ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOW: Colorado Republican officials submit petition to remove Dave Williams as state GOP chairman.

Among the reasons Republicans cite, he said, are Williams’ refusal to step aside as party chairman when he declared his congressional candidacy and the party’s decision to take sides in contested primaries this year, throwing its tradition of neutrality out the window.

“They didn’t just endorse people,” Watkins said, noting that Williams and his cohorts, including state vice chair Hope Sheppelmann and party secretary Anna Ferguson, openly attacked Republican candidates in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary.

While the state GOP passed a bylaws change last fall allowing the party to back candidates who met certain criteria in primaries, Watkins said the amendment was “so poorly written, it actually says the opposite of what they think it says. There are yoga instructors that wish they were as flexible as that sentence.”

Watkins said the state party’s track record endorsing in the primary underlined why he wants Williams to go.

He also used state party funds to support his losing primary race.