Top leaders of the La Plata County Republican Central Committee have asked Secretary Hope Scheppelman, who is also the vice chairwoman of the embattled state GOP, to resign in response for her part in the growing disunity within the state party.
She “declined to act immediately but said she would take it into consideration,” party Chairman Dave Peters wrote in an email to members Wednesday night.
The county’s central committee will meet Tuesday to consider a bylaw amendment that would effectively force a new election for all executive committee members – presumably with the intention to exclude Scheppelman.
Many party members had asked for Scheppelman’s resignation, Peters wrote. There are about six months left in the secretary’s two-year term.
“The La Plata County GOP would like to share its struggles to mend the bond that has been broken within the executive committee,” he wrote, noting that the request was made “for the good of the party.”
Scheppelman did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
In a written statement to The Durango Herald on behalf of the party, Peters called the proposed bylaw amendment a “reaffirmation and vote of confidence” of executive committee members.
“Our goal is promote unity and effective leadership at this critical time,” he wrote. “We aim to move forward united and driven to propel our candidates at all levels forward to victory, and be helpful in our communities.”
Scheppelman, a Bayfield resident, has attracted increasing attention across the state since she was elected vice chairwoman of the state party in August 2023.
She has stood firmly behind Williams, who is under fire from Republicans across the state.
The two were among a small group of party officials who took the unusual step of endorsing Republican candidates in primary elections this year. At a June debate in Durango among five of the six conservatives running for the GOP nomination in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, all but the endorsed candidate slammed the move.
The endorsements were “corrupt,” “inappropriate” and an example of how the state party had “abandoned its principles,” various candidates said, one of whom called out Scheppelman, who was present, by name.
Of the 18 candidates the party endorsed, 14 lost, including Williams, who was running for Congress in the state’s 5th Congressional District.
Last month, another state party official submitted a petition to remove Williams. The petition set of a clock, forcing the Colorado GOP to hold a meeting within a defined period of time. Williams’ opponents scheduled the meeting for July 27.
Before that meeting could take place, Scheppelman held a secret meeting under a bridge in Bayfield with just four GOP members present. Her July 19 impromptu meeting was an attempt to hold the required meeting before Williams’ opponents could gather. Without a quorum, no business could be done and she adjourned the meeting after less than five minutes.
A judge blocked the meeting of Williams’ opponents on July 26, the day before the vote to remove Williams was to take place, on the grounds that it could leave the party in disarray right before the November election.
According to the La Plata County Republican Central Committee bylaws, Scheppelman can only be voted out of her seat before the end of her term for cause, such as a failure to perform job functions, and with 15 days notice to voting members.
It would take a three-fifths majority of the county party’s voting membership to oust her. The voting members are composed of 49 precinct committee persons and up to seven executive committee members (of which two seats appear to be vacant, according to the party’s website).
Rather than try to oust Scheppelman through a vote – which could be difficult, given the need to show cause – Peters is asking members to weigh in on a recommendation from the bylaw committee that would effectively boot the secretary.
The proposed bylaw amendment purports “to formally redesignate our party officers to strongly emphasize our county party’s duty to help reelect our 45th President Donald J. Trump.”
Elected executive officers would need to be reelected to serve under what the party is calling a “45/47 designation.” If reelected under the designation, the 45/47 officers would serve the remainder of their current terms, until a successor is elected or otherwise for two years.
Without directly taking aim at Scheppelman, bylaw committee members noted that the move would signal unity with national Republicans despite the disharmony within the Colorado GOP.
“Formally redesignating and recommitting our LPCRCC Officers to this mission-focused duty also flags our loyalty to the RNC at a time when we are fractured at the state level,” the recommendation reads.
This marks the second time in 2024 that the LPCRCC has tried to oust one of its own.
In January, former party chairwoman Shelli Shaw was asked to resign in a letter from executive committee members. Shaw, another far-right conservative who had similarly gained infamy for various actions including her refusal to certify the 2023 election, initially rebuffed calls for her resignation. She acquiesced days before a vote to oust her.
“It’s unfortunate that the executive committee needs to take this step, but we must,” Peters said in his email to the party, in reference to the rule change aimed at Scheppelman.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
