One person is dead after a head-on collision with a semitrailer Friday afternoon in Douglas County, according to Colorado State Patrol.
The driver of a Toyota SUV crossed the double-yellow lines on the highwayand was attempting to pass traffic when the SUV collided head-on with a semitrailer, killing the Toyota driver, Colorado State Patrol said in a news release.
State patrol troopers responded to the crash at Colorado 83 and Arfsten Road in Douglas County around 3:50 p.m. Friday, the release stated. The highway didn’t fully reopen until 8:20 p.m..
At the location of the crash, the highway is a two-lane road and striped for no passing, CSP said. The semitrailer driver was not injured.
The Douglas County Coroner will identify the Toyota driver at a later date. State troopers said the driver was alone in the car.
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]]>Two motorcycles collided on westbound Interstate 270 in Commerce City early Saturday morning, sending three people to the hospital.
The two motorcycles were likely traveling at a high speed down the westbound interstate near York Street when they crashed and slid, one hitting another vehicle, the Commerce City Police Department said in a statement on social media at 2:46 a.m. Saturday.
Both drivers and one teenage passenger were hospitalized, and the teenager’s injuries are critical, police said. The drivers’ ages were not available.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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]]>A group backed by a wealthy Denverite who’s trying to overhaul Colorado’s election system dropped $1 million on more than a dozen statehouse races just days before a hotly contested primary Election Day, pumping another huge sum of cash into contests already awash in outside spending and dark money.
Let Colorado Vote Action was registered with the Colorado Secretary of State on Monday, eight days before Election Day. By Wednesday, it had doled out between $20,000 and $150,000 to support eight Democrats and five Republicans running in contested primaries. Much of the $1.08 million in total funds went to several races that have already seen significant outside spending from organizations boosting more moderate candidates.
The group is backed by Kent Thiry, the Denver-based former CEO of the dialysis giant DaVita who’s supporting a ballot measure to overhaul the state’s election process. In a statement to The Denver Post on Saturday morning, Thiry wrote that it was “time for many of us to stand up for the majority in the middle. We are supporting responsible candidates in each party who believe in civil and bipartisan behavior, and who believe they represent all the voters in their districts.”
The documents detailing the expenditures weren’t released until Friday night. Because Election Day is Tuesday and the group was registered so quickly, Let Colorado Vote Action has yet not had to disclose its donors. The next filing deadline is July 1, nearly a week after Election Day. All 13 races are generally safe partisan seats, meaning whoever wins their respective primaries Tuesday will be in position to advance to the legislature come November.
The new spending committee shares a name, registered agent and phone number with Let Colorado Vote, which is supporting an effort to put a sweeping overhaul of the state’s election system in front of voters in November.
If placed on the ballot and passed, the proposed overhaul would institute a ranked-choice voting system here, in which voters pick four candidates from a primary field to send to a general election. Let Colorado Vote has also recently been critical of Colorado lawmakers for recently inserting a late amendment into an election bill in order to slow any future switch to ranked-choice voting.
Earlier this month, Thiry donated $750,000 to Colorado Voters First, the group supporting the ballot measure campaign.As recently as last year, Thiry was also the chair of Let Colorado Vote.
Jason Bertolacci, a registered agent for both Let Colorado Vote and the new spending committee, is also a representative for the ballot initiative. He did not immediately return messages seeking comment Saturday morning.
The ranked-choice voting effort has been controversial, and the late spending spree comes just weeks after Democratic lawmakers successfully inserted a last-minute amendment into an elections bill to trip up any future switch to ranked-choice voting. The change, first reported by the Colorado Sun, wasn’t identified until well after the bill passed, sparking criticism from Let Colorado Vote and others who urged Gov. Jared Polis to veto the entire measure. The governor still signed the bill into law, though he criticized the late amendment.
A mailer already distributed by the new spending committee and reviewed by The Denver Post blasts “party insiders” for introducing the amendment. The mailer does not identify any specific candidate or lawmaker. Let Colorado Vote Action’s website calls for the amendment to be repealed.
Though the late cash infusion will also back several Republicans in their own primaries, much of the spending will go to influence Democratic races, several of which have already been the source of financial arms races. Indeed, Let Colorado Vote Action’s spending closely mirrors the preferences of other outside groups, much of which is backed by untraceable donations. Those groups have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to boost more moderate candidates over their more left-wing opponents.
