The Truth About the State Republican Party and the 7/27 Meeting

Edward Hairfield

2nd Vice Chairman, Douglas County Republicans

State Executive Committee Member

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The Truth About the State Republican Party and the 7/27 Meeting:

Dear fellow State Central Committee Members and Douglas County Republicans,

By now, I am sure many of you have heard or read about the controversy taking place within our state’s Republican Party against Chairman Dave Williams, instigated by a few, to include Mr. Todd Watkins of El Paso County and Douglas County's own Chairman Steve Peck. One of the lies I’ve seen thrown around is that the state party isn’t helping candidates in key races. I can speak from my first hand experience that this is simply not true.

As the 2nd Vice Chairman for Douglas County, I preside over our Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts. I wanted to take a moment to share with you what Dave and his team at the State Party has done to help our county during the recent Special Election in CD4 that resulted in the successful election of Republican Greg Lopez to fill the remainder of Congressman Ken Buck’s term.

Several weeks before the election, Chairman Williams asked if the State Party could help the Douglas County Republicans with the special election and expenses related to it. The concern was that Jena Griswold and Governor Polis had intentionally made the ballot confusing and we needed to educate our voters. No special election has taken place in Colorado since 1983, so we had no recent data to determine specific strategies for this election. Because of this, our GOTV team estimated a robust communication campaign would cost approximately $14,000.

Without hesitation, Chairman Williams offered the State Party’s support to us, and as a result the Douglas County GOP was able to send out several GOTV messages to tens of thousands of voters, helping to ensure Greg won his special election to Congress and defeated his Democratic opponent. This was in addition to the direct contribution Dave Williams authorized the State Party to give Lopez’s campaign.

While we only ended up spending around $7,000 to support the special election, I wanted to offer this example as just one instance of Dave Williams helping other counties and our candidates to achieve victory.

Please don’t believe the lies from disgruntled individuals in our party who only want to sow division because of their own personal agendas or vendettas. The State Party has been more than willing to help our candidates and county parties financially along with other logistical support. I have found Chairman Williams to be proactive about getting Republicans across the state elected and defeating the Democrats.

Democrats nationwide are imploding and in disarray, now is not the time to instigate a circular firing squad or attack other Republicans with lies and half-truths. We must seize the opportunity to rally around President Trump and all our down ballot candidates. We can defeat radical Democrats, like those running against our commissioner candidates in Douglas County and Bob Marshall in House District 43 running against Republican Matt Burcham, if we just work together.

If Mr. Watkins continues with his improper meeting this weekend, the State Party will be forced to take money from our previously planned GOTV activities for candidates across the state and allocate it toward attorney and legal fees litigating an unnecessary court case.

While I would prefer, they drop this matter until the State leadership elections which are scheduled only a short 6 months from now, I implore Mr. Watkins and Steve Peck to cancel their illegal meeting on 7/27 and take their grievances up at the State Central Committee meeting that State Party has scheduled on August 31.

The money the party will spend on legal fees because Mr. Watkins refuses to follow our party process and bylaws is money our candidates and country parties desperately need. Todd Watkins, Chairman Peck and their supporters are robbing from key races like CD3, CD8, HD43 and our ability to reclaim the State Senate while diverting our donors' money to lawyers who will litigate this matter. This litigation will most likely cost into the six figures and last months. They insist on doing this during the ramp up to our general election efforts statewide.

Their behavior has resulted in a massive unforced error by those holding this illegal meeting. It plays right into the hands of the Democrats we are desperately fighting against - and hurts their fellow Republicans in a year that we may actually be able to turn Colorado Red.

Thank you for your time. Now is the time to move forward TOGETHER.

In Liberty and Unity,

Edward Hairfield

2nd Vice Chairman, Douglas County Republicans

State Executive Committee Member