June 14, 2024 10:41 AM UTC

Dave Williams Outflanks Ouster Petition As Intra-GOP Schism Deepens

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Ernest Luning of the Colorado Springs Gazette’s political blog reports, yesterday the growing faction within the Colorado Republican Party calling for the ouster of party chairman and congressional candidate Dave “Let’s Go Brandon” Williams added to its ranks the Denver Republican Party, with a petition from Jefferson County GOP chair Nancy Pallozzi allegedly signed by enough party central committee members to force a vote on Williams’ chairmanship set to be delivered at noon today:

The Denver Republican Party says it’s time for Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams to go.

The county party’s executive committee voted late Wednesday to join a chorus of Republican county organizations, party officers and elected officials calling on Williams to resign or face a vote to boot him from office amid complaints over emails Williams sent at the beginning of June denouncing Pride Month.

Organizers behind a petition to convene a special meeting of the state GOP’s central committee to consider whether to fire Williams told Colorado Politics they’ve gathered more than enough signatures and plan to submit the petition at noon on Friday.

But then last night, Jeffco GOP chair Nancy Pallozzi’s quest to remove Williams got lopped off at the proverbial knees:

As we reported earlier, Republicans in a position to actually decide the question are far from unanimous on dumping Dave Williams, including members of the party’s central committee from Jefferson County like former state Rep. Tim Leonard who came to Williams’ defense last week. In an email blast this morning, the state party has decided that the conflict between Pallozzi and the Jeffco GOP’s executive committee means the petition to oust Williams isn’t going anywhere:

Nancy Pallozzi, the Jefferson County Republican Chairwoman, was censured last night by the Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee.

You can read the censure resolution, which also rendered her prior actions “null and void,” for yourself below.

As it relates to Nancy’s attempt to call a special meeting in defense of the transgender and Pride Month agenda (which harms children and undermines parental authority) by removing current leadership, any conflicts that arise from this matter will first be adjudicated through the controversy process pursuant to Article XV of our state bylaws. [Pols emphasis]

And here’s the Jeffco GOP’s censure resolution against Pallozzi asserting that Pallozzi’s petition to oust Williams is “null and void.”

BE IT RESOLVED that this Executive Committee hereby:

1. Renders the decision that the actions taken of Chair Pallozzi in this matter have not been in the best interest of the Jeffco Party, its candidates, its supporters, or its members, and therefore have been, and are not, sanctioned nor approved,

2. Renders all the actions heretofore taken by Chair Pallozzi on this matter null and void and all the results and/or consequences are revoked and retracted, including petitions, surveys, etc., [Pols emphasis]

3. Censures Chair Pallozzi immediately, in her capacity as Chair, to cease any action and communications related to this matter, and

4. Directs Chair Pallozzi to immediately disclose and surrender all materials and communications related to this matter, including the list of media outlets contacted, interviews held, contacts with other county chairs, etc. to be made available only to Jeffco Executive Committee members at Jeffco GOP Headquarters. There will be no copies or photos made or shared with anyone outside of the Executive Committee.

In short, there will be no vote on Dave Williams’ chairmanship by the Colorado GOP central committee until the Jeffco GOP works out its internal conflict first–basically guaranteeing that a vote won’t take place before the June 25th primary election. If the support for getting rid of Williams is as widespread as Pallozzi claims from the alleged response to her petition, it is possible that another county party like Denver could pick up the baton. But for now, with Williams in charge of the party and the central committee stacked with Williams loyalists, attempts to force Williams using party procedures Williams can freely manipulate are not going to work. Like a game of “Calvinball,” Williams can just keep changing the rules.

The only thing that matters is Dave Williams making it to the CO-05 GOP primary on June 25th. Williams’ entire purpose in taking the job of party chairman was to benefit his personal political goal of replacing Doug Lamborn in Congress. If Williams loses the primary, he may try to insulate himself in the job he has demonstrated unfitness to hold, but his weakness after losing the race he looted the party to run into could result in Williams being swiftly excommunicated. If Williams wins the primary, it’s Williams’ own interest in running the day-to-day operations of the party that will naturally decline, and we’d expect the party to hire an executive director to do the work Williams has mostly neglected as chairman.

Above all, despite the attempt by some number of Republicans with a conscience to oppose Williams’ corrupt ambition and embarrassing throwback wedge-issue politics, those people are not in a position to change the Colorado GOP’s course. Everything Williams has done has been under the pretense of supporting the Republican presumptive nominee for President, starting with the departure from the prior norm of staying out of primary elections. Donald Trump created the petri dish in which Dave Williams, after years on the margins among fellow Republicans, was able to fester.

Until further notice, it’s Dave Williams making–and changing–the rules.