The donations from Let Colorado Vote Action include $150,000 to support Cecelia Espenoza, who’s challenging sitting Denver Rep. Tim Hernández; $100,000 for Sean Camacho, vying to unseat another Denver representative, Elisabeth Epps; $100,000 for Rebekah Stewart, who’s running for an open seat in Lakewood; and $150,000 for Michael Carter, who’s seeking an Aurora-based seat.
Hernández and Epps are among the most left-wing lawmakers in the Capitol. Carter’s opponent, Bryan Lindstrom, is similarly backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. Kyra deGruy Kennedy, who’s challenging Stewart in Lakewood, has already faced more than $200,000 in outside spending against her.
Let Colorado Vote Action also contributed $150,000 in support of Democratic Rep. Lindsey Daugherty’s campaign to switch to an Arvada Senate seat and $125,000 to Republican Rep. Lisa Frizell, who’s looking to make a similar move in Castle Rock.
Epps, Hernández, deGruy Kennedy and Lindstrom have all faced significant spending sprees from other outside groups backing their opponents. So, too, has Yara Zokaie, who’s running for an open state House seat in Fort Collins. Her opponent, fellow Democrat Ethnie Groves Treick, has similarly been supported by hefty outside spending.
That now includes $50,000 from Let Colorado Vote Action.
One shadowy super PAC has already spent more than $400,000 boosting Democrat Idris Keith in a state Senate primary against Aurora Rep. Mike Weissman. Let Colorado Vote Action spent $30,000 in support of Keith, the new financial filings show.
Still, even in races that have already seen more than $2.7 million in outside spending, the latest infusion from Let Colorado Vote Action is significant both in its sheer scale and in its timing.
The groups that had already backed many of the same candidates have said they view the races as part of a bigger fight over the direction of the Democratic Party. That includes Andrew Short and his group One Main Street, a coalition of business and trade union labor groups that says it’s backing “pragmatic” progressives. Much of the spending in the pricy Democratic primaries are linked to One Main Street and its affiliates.
Denver Post reporter Nick Coltrain contributed to this report.
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]]>After two days of heavy rain, large hail and damaging winds, a prolonged heat wave is set to hit Colorado on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Heat incoming! Prolonged period of above-normal temps expected through next week,” the weather service wrote Saturday in a social media post.
Temperatures are expected to spike into the upper 90s in the metro area, Interstate 25 corridor and Eastern Plains, NWS forecasters said. The plains will see 100-degree weather on Sunday and Monday.
While temperatures in the Denver area likely won’t hit 100 degrees this week, it might come close, forecasters said. The city will see a high of 91 degrees Saturday before the heat jumps into the upper 90s Sunday and Monday, topping out around 97 degrees.
Overnight Saturday, temperatures will cool to a low of 62 degrees, NWS forecasters said.
Despite the potential for afternoon rain showers and thunderstorms entering the picture for the Denver area Tuesday, a below-90-degree day is not on the forecast, according to NWS.
The Denver area can expect a hot, dry weekend, but thunderstorms will hit the Eastern Plains Saturday afternoon and eveningNWS forecasters said. The storms will produce wind gusts of up to 45 mph, but forecasters don’t expect hail or tornado touchdowns.
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]]>Nearly $1 million — mostly from a group supporting charter schools — has poured into the Democratic primary for a seat on the Colorado State Board of Education, a race that some observers say could play a role in the future of charters in the state.
But the two candidates vying to represent the 2nd Congressional District dispute that Tuesday’s primary, whatever the result, will alter the fate of charter schools. They each said in interviews that they support school choice, a system in which charters — public schools that have more autonomy than traditional, district-run schools — play an integral part.
“I believe this is a false narrative,” said Marisol Lynda Rodriguez, an education consultant new to politics with a background in charter schools.
“It’s just simply not true,” added Kathy Gebhardt, a former president of the Boulder Valley School District’s Board of Education.
And yet, as of Friday, their race has drawn more than $871,970 in paid advertising from a single political action committee called Progressives Supporting Teachers and Students, which has charter school ties.That money has gone toward supporting Rodriguez and opposing Gebhardt.
The pro-charter committee has spent more than 20 times as much as a union-backed group has put toward its opposition to Rodriguez.
