The standoff between Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams and some of the Republicans seeking his removal from office took an unexpected turn on Monday night when members of the El Paso County GOP’s governing body convened on lawn chairs in a church parking lot in Colorado Springs to demand that Williams resign.

In addition to approving a resolution calling for Williams to step down or face removal, the county party’s executive committee voted to censure county Republican chair Vickie Tonkins and demand that she resign. Tonkins, however, immediately denounced the gathering as a “fake meeting” and declared its proceedings invalid.

“A fake meeting of disgruntled agitators who met in a parking lot does not mean actual business occurred and it’s not worthy of your reporting,” Tonkins told Colorado Politics in an email late Monday. “The El Paso County Republicans support Dave Williams and will continue to do so.”

Not so fast, said county GOP vice chair Todd Watkins, Tonkins’ second in command. He maintained that it was Tonkins who had called an illegal meeting of the executive committee — set to take place Wednesday at party headquarters — and declared that the confab he oversaw late Monday was the one that counts.

“We had a quorum,” Watkins told Colorado Politics on Monday. “She did not cancel today’s meeting, (which) was held in accordance with the proper call.”

In recent weeks, Watkins has spearheaded an attempt by Colorado Republicans to force Williams from office. Last week he submitted a petition he says requires the state GOP to convene a meeting to consider whether to remove Williams, whose fellow state party officers have told Colorado Politics that the move is destined to fail.

The long-festering dispute between factions of the county party exploded over the weekend when Tonkins sent out a notice changing the date and location of a previously scheduled meeting of the party’s executive committee, made up of county Republican officers and elected officials.

Watkins told Colorado Politics that he determined Tonkins’ move violated party bylaws, which require 15 days’ notice for certain meetings, including the executive committee’s bimonthly huddles.

Watkins said he decided to hold the originally scheduled meeting on Monday at the address listed, which belongs to a church on North Academy Boulevard. But since the church was no longer booked for the meeting, Watkins and other Republicans brought their own lawn chairs and picnic blankets to hold it in the parking lot.

That’s where they approved resolutions calling for the resignations of Tonkins and Williams, the former state lawmaker form Colorado Springs who lost a congressional primary last week.

The resolutions included a laundry list of complaints leveled at the two — from accusing Williams of improperly using party resources to boost his congressional campaign to alleging that Tonkins diverted party funds to support her husband Rex Tonkins’ unsuccessful candidacy for a state Senate seat.

The resolutions adopted by the county party also charged Williams and Tonkins with violating the GOP’s longstanding policy of maintaining neutrality in contested primaries by “erroneously and fallaciously” championing a bylaws change, in Williams’ case, and by outright ignoring the county party’s rules in Tonkins’ case.

Williams didn’t respond to a request for comment, but his ally, state GOP vice chair Hope Scheppelman, told Colorado Politics late Monday that the county party meeting run by Watkins “clearly usurps Tonkins’ authority.” She predicted it wouldn’t withstand an inevitable challenge. 

“(The) duly elected Chairwoman of El Paso County cancelled a previously scheduled meeting, which is within her right to do so and their fake meeting in a parking lot won’t survive a challenge as it’s not legitimate,” Scheppelman said in a text message. “Their complaint about the July 3rd meeting is a separate matter and again doesn’t justify their fake meeting in a parking lot that clearly usurps Tonkins authority.”

Watkins said that contrary to Scheppelman’s contention, Tonkins failed to cancel the July 1 meeting, citing a ruling by a parliamentarian on hand for Monday’s meeting.

“If she’s canceling the July 3 meeting, I am pleased that she is acknowledging that,” Watkins said in a text message. “It makes our meeting the official one.”

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