June 18, 2024 12:32 PM UTC

Dave Williams is Merely a Symptom of the Republican Rot in Colorado

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams is not a particularly popular guy at the moment, and for good reason. Since his election as Chair in March 2023, Williams has systematically turned up the volume on hate speech and divisive rhetoric both within the Republican Party and among Colorado voters in general — while at the same time looting the State Party’s coffers for his own personal political ambitions.

A growing number of Republicans are working to oust Williams from his leadership perch; while Williams has temporarily delayed that decision, his ouster as Chair may be inevitable. Meanwhile, other Republican groups are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent Williams from winning next week’s Primary Election in CO-05.

Dave Williams is absolutely a cancer in the Colorado Republican Party, but removing him won’t cure the patient. As we wrote earlier this month, the rot runs deep in the Colorado GOP:

For years Republicans have tolerated this sort of hate speech. At best, they ignore it. At worst, they hand out awards to people who parrot the hostility. 

Lindsay Datko, the nutball founder of “Jeffco Kids First,” received the “Defenders of the Declaration” award from the GOP-aligned “Leadership Program of the Rockies” in 2023 for promoting the absurd idea that “furries” were infiltrating Jefferson County schools. “Jeffco Kids First” is now promoting an August fundraising event — with Riley Gaines, the former competitive swimmer turned anti-trans activist — that the group says will help “fund ongoing legal action and advice” as they try to win a doomed libel suit against Colorado Community Media (which reported on Datko’s group and their furry madness). What has the Jefferson County Republican Party said about this? Not a damn thing. 

What about State Representatives Scott “There is No” Bottoms and Ken “Dildo” DeGraff of Colorado Springs, both of whom regularly vomit out hate speech and accuse Democrats of being pedophiles? Is anybody going to ask them to stop?

How about State Rep. Brandi Bradley of Littleton, who is a fervent anti-trans hatemonger and even encourages death threats against Democratic lawmakers? Crickets.

Bradley is a prime example of the Republican Rot. She demonstrated her, um, statesmanship with another scary rant on social media today:

That’s STATE REPRESENTATIVE Brandi Bradley just casually threatening violence against the Douglas County School Board because she believes the DCSB might vote tonight on a policy around transgender students participating in athletic events and using certain bathrooms. Bradley even posted the response she received from a DCSB member after voicing her concerns — though Bradley is completely oblivious to how poorly that response reflects on her.

Neither Bradley nor anyone else participating in this social media freak out seem to have any actual information about a policy vote tonight, but that hasn’t stopped other Republicans from spreading the word. The Douglas County Republican Party shared Bradley’s DCSB response with its own social media post:

Not that there is any logical consistency at work here but it’s worth asking why Republicans are concerned about decisions being made by a public school board given that the Colorado Republican Party recently called on all Republicans to remove their children from public schools altogether.

There may be plenty of Republicans who have had enough of Dave Williams, but there are also a lot of them in Colorado who support his actions and don’t seem bothered by the fact that some folks are actually heeding GOP calls to “burn Pride flags.” This clip from 9News includes a brief prayer for Williams from Joe Oltmann, the right-wing radio host in Colorado who has previously called for Gov. Jared Polis to be hanged:

Ousting Williams as State Party Chair would be a good start for Colorado Republicans interested in some sort of return to a normal, functioning political party. But if Republicans stop at ejecting Williams and then wipe their hands dry, this will keep happening.

You can’t merely reject some hate from some people and expect that to make a difference. Until Republicans decide to cut out the entire rot that has infected their party, they’ll just be dealing with the same shit coming from a difference voice.