The winner of next week’s primary almost certainly will replace board member Angelika Schroeder, whose six-year term ends in January. No Republican candidate is on the ballot.
Noah Stout, an attorney who previously worked for DSST Public Schools, a charter school network in Denver and Aurora, according to his LinkedIn profile, and Kyle DeBeer, vice president of civic affairs for the Colorado League of Charter Schools, are both listed as agents for the committee.
Neither Stout nor DeBeer could be reached for comment Friday.
The committee is supporting Rodriguez because she can “serve as a really excellent advocate for our kids,” Stout told the Colorado Sun this week, adding, “I don’t come to this from a charter schools perspective.”
The Colorado Labor Action has spent more than $42,300 on mailers opposing Rodriguez, according to campaign finance reports. The Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, is a funder of that committee, according to finance records.
The influx of money into the state race comes after more than $2 million was spent in the Denver Public Schools board race last year. That spending came primarily from groups and donors who backed education reform and charter schools, and they outspent the Denver teachers union 5 to 1, according to Chalkbeat Colorado. All three candidates they supported were elected to Denver’s school board.
The vast majority of the money in the 2nd CD race for the state board has gone to support Rodriguez, who is viewed as the candidate most likely to back charter schools when they appeal local districts’ decisions to reject their applications. Gebhardt is seen as someone who would most likely side with school districts in such disputes, said Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center.
“This election is interesting because it’s a primary with Democrats, which in most cases, on most issues, it’s hard to differentiate between the two of them,” he said.
But, Schoales said, “People who follow this stuff perceive that this race will have a significant impact on what happens on charter appeals.”(Schoales said the Keystone Policy Center doesn’t support candidates in any races, but he is personally backing Rodriguez.)
Rodriguez has also garnered endorsem*nts from Gov. Jared Polis — a charter school founder and supporter who previously served on the State Board of Education — and two current board members, including Schroeder, according to her website.
Gebhardt has received endorsem*nts from four State Board of Education members, including vice-chair Lisa Escárcega, according to her website.
Rodriguez previously worked for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the Walton Family Foundation, which in 2016 announced it would spend $1 billion to create more charter schools across the U.S.
Rodriguez said that while she has connections to the charter school community, both of her children attend traditional district-run schools in Boulder. She said charter schools also are not the reason she decided to run for the board.
Instead, she said the culture wars that have played out in districts across the U.S. helped spur her bid, especially as a parent of a child who is part of the LGBTQ community and of another child with special needs.
“Colorado is not immune to becoming a Florida,” Rodriguez said, referencing a state that has become an epicenter for such culture wars as the government has limited what schools can teach about racism and U.S. history as well as on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Among the Colorado State Board of Education’s roles is approving academic standards for districts. Almost two years ago, the board debated the inclusion of references to people of color and the LGBTQ community in revisions to the state’s social studies standards.
“I really don’t understand,” Rodriguez said of the charter school discussion. “It seems like we have very similar takes on charter schools. I really don’t know why there’s much support for me from that community vs. her.”
Gebhardt, an attorney, said her relationship with charter school networks soured during her tenure on the Boulder school board after she denied a charter’s application because the school refused to adopt the district’s discrimination policies.
“From that point on… I’d just say we parted company on that issue,” said Gebhardt, adding, “I don’t think it’s hard for anyone to see a connection a least for the dark money side of this.”
Rodriguez said that, if elected, she will decide on a charter school’s appeal by evaluating the school’s financial model, whether it’s meeting state standards, what the school plans to teach and whether it has support from the local community.
“I’m not going to be on the state board approving every charter school that comes there,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just a false narrative around who I am and the work I have spent the last 20 years doing.”
Gebhardt said she approved applications for other charter schools during her two terms on the Boulder Valley School Board, which ended last fall, and noted she also has advocated at the Colorado legislature for more money for charter school facilities. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Association of School Boards.
“The people who suggest that charter schools are at risk if I’m elected have not pointed to a single fact and have ignored the rest of my record,” she said.
Gebhardt said that, if elected to the board, when it comes to reviewing a charter school’s appeal, she will follow the state board’s procedures. She said she would also want to know what needs in the community a charter school would be filling by opening, as well as its projected enrollment.
“Charters are an important part of (school) choice,” Gebhardt said, adding, “I am a strong proponent of choice.”
