COLORADO, USA — After a short reprieve, infighting between Colorado Republican Party leaders is back.
Last month, party Chairman Dave Williams was granted a temporary restraining order against party leaders who wanted him out.
On Tuesday, an Arapahoe County District Judge ripped up that temporary restraining order, ruling that he acted prematurely in granting it.
What was the restraining order about?
El Paso County Republican Vice Chair Todd Watkins and Jefferson County Republican Chair Nancy Pallozzi say they collected the signatures of 113 central committee members who wanted to hold a vote to remove Williams as chair.
The Colorado Republican Party refused to consider those signatures authentic unless Watkins provided a paper trail showing those people knew what they were supporting. By turning in the signatures, Watkins believed that triggered a timeline that required a party meeting to be held within 30 days.
He called for a meeting on July 27 at a Brighton church. The party then called for a meeting on July 19 at a park in far southwest Colorado in Bayfield. The purpose of that meeting was simply to check a box saying that the party held a meeting, and then it was going to be adjourned until August 31.
That meeting took place with five people under a bridge on a bike path. Watkins still planned his meeting for July 27. The party considered it “illegal” and sued to prevent it from happening. The judge granted a temporary restraining order stopping Watkins’ meeting from taking place.
Court hearing on Tuesday
In a court hearing on Tuesday, the judge heard arguments and determined that the party had not exhausted its internal efforts to handle the situation. Watkins’ signatures were rejected by the party’s executive committee and not the central committee. Because of that, the judge ruled that the temporary restraining order was “improvidently granted” because the court lacked jurisdiction.
That temporary restraining order was dissolved on Tuesday.
“Political parties, kind of like churches, kind of like charitable organizations, they get to decide for themselves how to organize themselves,” Chris Murray, Watkins’ and Pallozzi’s attorney, said. “Until the highest body or highest authority of a political party, which in Colorado is a state central committee, has acted, courts can’t get involved on anything.”
Murray explained that the central committee of the party includes the leadership of all the county parties, state and federal elected Republicans and additional Republican Party members.
“The easy answer, though, is that it’s about 400 people as opposed to a couple dozen [executive committee members],” Murray said.
Dueling Colorado GOP meetings
Now that the temporary restraining order is gone, Watkins has called for a meeting in Brighton on August 24.
“You have to have a third of the central committee in order to have a quorum to conduct business. If you don’t have a third of the members there, literally nothing can happen,” Murray said.
The Colorado Republican Party sent out an email to its members after the judge’s ruling on Tuesday, saying the next “properly called” meeting is Aug. 31.
The State Executive Committee has rendered a decision that Watkins' meeting is invalid and illegal. That has not changed, and its determination is still in full force and effect.
“There is a properly called meeting on August 31st where the SCC [state central committee] is empowered to address the State Executive Committee's decision.
Watkins does not get to call illegal meetings and then expand the scope of those fraudulent meetings while stealing the authority of the already existing standing committees that draft the rules or properly credential members.
Your State Party will not sit idly by while Watkins violates proper process and procedure. If anyone wants a special meeting for whatever purpose then they must follow the rules to do so.
Again, the only legitimate meeting regarding this topic will occur on August 31st.”
Watkins will still have his meeting on Aug. 24 and if, at least, one-third of the central committee is present, business can happen.
“Really, where it leaves us is the folks who called the meeting either have the votes to get what they want, or they don’t,” Murray said.
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