Dave Williams Tossing Reporter Becomes The Story Of GOP Assemblies

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by: Colorado Pols

Colorado GOP chairman Dave Williams.

The Colorado Republican Party held their state assembly at the state fairgrounds in Pueblo, wrapping up the congressional assemblies on Friday and the party’s platform and agenda Saturday. Unfortunately for candidates who won their respective races, events at the assembly this year were overshadowed by yet another self-inflicted controversy courtesy Colorado Republican Party chairman and CO-05 congressional candidate Dave “Let’s Go Brandon” Williams, who used the opportunity to engage in petty retaliation against one particular Colorado political reporter whose beat is especially problematic for Williams. Ernest Luning of the Colorado Springs Gazette’s political blog reports:

The Colorado Republican Party on Saturday had law enforcement remove a reporter for the Colorado Sun from the GOP’s state assembly in Pueblo because the party’s chairman believes the outlet’s reporting has been “very unfair.”

A Pueblo County sheriff’s deputy escorted Sandra Fish, a long-time political and data reporter for the nonprofit news organization, from the Southwest Motors Events Center on the state fairgrounds, where thousands of Republican delegates from throughout the state convened to conduct party business…

[Fish] covered the previous day’s congressional district assemblies at the same location without incident and was issued press credentials on Saturday by volunteers, but the state GOP’s events coordinator said Fish wasn’t authorized to be there for Saturday’s proceedings, which included speeches by Republican luminaries, votes on party resolutions and election of Colorado’s Republican National Committee members.

Although the optics of tossing a veteran political reporter out of the state assembly after allowing her to cover part of the event without incident are terrible, Williams is correct when he asserts that the meeting is technically a “private” function he can exclude individuals from at will. Williams’ choosing to kick veteran political reporter Sandra Fish from the event in particular, however, is due to Fish’s in-depth reporting on the precarious state of the party’s fundraising efforts under Williams, as well as Williams’ repeated abuse of state party resources to attack his personal political opponents. Even the unapologetically progressive Colorado Times Recorder was allowed to cover the entire event unmolested.

The reaction to Williams’ singling out Sandra Fish has been fierce, not just from her journalist colleagues but also from a variety of fellow Republicans who didn’t want Williams’ actions tainting their own campaigns. Denver7’s Corlette Bordelon:

“It may be one thing to call a reporter’s reporting unfair. It’s an entirely different bridge to cross when you have that reporter removed from a state party assembly. To me, that’s one bridge too far,” [Rep. Matt] Soper said. “The media has a right to be there. Period, end of story.”

Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, who readers already know is no friend of Dave Williams, also sounded her public displeasure:

But when CO-04 congressional candidate Deb Flora spoke up in defense of the First Amendment, Williams via the state party’s official account was waiting to smack her down:

This broadside against Flora is interesting because unlike the Colorado GOP’s vote to formally endorse Donald Trump back in January, we haven’t heard about a vote by the Central Committee to endorse Lauren Boebert in the CO-04 GOP primary. Is this just a decision that Williams gets to make on his own now? A reporter who’s not afraid to wind up on Williams’ blacklist should at least try to ask. The same question would apply to CO-08 candidate Gabe Evans, who exclaimed “This is wrong!” in response to Williams’ actions. Does this mean we should expect the party to endorse Janak Joshi imminently?

Despite the outrage from a fairly broad swath of Republicans in response to Williams’ capricious decision to boot a respected reporter from the state assembly, we don’t expect this to result in any actual sanction for Williams by the party’s central committee, which is the only oversight that exists short of a possible campaign finance law investigation like the one called for by 9NEWS Republican-lite talking head Kelly Maher in her complaint to the Federal Election Commission last week. The central committee has tolerated Williams’ financial excesses and misuse of resources up to now and there’s no reason to expect that to change. Maher’s complaint is unlikely to derail Williams from the only objective he personally cares about, winning the June 25th CO-05 primary. Once that goal is achieved, Dave Williams couldn’t care less what happens to the state party.

The best opportunity to stop Williams was in March of 2023. Now the consequences of failing to stop him are piling up.

16 thoughts on “Dave Williams Tossing Reporter Becomes The Story Of GOP Assemblies”

rwnemanich says:

April 8, 2024 at 12:44 pm

Let's go there: Dave Williams is exhibiting classic fascism. From George Mosse, Ph.D., the deceased esteemed scholar of fascism and totalitarianism, which he escaped in 1932 with his family, the editor and publisher of Berlin's largest liberal paper the day Hitler came to power: Arrest warrants were issued to capture the Mosse family. Mosse writes:

"Fascism took over ideals of freedom and tolerance, changing both to fit its model. Tolerance, […] was claimed by fascists in antithesis to their supposed intolerant enemies, while freedom was placed within its community. To be tolerant meant not tolerating those who opposed fascism: individual liberty was possible only within the collectivity."