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]]>Along the sidewalk of a street lined with brick and stucco homes in Denver’s Alamo Placita neighborhood, two makeshift stone steps lead to a nondescript window built into a backyard fence. Curious passersby are greeted by clucking hens, which occasionally stick out their heads between the wooden lattice in search of treats.
To the left, a hand-painted sign reads, “Chicken Window Happy Hour,” scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday. Peter Thulson, a third-generation Denverite, is the keeper of the birds and the stately house adjoined to the coop.
Thulson held his first happy hour during the COVID-19 pandemic, spray painting spots 6 feet apart on the grass, then dropping off flyers to invite his neighbors to join.
“Lonely, I thought something like that would be great,” Thulson said. “Turns out, everybody was hungry for one another’s company.”
Thulson and several of his neighbors in the Alamo Placita Historic District are embracing urban farming in the heart of the city. A 10-minute drive from downtown Denver, residents are trying their hands at raising chickens, growing vegetables and beekeeping in their backyards. Through their efforts, they say they’re also building a more sustainable community.
“We get hungry for that, too: a little more greenery and dirt under our fingernails,” Thulson said. “We’re becoming more aware of environmental issues — makes us want to try to revive the greenery.”
Patrick Williams, president of the Alamo Placita Neighbors Association, is a frequent attendee of the chicken window happy hour. There, Thulson and other residents set up chairs and bring beverages, socializing next to his “little chicken ranch,” Williams said.
“It’s kind of like a sounding board for people in the neighborhood to get to know other people,” Williams, 79, said. “These are binding agents for the neighborhood.”
The ongoing tradition hasn’t changed much since the pandemic, except for its openness, he added.
“Our backyard, we like to feel, is our sanctuary in the city,” Williams said. “And I know many people in our neighborhood that do the same thing.”
One block north of Thulson’s house, another Denverite is managing bee hives behind a home built in 1917. Along 6th Avenue, a clear window cut into a red wooden fence reveals pollinators buzzing behind the divider. A mounted dry erase board provides details on the hives, including the status of the individual queens, and advertises days when neighbors can meet the bees.
The beekeeper didn’t respond to multiple interview requests.
About 4,000 members belong to the Colorado Backyard Beekeepers group on Facebook. However, raising chickens seems much more popular, with more than 13,000 members in the Colorado Backyard Chickens group.
In Denver, thezoning code for chickens and ducks has been in place for at least the past decade, said Ryan Huff, spokesman for the Community Planning and Development Department.
The rules include a limit of eight poultry per lot, a requirement to keep the animals in the lot’s rear half and a ban on slaughter. No roosters or drakes are allowed. Owners must provide adequate shelter and fencing, with 16 square feet of land per bird.
For domestic honey bees, only two hives are allowed per lot, located in its rear third. Hives must be screened.
Notably, Denverites can also care for up to two pygmy goats. A food-producing animal permit costs $25, which allows the keeping of chickens, ducks and goats as pets or hobbies, as well as for educational purposes. The food can be kept for personal consumption by the resident.
“We all inspire one another”
On Thursday evening, three excited children stood at Thulson’s chicken window, extending handfuls of dried mealworms to pecking hens.
In the front yard, rows of tomatoes, chiles, green beans, summer squash, winter squash and pumpkins were planted where a lawn once was. Years ago, Thulson’s daughter suggested digging it up to make space for gardening, and he did just that.
“It’s more fun to grow vegetables than to grow grass,” he said.
Down the street, he referred to another resident as “our tomato guru,” growing tomato plants for the neighbors. “We all inspire one another,” Thulson added.
He grew up in southeast Denver and attended George Washington High School before heading to Illinois for college. There, he met his wife, Anne.
After 15 years away, they returned to Colorado once their first child was born, initially moving to the University Park neighborhood. Then, in 1996, the couple settled into their Alamo Placita home, with three young kids in tow.
Erected in 1905, the house is nicknamed “the Alamo” by the family — one of many Denver homes divided into apartments during the World War II era, Thulson said. Incidentally, his mother grew up close by on the 500 block of Pearl Street.
The chickens took up residency when Thulson worked as a kindergarten teacher. His students hatched eggs in a classroom incubator, and he brought the chicks home to roost.
