El Paso County GOP chair Vickie Tonkins leads censure against party's vice chair, demands he resign

The quarrel between Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams and a group of Republicans attempting to oust him from his position spilled over into local party politics this week when the El Paso County GOP's governing board voted to reprimand the party's second-in-command for spearheading the move to fire Williams, among other alleged "malicious acts."

Add it to a growing pile of contradictory censure resolutions, disputed party meetings, dueling cease and desist orders, lawsuits both filed and threatened, and daily accusations that the other side is engaging in "illegal" activities — all part of a months-long struggle for control of the Colorado GOP.

It could come to a head Saturday at a church in Brighton, when members of the state Republicans' central committee convene to decide whether to replace Williams and other party officers, who have told committee members to skip the meeting, calling it "fraudulent."

A censure resolution pushed by El Paso County GOP chairwoman Vickie Tonkins and approved Tuesday night by the county party's executive committee calls on county vice chairman Todd Watkins to "resign immediately" after having "lost all trust of the Chair," but Watkins told Colorado Politics he's staying put.

"I have watched as my Vice Chair, over the past few months spiraled out of control and it has not only effected my office but the entire Republican Party in the State of Colorado," Tonkins said Wednesday in an email to county Republicans. "There is a time and place for everything but the things being done by the Vice Chair of El Paso County Republican Central Committee is wrong, misguided, and out and out vengeful."

Among numerous infractions listed in the resolution, Watkins is alleged to have "violated numerous clear directives from the County Chair, and broken faith with the required duties of his position," including not visiting headquarters, not responding to emails and other messages — "essentially cutting all communication without verbal or written notice" —and refusing to hang district maps on the office walls, something Tonkins says she "instructed" Watkins to do.

Watkins declined to comment on the resolution, but earlier he dismissed Tonkins' complaints, noting that she cut off his access to his party email account and has recently boasted that she changed the locks on the office's door.

Adriana Cuva, the El Paso County Republicans' secretary, on Wednesday took issue with claims made by Tonkins in an email distributing the censure resolution, calling Tonkins' statements "not true"

"In her email, Chairwoman Tonkins stated that I supported and recommended the actions taken against Vice Chair Todd Watkins. I must clarify that this information is incorrect. I did not support or recommend any actions against Vice Chair Watkins," Cuva said in an email obtained by Colorado Politics.

She added that Tonkins handed her "a new front door key to the headquarters" earlier this month, and that contrary to Tonkins' assertion, Cuva wasn't consulted nor did she suggest that Tonkins change the locks to prevent Watkins from having access to the building.

Tonkins didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.

The resolution also criticizes Watkins for holding a rival meeting of the county party's executive committee earlier this month after Tonkins rescheduled a previously called meeting — a move Watkins contended was contrary to party bylaws.

At the July 1 meeting overseen by Watkins — held in the parking lot of a Colorado Springs church, its attendees seated on lawn chairs — the committee voted to censure Tonkins and approved a resolution calling on Williams to resign as state party chair. Two days later, Tonkins gaveled in a meeting of other members of the committee at party headquarters, where they approved a resolution praising her and expressing support for Williams.

In a Wednesday email to local Republicans, Tonkins said she's filed a complaint with U.S. Postal Service authorities accusing Watkins and Colorado Springs Republican Eli Bremer, a former El Paso County GOP chair, of engaging in "potential mail fraud" by listing the county party's headquarters as the return address on a mailing sent out earlier this month to call Saturday's meeting of the Colorado GOP's central committee to consider whether to remove Williams.

Watkins says he called that meeting after the state GOP ignored a petition he submitted last month bearing the names of more than 25% of the party's central committee members, sufficient under party bylaws to trigger a special meeting of the state party's governing body.

Bremer told Colorado Politics that Tonkins doesn't understand what constitutes mail fraud and warned that the county party could face legal consequences if she continues throwing around the accusation.

"Todd Watkins was using his official address and official title when he sent the call for the meeting, as is proper," Bremer said.

"Vickie Tonkins and Tom Bjorklund know what they've been saying publicly is demonstrably false, and we have email chains proving it," he added. "Should they continue making statements that are false, we're considering all legal actions."

Bjorklund, the state GOP treasurer, appears to have obtained a copy of an invoice from the mailing house contracted by Bremer and Watkins to send the notice, according to emails reviewed by Colorado Politics.

Meanwhile, even as the state Republicans Party maintained that the petition submitted by Watkins didn't satisfy requirements — a contention Watkins disputes — state vice chair Hope Scheppelman, a Williams ally, held a central committee meeting of her own last Friday afternoon under a bridge in a public park in Bayfield, a small town in the southwest corner of the state near the New Mexico border, though it only lasted a few minutes.

In her notice announcing the meeting, Scheppelman told members of the roughly 400-member central committee not to bother showing up, since she intended to adjourn the meeting immediately until yet another central committee meeting already scheduled for Aug. 31 in Castle Rock. Nearly everyone obliged, with only three other Republicans in attendance.

Scheppelman told Colorado Politics she was forced to convene in a corner of the park because Lew Webb, a former Republican congressional candidate, had reserved the park's pavilion soon after Scheppelman scheduled the meeting, preventing the state party from using it. Webb, she said, even sent the state party a cease and desist request, so she had to improvise and gather on the outskirts of the park.

Organizers of Saturday's central committee meeting in Brighton — the one called by Watkins to hold a vote on removing Williams, Scheppelman and Anna Ferguson, the state party secretary — told Colorado Politics they expect to have around 200 committee members on hand, well over the number required to constitute a quorum and do business.

That's despite urging by Scheppelman and other Williams supporters to stay away.

"Again, your State Executive Committee ruled that Mr. Watkins' fraudulent notice (which he sent via USPS mail) was invalid, illegal, and should be ignored as any business conducted will be illegitimate," Scheppelman said Wednesday in a Facebook post directed at state central committee members.

Noting that the state GOP last week filed a lawsuit seeking to block the meeting called by Watkins from being considered official party business, Scheppelman added: "(State central committee) members are advised to ignore his fraudulent call as any actions taken at his fake meeting will be invalid. The Colorado Republican Party urges Mr. Watkins to immediately cease and desist from promoting this invalid meeting which is confusing members."