After Colorado Republicans spent $20,000 on mailers for chairman’s campaign, he donated $60,000 to party

Colorado Republicans chair Dave Williams’ congressional campaign gave the state party $60,000 in the weeks after the party reported spending nearly $20,000 on mailers supporting him, new filings show.

During the GOP primary race for the Colorado Springs-based congressional seat, the state party sent mailers that bolstered Williams over his opponent Jeff Crank, a longtime radio host and vice president with conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. The move drew the ire of some Republicans who saw it as the party controlled by Williams using its resources to tear down a fellow Republican.

The spending followed changes to longstanding party rules to allow it to endorse candidates in primaries in dozens of races across Colorado. One reason Williams would have benefited from the party sending mailers was that as a nonprofit, it pays a lower rate on postage.

Crank won the June 25 primary race in the solidly Republican 5th Congressional District, drawing 65% of the vote against Williams.

Costs associated with the party’s support of Williams were first reported in the party’s June campaign finance filing with the Federal Elections Commission. It showed the party spent $19,445 as a pre-nomination coordinated party expenditure to benefit Williams. Those expenditures are when the party pays for goods or services in coordination with the candidate but does not give the money directly, according to the FEC.

That filing covered the period through May 31; the next filing, due later this week on Saturday, will cover the final weeks of the primary election campaign.

Tom Bjorklund, the treasurer for both Williams’ campaign and the Colorado GOP, said last month that subsequent filings would show “a net positive for Colorado Republicans,” a point he reiterated Tuesday.

Williams’ contribution to the party, made June 14, was not classified as including a reimbursement for the party’s earlier spending in support of his campaign.