“At that time, Denver had just recently began allowing that in town again after all those years of forbidding it,” Thulson said. “We’ve had them ever since.”
He called his routine with his flock “fairly low maintenance” — providing water and food, mucking the coop and collecting eggs. Today, most of his hens are elderly, but three young chickens have started laying eggs.
And, then, there’s the chicken window happy hour where Thulson sees both newcomers and familiar faces.
“It’s a walking neighborhood, so you do see a lot of people and wave at them, but used to not tend to hold on to their names very long,” he said. “But when they sit down and chat with you, while you get to know them, you start to remember.”
Neighbors weigh in
Christa Meyers has lived with her husband and long-haired dachshund, Sofie, in a house near the chicken coop for two years.
She and her spouse have yet to attend the happy hour, but they walk by the property to feed worms to the hens. The pair has also spotted the beekeeper a block away.
“I love it because, obviously, we’re in a city, but we have the luxuries of feeling more suburban,” Meyers said, cradling Sofie in her living room on Thursday.
She decided against growing her own garden this year, but “neighbors have given me some big zucchinis and tomatoes,” Meyers said.
Martin Lavine, a lifelong Denver resident, has resided by Alamo Placita Park for two years. He routinely passes the chicken coop with his dog, Gus, five nights out of the week.
Lavine, 58, owns PUSH Gym on 5th Avenue, and says one of his clients also cares for chickens.
“It’s cool. I’d like to see more,” he said. “It’s good for the earth and whatnot.”
When Lavine sees other Denverites sharing their hobbies like vegetable growing with the community, he considers it “really neighborly.”
“It’s a Denver thing,” he said. “It’s just a fairly pleasant, kind of easy place to live.”
]]>A historic 90-acre Boulder County mountain resort with ties to Chief Niwot is up for sale.
Frequently visited by the Arapaho tribe as a summer retreat, Gold Lake has also served as a mining camp, girl’s camp, resort and mentoring center for young men since the 1800s, according to Boulder County records.
The property just east of Ward is now for sale, with Colorado real estate firm Slifer Smith & Frampton attaching a $12.5 million price tag and extensive redevelopment plans.
While the resort at 3371 Gold Lake Road was listed for sale in 2015 for $11.5 million, it was last sold in 2005 for $4.5 million, according to Boulder County property records.
County officials approved redevelopment plans for Gold Lake in 2020, including cabin restoration, demolishing 22 structures and building 16 new buildings, according to the Daily Camera – but the project never got off the ground. The redevelopment plans are now included in promotional materials for the property’s sale.
Gold Lake is “perfectly positioned as the ideal investment in transformative luxury, experiential and wellness travel and the nostalgia of summer camp days,” sellers wrote on the property’s website.
The property has the potential for 19 cabins with up to 54 beds and seven amenity buildings. The 90-acre parcel and eight existing buildings are also designated as historic landmarks.
New developers could build a yoga and movement studio with hot pools and a cold plunge; hot tubs and a “Scandinavian-style water journey” overlooking the 35-acre lake; and a fishing and boating dock, according to the property’s website.
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]]>A 29-year-old armed man was shot and killed by officers after a nearly five-hour standoff Friday, according to Commerce City police .
Police officers and SWAT team members responded to a home in the 6700 block of East 72nd Avenue about 2 p.m. Friday for an “armed and barricaded suspect” who was wanted on suspicion of a domestic violence assault from earlier in the day.
The man briefly held a maintenance worker hostage inside the home before the worker escaped on his own, police said in a news release. The man refused to surrender and threatened to shoot police officers even after hours of conversation with negotiators, according to the department.
The man “was eventually shot by police” and died at the scene despite officers providing medical aid, the department said Friday. His name will be released by the Adams County coroners office.
The 17th Judicial District is investigating the shooting.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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]]>A 28-year-old Denver truck driver was sentenced to 11 years in prison Friday for a deadly Interstate 25 crash that killed a Wyoming family of five.
Jesus Puebla was sentenced to 11 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections by 19th Judicial District Judge Allison Esser, according to court records and the Weld County district attorney’s office.
Puebla was convicted of five counts of vehicular homicide after a jury trial in April for the deaths of Emiliano and Christina Godines, 51 and 47; their son Aaron, 20; his wife, Halie Everts, 20; and their 3-month-old daughter, Tessleigh Godinez.
