DENVER — In a hastily organized vote, the Republican caucus in the Colorado state House nearly ousted Minority Leader Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, but fell short by one vote.
State Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-Colorado Springs, called for the vote of no confidence on Monday morning, following last week’s news, first reported by The Denver Post, that Lynch was pulled over for DUI and possession of a weapon while drunk in 2022.
"To keep the integrity of the Republican caucus and our votes and our future votes, then I'm calling for this vote no confidence," Bottoms said during the caucus meeting.
In an interview with 9NEWS on Wednesday, Lynch said that it was a personal matter that he did not need to make public.
“There’s two ways you can do it. You can tell or you cannot tell. I flipped the coin and ended up with the not tell option,” Lynch told 9NEWS on Wednesday.
"We put him into leadership, him knowing that this was going to come out. To me, that's the opposite of leadership," Bottoms told 9NEWS in an interview on Monday.
Bottoms is a far-right representative who is familair for other newsworthy moments.
Last year, he said that Jewish hostages held by Hamas need to turn to Jesus. He suggested the Israeli and U.S. governments knew in advance about the Hamas attacks. And he said the Palestinian people don't exist, they're just a group of terrorists.
He is also the representative who made a mockery out of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts during a debate about gas stoves.
He is also the person behind the request to remove Lynch as leader.
“I wasn’t doing it to force him out of office, I asked him to resign. But, I was trusting the caucus," Bottoms said. "Here's the 100 percent that I can give you. I do not want to be minority leader myself. I have no desire for that. I will not accept a nomination for that at all,"
On Friday, through an open records request, 9NEWS obtained the dash camera and in-vehicle camera footage of the September 2022 traffic stop. The video showed Lynch asking the trooper that cited him to keep the arrest out of the media.
“I’m a state representative here. And if there’s anything we can do to, kind of, keep the press out of this, that’d be great,” Lynch said. They’ll find out. They’ll find out. This will be a big deal.”
“In the video, Rep, Lynch refers to it as ‘this will be a big deal.’ If it was a big deal then, it would be a big deal now," State Rep. Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, said during the caucus meeting.
During the Republican caucus meeting on Monday, the vote to retain Lynch as speaker tied 9-9, with one member, State Rep. Stephanie Luck, R-Penrose, excused from voting.
However, there appeared to be confusion about Luck’s attendance. She recently gave birth to a child and is away from the Capitol, but appeared to be willing to participate remotely.
There was also confusion about the vote itself, if it was a vote to retain or to remove Lynch as minority leader.
The vote was recorded as a 9-9 tie and failed, with caucus chair, State Rep. Mary Bradford, R-Colorado Springs, admitting that she vocalized what was being voted on backward.
“We’re just going to call for another caucus meeting tomorrow, make sure that everybody’s available and then we’ll revote on this and be done," Bottoms said.
Prior to the vote, Lynch defended his leadership to the caucus.
"If I believed that this event, which occurred outside of this building, outside of this session, had an impact and was detrimental to my ability to perform this job, I would gladly step aside. I don't believe it does and I don't believe that it did," Lynch said.
After the vote, Lynch put out a statement still defending his leadership.
“I have fully accepted, and I own the mistake I made in 2022, that's what leaders do. I look forward to earning the trust of the members that didn't vote for me and I appreciate the continued support of those who did,” Lynch wrote.
> Video below: Watch the full interview with Mike Lynch:
A Colorado State Patrol report says Lynch was speeding on Interstate 25 in Larimer County when the trooper pulled him over. Lynch told the trooper he was coming from a fundraiser in Fort Collins, and the trooper said in the report that he could smell alcohol on the state representative's breath.
The trooper noted Lynch appeared drunk, and that he was carrying a pocketknife. Lynch admitted to having a gun on him. The report says Lynch then reached for the pocket the gun was in.
The trooper said Lynch grabbed the gun, and then began to pull the gun out of his pocket. According to the report, the trooper pinned Lynch's hand, still holding the gun, against the representative's leg.
“I think it was an 'oh crap, I forgot, I've got a gun in my pocket.' And so, I was trying to be proactive with the officer,” Lynch said to 9NEWS last week.
> Video below: Dash camera video shows the 2022 arrest:
Here's what the Colorado State Patrol trooper wrote in the DUI report:
"I feared for my safety as Mr. Lynch manipulated a firearm after I had clearly told him not to touch the knife in his other pocket,” the trooper wrote. "He told me he had a little .380 and said 'it's not a big deal'. I informed him that pulling a gun out of our pocket when in contact with the police was, in fact, a big deal and people get shot that way."
Lynch is running in a crowded race in Colorado's 4th Congressional District to replace Republican Congressman Ken Buck. He'll be running against current Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who switched to the CD-4 race from the third Congressional District on the Western Slope.
This story includes previous reporting by Marissa Solomon.
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