January 31, 2023
By Todd Watkins
As we approach the special central committee meeting called by KBB in her capacity as the CRC chairwoman, there are a couple of things that should be pointed out to those committee persons who are not intimate with what troubles the El Paso GOP:
One of the "remedies" sought by the motion proposed by KBB which the CRC will vote on has to do with removing El Paso County PCPs because the complainants claim that these individuals were improperly seated. There is no indication of how or why they would know this as they were obviously not involved in the process. The county bylaws clearly illustrate that in order for the vacancy committee (that consists of the county chair, vice-chair, and secretary) ought to consult with "any incumbent precinct leader and division leader" after which the vacancy committee "shall appoint a successor to the vacant precinct leader positions."
Whether the "consultation" is a pre-requisite is somewhat vague, nevertheless, this is the process that the El Paso County GOP followed and successfully filled over 60 precinct leader vacancies since last March. What the complainants are either ignorant of or are deliberately ignoring is the fact that the El Paso County GOP has precinct leader and division leader volunteers recruiting Republican voters to fill these vacant precinct leader seats. They are also ignoring the fact that members of their Peak Republicans cum Pikes Peak United Republicans are the ones who wrote the county bylaws implementing the vacancy process that the El Paso County GOP is now following. Their primary concern and singular reason for wanting to hijack the county GOP is the fact that grassroots PCPs now far outnumber establishment PCPs. If the complainants don't purge the county central committee of grassroots members, the establishment will lose: They will lose their hold on the party; they will lose their ability to control access to the ballot; and most importantly, the donor class will lose interest in them.
An important example of their motivation to remove properly seated PCPs is the infamous censure on November 5, 2022. Chairwoman Tonkins has been reviled and denigrated for this event. But anyone who knows what happened and how these processes work should properly understand that it was the El Paso County Central Committee that censured 33 members of the Peak Republicans, all of whom are also members of the county central committee as bonus members, district officers, or elected officials. The county central committee voted in an overwhelming, landslide majority to censure all 33. These are the same county central committee members the Peak Republicans now wish to remove. Only it's not because they were improperly seated--they know that isn't true. It's because they now realize where they stand in the party. They got a first hand introduction to what the party wants, and it isn't more of the same establishment, status quo, serve the donors. If they don't disenfranchise these grassroots PCPs, they will lose at the organizational meeting, so the organizational meeting must be scuttled and the grassroots must be purged in order for them to win. The only avenue open to them is to use KBB to grant them extraordinary and illegal access to overthrow a sitting county chaiperson, purposefully disenfranchise legitimate precinct leaders, and control the outcome of the meeting allowing them to reinstall themselves as rulers of the party. Their recipe is one part retaliation and about four parts fear of losing if they don't rig the outcomes. Fortunately, they have KBB in their pocket...her dad is one of them.
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