September 13, 2024 11:54 AM UTC

Republicans Are Stuck With Dave Williams Until At Least Mid-October

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Sara Wilson reported Tuesday for Colorado Newsline, the court trial to determine who is the rightful leader of the Colorado Republican Party is set to begin just over a month from now–not as far off as lawyers for embattled but still holding the office keys chairman Dave “Buh Bye Brandon” Williams were hoping for, but disastrously too late for the leadership impasse that has paralyzed the party’s organizing efforts to be resolved before ballots go out to voters:

A trial in the case between Eli Bremer and Dave Williams, who both claim to be head of the state party, will start on Oct. 14, the same week voters should get their ballots in the mail and three weeks before Election Day itself.

“It is evident to the court that the issues before it need an expedited resolution,” Judge Eric Bentley of the 4th Judicial District said in court on Tuesday morning. “Two separate individuals and leadership teams claim to lead the Colorado Republican Committee. They represent separate factions of the party. They point the party in very different directions and have different sets of supporters.”

…Michael Melito, one of two lawyers for Williams, said on Monday that there is no need for the trial to happen before Election Day, calling the rush a “false red flag” because the “heavy lifting” when it comes to candidate support has already occurred. [Pols emphasis]

Christopher Murray, representing Bremer, said that a delay would only benefit the defendants who are refusing to hand over access to the party’s assets.

Investigating the supposed “heavy lifting” the party under Williams has supposedly already done in support of Republican candidates, today’s Unaffiliated newsletter from the Colorado Sun confirms again what we’ve been saying for months: aside from a few blast emails that cost nothing but the time to write them, the party isn’t doing a thing to help Republican candidates organize for November. What’s more, the email blasts from the state party in “support” of key Republican candidates have become so toxic after the party drew worldwide scorn for imping Westboro Baptist Church’s hate speech that they can credibly be argued to be hurting those candidates more than they help.

The state party’s campaign finance reports don’t indicate the Colorado GOP under Williams’ leadership is doing much of anything to help its general election candidates as November approaches. [Pols emphasis] There have been some emails sent out and a few Zoom calls, but that’s about it.

Many campaigns don’t trust Williams and the National Republican Congressional Committee, which would normally coordinate with the party, is siding with Bremer in the leadership dispute.

Although the trial beginning in mid-October is a nominal win for pretender-chairman Eli Bremer considering Williams’ lawyers tried to push it back until after the election, in practice it’s almost as bad for Republicans in the short run as simply leaving Williams in charge–potentially even worse if a ruling forcing Williams out comes just before the election, throwing the party into existential chaos at the worst possible moment. That outcome isn’t guaranteed, of course, considering that Williams actually received more votes in support at his meeting than votes against at Bremer’s “alt-meeting.” In the meantime, individual candidates and national Republican assets who want to help them are on their own to coordinate their campaigns.

Until the mess gets sorted out once and for all in court, the state party will pretend to function enough for Williams to continue submitting invoices. After Williams lost the only race he cared about and wrecked the party to do so, his interests have diminished. Dave Williams couldn’t win, so perhaps no Colorado Republicans deserve to.

It’s the classic end stage of the bunker mentality.