BREAKING: County Republican Chair Resigns -- Officially

Ed Haynes, Larimer County Republican Party Chair, has officially tendered his resignation to the party central committee. Here's his initial press release:

October 23, 2007
Larimer GOP Chairman Resigns to serve church mission

Larimer County Republican Party chairman Ed Haynes announced his upcoming resignation at the regular monthly Executive Board meeting Monday, September 24, 2007. Haynes’ resignation is effective Monday, November 5, 2007.

In his resignation letter to the Executive Board Haynes said he would be leaving to accept an unexpected invitation to serve an 18 month mission for his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Haynes’ received their official mission ‘call’ to serve in the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada mission today. Haynes and his wife Georgia will have the assignment to perform all aspects of mission office administration. They will report to the Missionary Training Center, Provo, UT on Monday December 31, 2007 for a weeks training. Then it will be off to Edmonton.

Haynes said he announced his upcoming resignation early so the party would have ample time to schedule a Central Committee meeting to elect a new chairman. At the September 24th Board meeting the date for that meeting was set for Saturday, November 10, 2007. The members of the Central Committee will receive the call for this meeting no later than 10 days prior to the meeting.

Haynes expressed his appreciation for the service of Board members, and to the Central Committee for giving him the opportunity to serve as chairman for a third time.

Haynes says he knows of one person interested in stepping into the chair position: Kirk Brush, a Fort Collins attorney who also previously ran for state House District 53 in 2002 (Brush lost to Angie Paccione, who then defeated Haynes for the same seat in 2004). Haynes calls Brush "a superb Republican activist," who he thinks will be able to continue building harmony in the county party following a fractured past election season.
"Unity in the party is the most important thing the [executive] board needs to project to the party in the county," Haynes says to the Chronicle.

While some insiders have connected Haynes' resignation rumors with his, uh, racy comments at the hearing of Collegian editor Dave McSwane, Haynes points out that his initial letter to the party board was written and delivered before the hearing.