The chairman of the Colorado Republican Party helped in ousting House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, who announced on Wednesday that he is stepping down from his leadership post in the wake of mounting pressure after a DUI arrest in 2022 became public.

Lynch did not disclose the arrest, which happened before he assumed the mantle of House Minority Leader, to his caucus, a sore point for his colleagues when the story broke last week.

How big of a role Dave Williams played in Lynch’s ouster is unclear. But the Republican Party official showed up at the state House on Tuesday and spoke with two members pushing for Lynch’s resignation from leadership.

Williams did not hide his animus toward Lynch in a text message on Wednesday to Colorado Politics.

“It’s unfortunate he would attack others for his criminality, and we certainly don’t apologize for calling on the disgraced Minority Leader, Mike Lynch, to resign for initiating a cover-up because he was arrested, and currently on probation, for endangering the lives of other motorists while driving drunk,” said Williams, who served three terms in the Colorado House before his election as party boss.

Williams publicly cheered Lynch’s resignation.

“It’s about time,” he tweeted on Wednesday morning. “The House Republicans should elect any who has NOT been convicted of driving while drunk and broke faith with voters and colleagues by covering it up. Thank you to the House Republican Caucus Members who showed courage and demonstrated he lost the confidence of the majority of his GOP colleagues.”

In his comments to the House, Lynch addressed Williams’ involvement, saying, “I’m not stepping down because a failed state chair decided to try to influence the actions in this House.”

“I am stepping down because it is the right thing to do,” he added.

Regarding his appearance at the state Capitol, Williams told Colorado Politics: “I gave my opinion to members privately who reached out personally, and because [of] yesterday’s chaos I publicly called for his resignation.”

Williams showed up at the state Capitol on Tuesday, moments after several Republican House members were told they could not hold a caucus meeting to take a second vote on Lynch’s ouster.

Lynch’s critics had wanted to hold a second vote on whether to retain the Wellington Republican as leader after the caucus deadlocked on the question, 9-9, the day before.

On Tuesday, some lawmakers said they had been told not to attend the meeting, leaving the GOP caucus without a quorum for any business to officially go forward.

Rep. Mary Bradfield, the caucus chair, said it was her call to set the time and place for a caucus meeting and not the decision of Rep. Scott Bottoms, who had made the request for their fellow Republicans to gather earlier that morning.

Williams first went to the front of the caucus room to speak to Bottoms and Rep. Ken DeGraaf of Colorado Springs. Meanwhile, Rep. Brandi Bradley of Roxborough Park was sitting nearby.

After he spoke to the lawmakers, Williams went to the back of the room and sat down, while Bottoms addressed the gaggle of press in the room.

Shortly after, Williams began asking questions, directed at the lawmakers but also telling the press to issue open records requests for Lynch’s emails.

When Colorado Politics asked who was running the effort to get rid of Lynch – Bottoms or Williams – Bottoms replied, “The question is out of line and rude.”

“We didn’t know Dave was here until he walked in the room,” Bottoms said. “Is Williams asking questions to help me formulate thoughts? Sure. But to say he’s coordinating it is out of line.”

“The idea that we are not independent thinkers” is exactly how Republicans are treated by Democrats, he said, calling it “goofy.”

Williams’ predecessor as Colorado GOP chair, Kristi Burton Brown, told Colorado Politics she didn’t involve herself with legislative leadership matters when she ran the state party.

“I think the result with Minority Leader Lynch was going to be the same whether Dave Williams involved himself or not,” Burton Brown said in a text message. “The Republican legislators at the Capitol appreciate when a state chairman is supportive, but they make their own decisions.”

Added Burton Brown: “When a chairman does not have a good reputation with our legislators, it hurts efforts more than it helps.”