A recent sham meeting of the Colorado Republican State Central Committee (CRC) was held under a bridge in Bayfield in southwestern Colorado.

How fitting and appropriate a place — for a meeting of the five individuals who showed up out of a total membership of 415. In fact, the “leadership” of the party urged members not to attend this “official” meeting.

It is not known if this under-the-bridge meeting violated encampment laws in Bayfield or La Plata County.

The absence of the chairman of the CRC, Dave Williams, underscores how unserious this meeting was. It was nothing more than a cynical attempt to delay consideration of a legitimate effort by CRC members to remove Williams after 16 months of his insidious “leadership.”

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

Despite being endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Williams was recently defeated by more than a 2-to-1 margin in the 5th Congressional District Republican primary election by conservative leader Jeff Crank. Williams also lost the 5th CD primary in 2022 to U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, who chose not to seek reelection in 2024.

The most recent Federal Election Commission report shows $60,000 in unprecedented expenditures supporting Williams in the Republican primary. Never before in its more than 100-year history has the Colorado Republican Party intervened in a competitive Republican primary election.

Including the Williams loss, the state party endorsed 18 candidates in Republican primaries, and 14 of them lost.

Colorado Republican bylaws allow 25% of the CRC membership to submit a petition calling for a special meeting on whether to remove state party officers. The CRC must respond within 10 days and schedule a special meeting within 30 days. It takes a 60% vote of the committee to remove a party officer.

The effort to remove Williams is unprecedented. No previous chair has ever faced such a lack of confidence by the state committee.

Todd Watkins, the vice chair of the El Paso County Republican Party, and Nancy Pallozzi, the chair of the Jefferson County Republican Party, led the successful effort to secure the petitions to call a special meeting to remove Williams. Rather than complying with the bylaws and scheduling a meeting, Williams conjured up a scheme to delay such a vote until Aug. 31, well outside the required 30-day window.

The under-the-bridge meeting was convened by the five attendees and “recessed” a few minutes later until Aug. 31.

Nevertheless, Watkins is leading a legitimate meeting on Saturday, July 27 to formally consider the removal of Williams. CRC bylaws allow members of the CRC to call a meeting if the leadership fails to fulfill their responsibility.

If the 60% threshold is reached, a new chair will be elected at the same meeting. It is almost certain Williams will refuse to honor the results of the meeting if he is removed, which will result in the Republican National Committee (RNC) having to resolve the impasse, which is not without recent precedent.

The Michigan Republican Party recently removed its chair, and after she refused to leave, the RNC upheld the removal vote.

By the time this column appears on Monday, July 29, the special meeting will have been held and the results of the removal vote will be known.

Regardless of the outcome, Williams has left nothing but wreckage since he was elected in March 2023. This debate needed to happen.

A new chair would be able to mitigate some of the damage but with only four months until the general election, it will be difficult to turn things around in time to help Republican candidates in competitive elections around the state.

One of the enduring images of the Williams era will be a few forlorn members standing under a bridge in Bayfield pretending to hold a meeting of the Colorado Republican State Central Committee so that Williams could delay a vote to remove him.

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, Gov. Bill Owens and U.S. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.