Colorado Republican Party Chairman and congressional candidate Dave Williams speaks at Colorado’s 5th Congressional District assembly on March 23, 2024, at Vista Ridge High School in Colorado Springs, Colo.
A mailer sent to voters by the Colorado Republican Party on Feb. 29, 2024, takes aim at The Gazette, a Colorado Springs newspaper owned by Clarity Media, the parent company of Colorado Politics, and Republican congressional candidate Jeff Crank, who is running against state GOP Chairman Dave Williams in a primary.
Colorado Republican Party Chairman and congressional candidate Dave Williams speaks at Colorado’s 5th Congressional District assembly on March 23, 2024, at Vista Ridge High School in Colorado Springs, Colo.
A veteran Republican campaign operative and political commentator filed a formal complaint on Thursday alleging that the Colorado GOP and its chairman, Dave Williams, violated campaign finance law by improperly spending party funds to support Williams’ congressional campaign.
Kelly Maher, a political expert with Colorado Politics news partner 9News, charged in a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission that Williams and the state Republican Party have used party resources to promote Williams and launch attacks on Jeff Crank, one of his GOP primary opponents for the open 5th Congressional District seat.
“Based on public reporting and documentary evidence, there is strong reason to believe that Williams is using the State Party as a slush fund to benefit the Williams Campaign, resulting in unreported and impermissible contributions from the State Party to the Williams Campaign,” Maher writes in the three-page complaint.
A senior campaign spokesman for Williams blasted the complaint as a “desperate attempt” to yield “fake news” meant to damage the candidate.
“Jeff Crank is pathetic as this FEC complaint is clearly a desperate attempt to hide his support for globalist candidate Nikki Haley and his record of being an open border lobbyist for Americans for Chinese Prosperity in order to generate fake news against President Trump’s endorsed candidate, Dave Williams,” the Williams spokesman said in a text message.
The complaint points to a glossy mailer sent by the state GOP in late February that described Crank and former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley as “insider cronies,” among other attacks.
A mailer sent to voters by the Colorado Republican Party on Feb. 29, 2024, takes aim at The Gazette, a Colorado Springs newspaper owned by Clarity Media, the parent company of Colorado Politics, and Republican congressional candidate Jeff Crank, who is running against state GOP Chairman Dave Williams in a primary.
Additionally, the complaint notes, the state party used its email list in January to distribute a press release announcing Williams’ candidacy for the El Paso County-based seat three days after nine-term Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn said he wouldn’t seek reelection.
In February, the state party distributed emails that criticized Haley, Crank and Americans for Prosperity just days after the conservative organization’s political arm endorsed Crank.
The Colorado GOP endorsed former President Donald Trump in January, breaking with longstanding tradition to remain neutral in contested primaries. Trump beat Haley, his lone remaining primary rival, in the state’s Super Tuesday presidential primary on March 5.
A week later, Trump endorsed Williams’ congressional bid.
Williams and Crank have both qualified for the June 25 primary election — Williams at a recent party assembly and Crank by submitting a sufficient number of petition signatures to make the ballot. State Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, is awaiting review by election officials of petitions he submitted last month.
A former FEC attorney who reviewed the complaint told Colorado Politics that the party’s spending could violate federal campaign reporting requirements and contribution limits.
“Any expenses that should be paid for by the campaign must be paid for by the campaign,” said the attorney, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak candidly. “That includes things like an email list, staff time and the sending of mailers that attack one’s primary opponent. Williams using the state party for some or all of these would be an in-kind, which must be reported but hasn’t been.”
Williams drew calls from fellow Republicans earlier this year to step down as party chairman after he launched his run in the contested primary. The criticism intensified after the GOP’s flier started landing in mailboxes days before Colorado’s presidential primary and precinct caucuses.
Maher has been among Williams’ most vocal critics, including in a recent op-ed that made many of the same arguments contained in her FEC complaint and called Williams a “professional political grifter.”
Last month, Maher launched a political action committee dubbed the Restoring Standards PAC, which paid for digital ads that linked to a TV news story about Williams’ employment history as a registered agent and executive of a company that imported merchandise from China.
She told Colorado Politics she intends to ramp up criticism of Williams as the primary approaches.
“Dave Williams has turned the Colorado GOP into a little creepy cult for his own gain,” Maher said in a text message after filing the complaint. “He’s punishing those who dare to stand up to his childish tactics. But he can only act like this if we let him, and tolerating this behavior needs to end now. The party should exist to elect Republicans up and down the ballot, not to further the aspirations of a single individual.”
Dave Williams, the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, won top-line designation Saturday in the GOP’s 5th Congressional District primar…
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Your comment has been submitted.
Reported
There was a problem reporting this.
Log In
Post a comment as Guest
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday.
Secure your subscription to Colorado’s premier political news journal, in continuous publication since 1898. You can be in the know right alongside Colorado’s political insiders. Want the real scoop? Subscribe to Colorado Politics today!
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
