Colorado Republicans who want to depose state party chairman Dave Williams can proceed with a meeting called for that purpose, a district court judge ruled late Friday.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Thomas W. Henderson said in a five-page order that the court lacks jurisdiction to decide the party's internal dispute over attempts to oust its elected leaders, including Williams, citing Colorado law and prior court rulings.
In response, El Paso County Vice Chair Todd Watkins told Colorado Politics that organizers plan to move ahead with a meeting scheduled for Aug. 24 at a church in Brighton, where Williams' detractors plan to vote on whether to replace Williams and his lieutenants, state Vice Chair Hope Sheppelman and party Secretary Anna Ferguson.
"We always knew we were right. Now, we have a court behind us. A court that Dave brought in to try to quash us," Watkins said in a text message. "Dave’s arguments were not only tangled and warped, they were fallacious. Dave tried to confuse and mislead the court. We’ve been honest and straightforward from the outset."
Added Watkins: "Dave has tried every bully tactic against us, up to and including lawfare. He has been losing at every turn. We will hold a perfectly legal and legitimate meeting on Aug. 24 and conduct the business we said we would conduct."
Williams said Saturday the party plans to appeal the decision and fired back at Watkins in a statement issued by the state GOP.
"Watkins clearly seeks to sow chaos 80 days before an important election by creating another Party entity designed to drive a wedge between our members and disrupt election operations," the party's statement said. "Please know this: Any actions taken at Watkins' fraudulent meeting will NOT settle whatever dispute exists, and their invalid and divisive efforts will only ensure the conflict continues for months to come"
The party's statement said that Williams and other state party leaders will "only respect" actions taken at a central committee meeting it has called for Aug. 31 at a church in Castle Rock, which it characterized as "the only legitimate meeting."
Watkins and Jefferson County GOP Chair Nancy Pallozzi have been organizing an effort to remove Williams since June, when the state party enraged Republican candidates and county party officers with repeated attacks on the LGBTQ community's Pride Month, including a call to "Burn all the #Pride flags."
Other Williams opponents derided the former state lawmaker for diverting party resources to support his failed congressional candidacy and a Williams-led move to endorse candidates in Republican primaries, most of whom lost.
Williams and the Colorado GOP sued last month to prevent Watkins and Pallozzi from convening a meeting of the party's state central committee to consider whether to remove its leadership team.
Initially, the same judge granted a temporary restraining order sought by the state party to block a meeting called for July 27, but last week Henderson reversed his earlier ruling and lifted the restraining order, suggesting that Williams' attorney had misrepresented the state party's bylaws in court filings.
After dissolving the restraining order he'd issued on Aug. 6, Henderson told Williams and Watkins to submit written arguments on the state GOP's original lawsuit, which asked the court to enforce a decision made by the state party's executive committee that determined Watkins had improperly called a meeting to remove Williams.
After considering the briefs, the judge sided with Watkins and Pallozzi — who was also named in the lawsuit — in dismissing the state party's complaint.
In part, the decision rests on the distinction between the state party's roughly 400-member central committee, which includes elected Republican officials and county party officers from throughout the state — and the executive committee, a much smaller body with about two dozen members, many appointed by the state party chairman.
Under Colorado law and the state GOP's bylaws, the state central committee has the final say on internal party disputes, contrary to arguments made by Williams and his Broomfield-based attorney, Dave Piggot, a former legislative candidate, the judge ruled.
In a virtual hearing and court documents, Piggot repeatedly maintained that a decision made by the state executive committee quashing the meeting called by Watkins was the "Final Decision," but the judge said the party's own rules clearly stated otherwise.
"To the extent Plaintiff argues that any decision regarding internal party disputes by the EC, or by him in his capacity as Chairman, is 'final', the Court disagrees. The CRC has not yet decided any of the internal party disputes now before this Court," Henderson wrote in Friday's order dismissing the party's lawsuit.
Citing the executive committee's decision, Williams and Scheppelman described any central committee meeting convened by Watkins as "invalid and illegal," while Watkins has long maintained that the July 27 and Aug. 24 meetings he's called — under party bylaws that allow 25% of the committee's membership to convene a meeting over objections from the party chair — meet the state party's requirements and will be authorized to conduct business.
Williams and Scheppelman, however, insisted that the state central committee meeting they called for Aug. 31 — the Saturday before Labor Day — is the "properly called meeting" and have urged Republicans not to attend Watkins' meeting a week earlier in Brighton.
