Republican party members rally, voice concerns about GOP Chair Dave Williams
BRIGHTON, Colo. (KRDO) - After a judge granted Colorado Republican Chair Dave Williams a restraining order in an attempt to stop a meeting set to vote him out, Republican party members continued to meet in a Brighton church to voice concerns about the Colorado GOP chair Saturday morning.
"The current leadership is not serving the party well, and therefore, it's not serving us to get elected. You can't govern unless you win and right now we don't have a winning strategy. Our officers are letting us down as far as getting that winning strategy out," Kathleen Chandler, a state central committee member told our partners at 9 News.
The rally happened after months of controversy surrounding Williams came to a head in early June when Williams commented about Pride Month. Many in the Republican party deemed the comments to be a misrepresentation of the rest of the party.
Other members raised concerns about his use of party finances and that he ran for Congress while holding the party seat.
All of that came to a head when multiple Republican party members stepped up to ask to hold a special meeting to oust Williams from his seat. However, their request for the special meeting was deemed both invalid and illegal by State authorities, as they had allegedly violated party bylaws and not verified the needed votes to hold the meeting in the first place.
In response, Dave Williams filed a lawsuit against two of the leading members of those who sought to oust; Todd Watkins and Nancy Pallozzi. The lawsuit aimed for a preliminary injunction, to stop the meeting set to vote Williams out, but that ultimately failed.
Instead, on Friday night, an Arapahoe County judge granted William's request for a restraining order against the meeting set to happen the next morning.
But, Republican members still met in a Brighton church early Saturday morning to voice complaints.
Now, a meeting set to happen in August will potentially solve the party disagreements. The meeting will be chaired by Hope Scheppelmen, the GOP Vice-Chair.
