Just weeks before the hard-fought, historically close 1998 election for governor, the Colorado Republican state chairman, Steve Curtis, declared he would not vote for Republican nominee Bill Owens because Owens was “not conservative enough.” 

Owens was seeking to defy history and become the first Republican governor to be elected since 1970 after Democrats had won six consecutive gubernatorial elections. He was locked in a very tight race against Democratic Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler who served under the popular, term-limited Gov. Roy Romer.

Curtis was a very ineffective state chairman who saw himself as the ideological enforcer of the party. Curtis was so discredited that his opposition to Owens was cited in a major newspaper endorsement editorial as one of the reasons to vote for Owens.

“Not conservative enough” Owens won that terribly close election and went on to be a very successful governor who executed his campaign agenda to cut taxes, reform education and improve transportation without raising taxes. He was reelected in 2002 with 63% and he left office in 2007 with an approval rating of 70%. Owens remains the only Republican governor to be elected in 52 years.

So here we go again 25 years later with another inexperienced, self-righteous, self-proclaimed ideologically pure GOP chairman. Dave Williams was elected just over 100 days ago but he has wasted no time proving he aspires to be the Steve Curtis of the 2024 election cycle.

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Williams served for six years as a state representative from Colorado Springs in one of the most non-competitive, safest-Republican districts in the state. He was a noisy, ineffective back-bencher who derisively labeled any Republican he disagreed with as a “RINO” – Republican in Name Only – who did not meet his ideological purity test that is rooted in absolute fealty to Donald Trump.

One of the “RINOs” he targeted was U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, who has one of the most conservative voting records of any Republican in Congress. That made no difference to Williams. Lamborn whipped Williams by 14 points in the 2022 5th Congressional District Republican primary.

Williams was one of six candidates for Republican state chairman this past March who believe conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump, including in Colorado. Williams won after the former Mesa County clerk, criminally indicted Tina Peters, withdrew from the race and endorsed Williams. He then promised Peters a job as the “election integrity” coordinator for the state party. No joke.

Though there are no statewide Republican nominees for Williams to target in 2024 other than the presidential race, he has already found plenty of other Republicans to attack.

Unbowed by the thrashing he received in the 2022 primary, Williams attacked Lamborn for voting for the debt limit compromise forged by Republican Speaker of the U.S. House Kevin McCarthy where President Joe Biden was forced to accept spending reductions and other conservative demands. A Republican congressman supporting a Republican speaker of the House is just not enough for someone as pure as Dave Williams.

When Democratic abortion extremists nonsensically suggested the U.S. Space Command should remain in Colorado Springs rather than move to Alabama because of Colorado’s ninth-month abortion law, Williams took the bait. He circulated a letter for Republican leaders to sign saying Colorado should refuse the Space Command if abortion was a factor. 

Congressman Lamborn and former Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, both of whom are strongly pro-life, refused to sign the letter because it would have escalated abortion as an issue in the Space Command debate. This, of course, made them “RINOs” worthy of attack by Williams. Suthers is also a former Colorado attorney general, United States attorney for Colorado, and El Paso County district attorney – a “RINO” for sure.

Williams made an “agreement” with the Colorado Libertarian Party which essentially gives them the ability to veto the nomination of Republicans they oppose; otherwise, they will field Libertarian candidates in those races. This clearly violates Colorado Republican by-laws, which prohibit the state chairman from interfering in Republican primaries. Williams is apparently fine with the fact Libertarians have a long tradition of being pro-choice on abortion.

Though Libertarian candidates can affect election outcomes, Colorado Republicans have suffered historic losses in the last three election cycles not because of Libertarians. Donald Trump and his stolen-election conspiracy theories have defined Republicans at every level, something Williams refuses to acknowledge.

Williams has all but declared war on his predecessor, Kristi Burton Brown, who led the Colorado Republican Party with grace and strength during the difficult 2022 election cycle.

The assault on Brown started shortly after the election when a Williams ally, Aaron Wood, led a rally where “RINOs” were called “liars, traitors, whores and ass wipes.” One of the rally speakers disparaged Brown’s physical looks alleging she had work done on her face that resulted in a “plastic smile.” Williams has promised Wood a job. 

Brown must intimidate Williams. She was a very effective communicator who sought to build the Colorado Republican Party rather than tear it apart. And she successfully raised money for the state party while Williams is unable to hire staff and he is barely keeping a state headquarters open. Laughably, he claims his failure to raise money is “deliberate” as he implements “best practices.” 

Williams is naïve and petulant and incapable of grasping the role of the state chairman in dealing with a changing Colorado electorate.

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who worked for U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong for nine years before managing campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens.