A new batch of federal campaign finance reports this week are raising more questions about how the Colorado GOP spent money to help party Chairman Dave Williams’ unsuccessful run for Congress.
Williams’ campaign in the 5th Congressional District donated $60,000 to the party on June 14. That was the campaign’s largest single expense between June 6-30, the latest period for which federal candidates had to report their financial activity to the Federal Election Commission.
The donation came after the Colorado GOP in May and early June sent a series of mailers to voters on Williams’ behalf, stoking anger among fellow Republicans over how it appeared the chairman was using the party as a personal piggy bank in his primary against conservative commentator and activist Jeff Crank. Williams and his supporters defended the spending, promising that the party would be made whole but refusing to explain how.
Crank beat Williams in the June 25 primary by 30 percentage points in the district based in Colorado Springs. But the questions around the spending persist.
Williams, who is facing an effort to oust him as chairman over his leadership of the party, didn’t respond to a text message seeking comment Tuesday. But Colorado GOP Treasurer Tom Bjorklund told The Colorado Sun the $60,000 was “meant to be a donation” and that there were “no strings attached.”
Bjorklund added that the money from Williams’ campaign was “not earmarked or reimbursed” for the party’s spending to help Williams.
But Bjorklund appeared to suggest the money was meant to make up for the party’s spending to help Williams by repeatedly highlighting to The Sun how “donations to the party exceed any expenses that may have been associated with (Williams’) campaign.”
“The party is out nothing,” Bjorklund said.
The nuance matters in the eyes of the law.
The Colorado GOP, as a nonprofit, gets a steep discount on postage. But a candidate cannot pay or reimburse the party to send out a mailer on their behalf using the discounted rate, according to U.S. Postal Service rules.
The rules say a state party may send a mailer on behalf of a candidate using the discounted postage rate as long as “the committee pays the postage with no reimbursement from the candidate.” Violating the rules may result in losing the postage discount.
Candidate donations to political party committees on their own are perfectly legal, said Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel for campaign finance at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan organization.
“Federal campaign finance law permits candidates to transfer unlimited amounts of money from their campaign committee to their state party,” she said in a statement. “(Williams’) report describes the transaction as a ‘transfer/donation to the Colorado Republican Committee,’ so—at least based on the report—there is not information to conclude that the payment was a reimbursement for mailers.”
The Colorado GOP reported spending nearly $20,000 in late May as a “coordinated party expenditure” to help Williams’ campaign. A campaign finance report didn’t explain how the money was spent.
But the party sent at least three mailers supporting Williams campaign, all with the nonprofit mail rate, according to the postage markings on the mailers. One was sent in late May, around when the $20,000 expenditure was reported, promoting Williams and how he had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
It’s unclear from federal campaign finance filings exactly how much money the party spent to help Williams in his congressional bid. But Bjorklund said the $60,000 is “greater than any amount the party spent where Dave’s CD5 race is concerned.”
“All federal rules were considered and followed to the letter,” he added.
Not every candidate was offered the “significant” postage perk
Williams wasn’t the only Republican candidate for whom the Colorado GOP sent out supportive mailers.
Bjorklund told The Sun that the coordinated party expenditures and access to the party’s discounted mail rate were offered to other candidates but that only Williams and former state Rep. Janak Joshi, who ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary in the 8th District, “took advantage of our mail permit.”
Joshi benefitted from a Colorado GOP mailer in his bid against state Rep. Gabe Evans in the 8th District. Joshi did not report sending the Colorado GOP any funds in his latest campaign finance filing.
Bjorklund did not respond to questions about whether the perk was offered to all Republican primary candidates or just those endorsed by the party — like Williams and Joshi. But Crank’s campaign said it wasn’t offered that opportunity.
State Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Republican ally of Williams, posted on Facebook that the party offered all of the federal candidates it endorsed access to the state’s discounted postage permit and that both Williams and Joshi “reimbursed the party for the postage.”
Bjorklund called Bradley’s reimbursement claim “inaccurate.”
The nonprofit postage discount the Colorado GOP gets can quickly add up to thousands of dollars, depending on the size and weight of the mail.
“It is significant,” said Kristi Burton Brown, Williams’ predecessor at the state party from 2021 to 2023.
Burton Brown said when she was party chair, there were candidates who asked the Colorado GOP to send out their mail pieces to cash in on the discount. Her practice was to say “no,” because it was her administration’s understanding that any mailers sent out by the party on behalf of a candidate were legally required to be 100% paid for by the party.
A few times in 2022, the party sent out mailers benefiting candidates for state Senate with their coordination, but those were paid for in full by the party with no reimbursements from the candidates.
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The party endorsed 18 primary candidates this year, all but four of whom lost. Joshi fared the poorest, losing to Evans by 55 percentage points.
Kelly Maher, a Republican consultant and activist who has been critical of Williams, said the latest spending reports leave her with more questions.
“When you illegally use money and then try to pay it back when you get caught . . . Yeah. No. That’s not how it works,” she posted on social media, saying the party’s finances should be audited.
The Colorado GOP’s next monthly FEC report is due on Saturday.
Bjorklund is scheduled to hold a town hall meeting Sunday evening “to discuss the actual truth about the party’s financials and what to know about the false accusations against our chairman and the party,” according to an email sent to some party members.
Williams loaned his campaign $100,000 at the start of the year and later repaid $40,000 of that sum. He is still owed $158,000 by the campaign, dating back to his failed 2022 primary contest against GOP U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, who is retiring at the end of his term.
Williams’ campaign had about $15,000 in cash at the end of June.
Crank’s campaign had $121,000 in cash at the end of June. He faces science educator River Gassen, a Democrat, who had about $4,300 left in her campaign account after winning the Democratic primary.
The 5th District is a Republican stronghold, so Crank is expected to win in November.