasted out under the state party’s brand, with a growing number of discontented fellow Republicans attempting to force a meeting of the party’s central committee to consider removing Williams from his position:

“We are calling for the immediate removal of Mr. David Williams, the Chair of the Colorado GOP, for continuing to incite hatred and further division in Colorado,” states a letter signed by local party leaders in Teller County, as well as Republican municipal leaders in the cities of Woodland Park, Cripple Creek and Victor.

The head of the Jefferson County Republican Party Nancy Pallozzi also released a formal letter demanding Williams resign. And opponents have started gathering signatures to force a vote by the state central committee on whether to retain him as chair…

“I did sign onto that, and I’m thinking there’s probably a lot that did,” said Republican state Rep. Mike Lynch, who is running for the Republican nomination in the 4th Congressional District. “I would support a move to convene a meeting for the purpose of getting rid of Dave.”

Politico reports that Williams’ primary opponent Jeff Crank is getting some airdropped help on the campaign trail in addition to heavy spending on Crank’s behalf to stop Williams from joining the Matt Gaetz backbench crazy club:

Two super PACs, America Leads Action and Conservatives for American Excellence, have spent nearly $1.3 million in ads to stop Williams from winning the seat. One of the spots knocks Williams for diverting $50,000 in state party money toward his congressional campaign.

“It’s embarrassing for the Colorado Republican Party. Dave Williams would be an embarrassment for that district in Congress,” said Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who endorsed Williams’ opponent Jeff Crank and is going to campaign for him this month.

In response to the huge spending against Williams, as the Colorado Sun’s Unaffiliated newsletter reported this morning, Williams continues to rely heavily upon the party’s money to promote himself:

The total PAC spending to beat Williams is now approaching $2 million…

Williams continues to battle the big money being spent to defeat him by using the Colorado GOP’s campaign account as his personal piggy bank. The party sent out yet another mailer highlighting how Williams has been endorsed by Donald Trump and attacking Crank.

To be clear: We haven’t seen or heard of the party, which has limited cash, helping out Republican candidates in other races. And up until this year the party has not gotten involved in primaries.

Even though the state party has now officially endorsed candidates in all the major congressional races this year, Williams does appear to be the only beneficiary of direct spending by the party to support his campaign. Carpetbagging quasi-incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert may have a big enough war chest to not need the party’s help, but that’s not the case for Ron Hanks in CO-03 or Janak Joshi in CO-08, both of whom have even fewer resources to campaign with than Williams. It’s another sign that all of the controversial changes in the state party’s rules allowing them to interfere with primaries were to benefit Dave Williams personally, with the effect on other races incidental at most.

Up until now, Williams has been insulated from any accountability for his misuse of party resources or his outrageous rhetoric by a state party central committee stacked with Williams loyalists who have tolerated and facilitated his regime of in-your-face favoritism and abuse of power. Although Jefferson County GOP’s whacktivist chairwoman Nancy Pallozzi claims to have the support needed to force a meeting to consider ousting Williams, the party reportedly has up to 30 days to schedule that meeting–meaning it could well be pushed off until after the June 25th primary.

Either way, winning the CO-05 primary appears to be the only option for Williams at this point, since as the nominee for a safe Republican seat Williams will have a whole new world of influence to trade for protection from the fallout of his rise to power. If Williams loses the primary, the prodigious bad karma he earned along the way is aligning to squash Williams like a bug.

But if Dave Williams doth prosper, none will dare call it anything nasty.