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Something is sideways between Colorado Springs Forward & El Paso County
Commissioners and current candidates Holly Bremer and Cami Bremer and
powerful political committee, Colorado Springs Forward, funded by some of the most powerful and prominent in the Colorado Springs/El Paso County area with major
developer contributions.
Pictured above Holly Williams, with her husband Wayne Williams who is a current City Council member running for mayor and Cami Bremer, with her husband Eli Bremer who just lost the nomination to run for Senate and whose father, Duncan Bremer, a longtime prominent political ruler in the El Paso County GOP could face criminal charges as a complaint was filed for grabbing and bruising GOP/FEC United leader, Bethany Graupner.
Did you know we have 3 political marriages in our county, city and state house? Add County Commissioner Carrie Geitner and State House Representative Tim Geitner to the list of the Williams and the Bremers. We find it to be a little too cozy and can create perceived conflicts-of-interest like the recent Runbeck Elections voting contract for $850,000 for El Paso County.
On February 28th, Dr. John Pitchford filed a complaint with the Secretary of State as he
learned that County Commissioner Holly Williams had returned $2,500 of a $5,000
donation to Colorado Springs Forward. In spite of the reality that contributions
were made that violated limits as well as, apparently, structural requirements (corporations cannot donate to candidates, the SOS has recommended a Motion to Dismiss. Of note, Wayne Williams, Holly Williams' husband is a sitting City Council member and was the former Secretary of State. He is also running for mayor.
In October of 2021, both Committees to elect Holly Williams and Carrie Bremer each reported $5,000 donations from Colorado Springs Forward State Funding Political Committee to their campaigns which exceeds the $2,500 limit - violation #1. Both Holly and Carrie reported they returned $2,500 each that same month as reported by their November 2021 campaign finance reports.
Fast forward to 2/28/2022, when Dr. John Pitchford filed a complaint with the Secretary of State. Their investigation and records show that, ON THAT SAME DAY, both Holly and Carrie wrote checks to Colorado Springs Forward for $5,000. They both claimed in their November 2021 tracer filing that they had returned half of the original donation.
It's odd that no cleared checks have been produced by either candidate. CSF claimed they accidentally wrote the funds from their corporate account of the same name - violation #2 as corporations cannot donate to candidates. While Holly Williams has provided no proof or explanation for what happened with her October 2021 $2,500 refund, Cami Bremer stated, upon learning from CSF on 2/28/2022 about the initial complaint, she went looking for her refund and noticed it hadn't been deposited (4 months after the fact) and asked CSF to "tear up the check" in spite of the Secretary of State requesting on 2/28/2022 to retain all documents/records/financial statements. Why didn't Holly Williams have to respond to the SOS request for additional documentation and information?
The Secretary of State has taken the Motion to Dismiss request made by Katie Kennedy, the registered agent for CSF, of Strategic Compliance LLC, and recommended that as a course of action in spite of missing information and unanswered responses. A complaint was filed with the Attorney General's office on 4/16/2022. We will update you on that effort as we learn more.