This is the road Williams and many CO Republicans are on.

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Duke Cox says:

April 8, 2024 at 1:39 pm

Once again, I am looking for that fabled "reasonable Republican" who would band together with his "sane" brethren and rescue the GOP from the bad guys.

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1. Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
  
  April 8, 2024 at 2:51 pm
  
  That hypothetical "reasonable Republican" is probably Bob Gardner who would likely pull 20% in a three-way race with Dave Williams getting about 60% (thanks to his endorsement from Trump) and Jeff Crank getting the other 20%.
  
  "Reasonable Republican" translates into establishment Republican which Gardner clearly is.
  
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OpenSpace says:

April 8, 2024 at 2:36 pm

What are the odds that Crank can defeat him (not knowing whether Crank is worse?)

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1. Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
  
  April 8, 2024 at 2:42 pm
  
  Given the fact that when he was younger, Jeff Crank lost twice to a man referred to by his colleagues as "Doug Still-born," that should be all you need to know.
  
  I don't see Crank doing any better this time around. I think this seat is going to Dave Williams until such time as he has sufficiently ignored the military-industrial complex that is the CD-5 economic base at which time a rational, well-funded Democrat with an honorable military record will do to Williams what Betsy Markey did to Marilyn Musgrave.
  
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Chickenheed says:

April 8, 2024 at 5:36 pm

The CO GOP being ok with Dave Williams as the head of the CO GOP allows me to make better sense of their stance on the Jena Griswold "impeachment".

Dave Williams has personal opinions and uses his position as Chair of the CO GOP to make the CO GOP enforce his opinions above all else. Jena Griswold has personal opinions and does not use her position as Secretary of State to make the State of Colorado enforce her opinions above all else. Instead she follows laws and rulings even if they do not follow her opinions exactly. Griswold's way is apparently "bad" according to Colorado Republicans, while Williams' way is how they want governments and communities to be run.

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Stanistan says:

April 8, 2024 at 6:15 pm

I can't wait for the "~~Sun~~" to set, most of them are has been's.

Rep Dave did just fine.     F J B

And all those tired old 'Americans for Prosperity' honkeys are cow patsies.

Maybe they can get some illegal aliens to vote for them.

DETECT

   DETAIN

        DEPORT

At least Ms Marilyn stood up to the OBLites — (Open Border Lobby)

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1. JohnNorthofDenver says:
  
  April 8, 2024 at 6:35 pm
  
  Welcome loser.
  
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2. Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
  
  April 9, 2024 at 8:05 am
  
  If you look up the term "one trick pony" in the dictionary, it should have a picture of Ms. Marilyn next to it.
  
  GAY MARRIAGE GAY MARRIAGE GAY MARRIAGE
  
  She was broken record and ignored stuff that mattered to her constituents.
  
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3. spaceman2021 says:
  
  April 9, 2024 at 9:09 am
  
  Okay, Qaren. Welcome to the land of rational thought. You should try it sometime, difficult though it might be for you.
  
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JohnNorthofDenver says:

April 8, 2024 at 6:33 pm

Lot of overthinking this. I've seen it at fandom conventions. Petty examples of power use such power for petty examples. You don't have to be Prof Zimbardo… these people are conducting their own Stanford experiment.

Republicans should line up for the shooting squad and accept their fate because it's clear they get the first bullet when these trumpers get power.

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Sunmusing says:

April 9, 2024 at 6:46 am

this is censorship…plain and simple…

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Sparky says:

April 9, 2024 at 8:03 am

If Williams keeps it up at this rate, Republicans are going to end up nominating him for president in 2028.

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spaceman2021 says:

April 9, 2024 at 9:11 am

Way to go, Dave. You've made the Washington Post. https://wapo.st/49wjfIm

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1. Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
  
  April 9, 2024 at 9:21 am
  
  Who is the tattooed guy in uniform?
  
  A real cop? Private professional security? A constitutional sheriff? A wingnut into cosplay?
  
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NOV GOP meltdown says:

April 9, 2024 at 10:30 am

You're on a pretty weak footing if you can't handle any press scrutiny. You're pretty much admitting you can't defend your positions. Very thin skinned, and quite a tell. Does that mean that Karine Jean-Pierre can finally kick out Doocy, and his idiotic lines of questioning ?

I think Sandra Fish used to post here from time to time. Good job.

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