Puebla also was convicted of vehicular assault, careless driving, reckless driving and two commercial traffic violations.
Puebla was driving a 1999 Kenworth T800 box truck on the afternoon of June 13, 2022, when he crashed into a 2015 Ford Edge driven by Aaron Godinez as the family returned home to Gillette, Wyo., according to previous reporting.
The crash occurred on northbound Interstate 25 near Colorado 66, and Puebla collided with two other vehicles in the crash. A Greeley man in one of the other vehicles also was injured.
“These families have had to deal with the trauma and this devastating loss every single day,” Deputy District Attorney Yvette Guthrie said in a statement. “Absolutely nothing that this defendant did the day of this tragic crash was an accident. This wasn’t road rage; this was traffic terrorism.”
Puebla’s attorney, James Colgan, said Puebla’s family plans to appeal the conviction.
“Overall I think the judge’s sentence was fair, but I think it would have been much fairer if certain pieces of evidence were allowed in,” Colgan said.
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]]>The Colorado GOP spent nearly $20,000 to support its chairman’s campaign against a fellow Republican for a rare open congressional seat, federal campaign finance records show — though the party’s treasurer disputes that it is out any money.
Party Chair Dave Williams, a former state representative, is seeking the GOP nomination for the El Paso County-based 5th Congressional District seat against longtime conservative activist Jeff Crank.
U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn announced earlier this year he wouldn’t seek re-election, creating an open seat in the heavily Republican district for the first time in nearly 20 years. The primary election is Tuesday.
The fight has moved beyond the usual debate about who the right Republican for the job is, though, as the party lifted rules against endorsing candidates in primary campaigns. It then lent institutional support to a group of its preferred candidates, including Williams.
At a recent Crank event, supporters cried foul as they waved pro-Williams attack mailers that were paid for by the party to tear down a fellow Republican. A Republican consultant has also filed a Federal Elections Commission complaint alleging Williams is using the party coffers as a “slush fund” for his campaign.
The recent filing, published at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, was the first to attach a dollar amount of the state GOP’s support to Williams’ campaign. The $19,445 was listed as a coordinated party expenditure. Those types of expenditures are generally when the party pays for goods or services in coordination with a candidate but does not give the money directly to the candidate, according to the FEC.
However, it lists the party both making the expenditure and as the recipient of the money. Tom Bjorklund, who is treasurer for both the Colorado GOP and Williams’ campaign, said in a text message that the state party “is not out a single penny.”
“Rest assured, the GOP is in the black,” Bjorklund said. “The Party isn’t out any money and our balance sheets and subsequent disclosure filings will show a net positive for Colorado Republicans.”
Williams’ next campaign finance filing, due July 15, will clear up any questions, he said.
Williams himself did not comment for this story. He told 9News earlier this week that “there has been no direct spending from the party for myself or any of the other candidates.”
In a statement, Crank campaign adviser Nick Trainer called the expenditure “just another example of the deception and outright lying of Dave Williams.”
“He claims he has the best interest of Republicans in mind, yet he uses limited party resources to personally enrich himself instead of beating Democrats,” Trainer said. “… Dave Williams is a corrupt liar and on Tuesday, voters in El Paso County will reject him.”
Crank’s campaign reported raising about $510,000 through early June. That’s double Williams’ $251,000 total fundraising, which includes a $100,000 loan. Williams has also faced a deluge of outside money against his candidacy, with one group spending more than $1.2 million to oppose him.
Crank, who is a vice president for conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, has meanwhile benefited from more than $110,000 spent by that group’s political arm, according to FEC records.
Williams has courted other controversy recently in his role as head of the state party.
In early June, the state party sent an anti-LGBTQ+ email titled “God hates Pride,” which brought widespread condemnation and a push by several county Republican parties to oust Williams from state party leadership. Nancy Pallozzi, who led the push to force a meeting by the state central committee to consider ousting Williams, later faced censure by Jefferson County Republicans for going outside the party structure.
It didn’t halt similar efforts, though. On Tuesday, the Weld County Republican Executive Committee voted nearly unanimously to call for a state meeting about Williams’ leadership. Tom Van Lone, chair of the Weld County party, said in an interview the vote was both a show of moral support for Pallozzi’s effort and “to let the world know we don’t believe in alienating voters.”
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