Outrage as reporter tossed from Republican event

DENVER — Politicians and news outlets in Colorado expressed outrage on Monday over the expulsion from a Republican gathering of an experienced politics reporter who was told the state party chairman believed her reporting was “very unfair.”

Journalists and elected officials came to the defense of Colorado Sun reporter Sandra Fish. The controversy follows the contours of attacks on the press nationally, partly brought on by former President Donald Trump. The ejection also may have led to an endorsement.

The state Republican Party said on X that it’s endorsing U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert over primary opponent, Deborah Flora, in the state’s 4th Congressional District race, partly because “Deb Flora lied about participating in the CD4 Assembly process, & now she’s boot licking fake journalists who only help Democrats.”

The post was a direct reply to Flora’s post on X defending Fish, in which she said the expulsion was “wrong and a violation of the First Amendment.”

Party Chairman Dave Williams is seeking the nomination to run for the 5th District seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn. In a text,

Williams said he had no apologies for kicking Fish out of the assembly in Pueblo on Saturday and called her a “fake journalist.”

The assembly was held partly to select representatives to the Republican National Committee and to work on a party platform.

“There are 900,000 Republicans in the state of Colorado and a lot of unaffiliated voters who are interested in what happens at this assembly. And how they find out is via reporters like me being there to cover it,” Fish told The Associated Press. “… I’ve been in this business for a long time, and I just don’t think it’s right to eject a reporter from a meeting like this.”