TJ Cole Criminal Complaint

June 8, 2026

Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel

1300 Broadway

Suite 500, Denver CO 80203

Dear OARC,

I am long overdue in bringing to your attention numerous ethical issues regarding the below individual, who still allows himself to be described as a municipal judge in Wheatridge, though, at least according to your database, he’s in private practice:

Tijani Remus Cole

Registration Number: 19722

Firm Name: Cole Associates

Phone: 720-277-6480

Business Address: 805 Excalibur St., Lafayette, CO 80026

Date of Occurrence: Ongoing

Let’s start from the beginning. Through several successful (and effectively single-handed) petition campaigns over the years, I established the Unity Party in Colorado (I say “in” because the Unity Party of America (which I also founded) has 100s and 100s of members throughout the country listed on a website that Cole appears to have control over, one matter which I’ll address below).

In June of 2023, due to some obvious mental health issues of my 2020 Vice Presidential running mate and former friend Eric Bodenstab (issues which will play a more direct role in this story further down), I and the new national chair of the Unity Party, Alex Darlington, approached Judge Cole, who was already involved with the party, to replace the outgoing Bodenstab as chair of the Unity Party of Colorado. Folks, to be clear, I can’t imply that even a tenuous grasp on reality is a requirement to practice law in the State of Colorado, but Judge Cole’s one concern during that online conference (he was in Costa Rica on vacation with family at the time) seemed to be whether he would also be able to run for President of the United States in 2024 while chairing the state party (What’s my own grasp on reality, as at least I see it, in light of my own 2020 run for President as the Unity Party nominee? If it is to be, it’s up to me, especially with this bench lacking depth.)

Judge Cole was indeed elected chair (after Bodenstab’s term had already expired on 6/6/23, which raises some continuity-of-leadership questions), and then, at a crucial juncture, His Honor started freelancing as an arbiter of who was the true national chair.

Two months before I approached Judge Cole out of the blue (and he wasn’t my first choice for state chair, by the way), Mr. Darlington had in turn approached me about being made national chair. After I had resigned in February of 2022 due to burnout from dealing with this ceaseless cacophony of incompetence, the party I had founded had burned through several flame-outs as chairs. After attempting to leave the party altogether, even going so far as to grant control over the national website unityparty.us (which I had registered, maintained and operated for nearly twenty years on my own dime) without a cent of compensation, I had returned in February of 2023 and volunteered to fill the Treasurer vacancy (then-chair Tim Wolf wasn’t even filing FEC financial statements).

To be clear, Mr. Darlington was elected national chair on May 12, 2023 in full compliance with the Unity Party Constitution. Vice Chair Jim Wiest had effectively declined to do his duty by designating himself as “acting” chair, and, to fill the void, I nominated Darlington.

Once Cole was given his position of trust, he proceeded to abuse that trust by muddling things, apparently deliberately, at every turn. He informed Darlington that, as chair of the Unity Party’s flagship state affiliate, he was going to ask around regarding how Darlington came to be chair, but, surprise, surprise, Judge Cole never got around to asking me.

Via a blast email (which, again, shockingly, didn’t include me, the founder of the party), Cole designated Wiest as national chair, a decrepit aspiring cult leader rightly reviled by everyone he comes into contact with (save for Eric Bodenstab, the ultimate simpleton). “Chair” Wiest would go on to refuse to hold a national convention and even propose to split his Cole-inspired hallucination off from the Colorado party, presumably because he knew he would instantly fail any additional votes regarding his attempts at leadership.

Perhaps this was just the way Judge Cole liked things, planned things, or even, I dare say, manipulated things to be. That summer, in a supposed attempt at reconciliation, Cole arranged an online meeting between Darlington and Bodenstab (as Wiest’s representative). As the college-aged Darlington reported immediately afterwards, the “meeting” sat in on by (but certainly in no way mediated by) Cole was a lengthy, never-ending stream of epithets pouring out of Mr. Bodenstab’s mouth, including and ending with a dismissive “tough titty” uttered to a young man young enough to be his son.

His Honor, a judge entrusted by the People of Colorado with the black robes and the public’s trust, the self-appointed arbiter of all things Unity Party, said absolutely nothing.

But perhaps Judge Cole said everything with what he didn’t say. Mr. Darlington’s resignation immediately after his meeting with Mr. Bodenstab was in turn immediately (one day later) followed by the resignation of Vice Chair Sabrina Bryan, and, rest assured much to my surprise, I found myself thrown from Treasurer back to national Chairman. 

As reluctant as I was to resume the leadership of the organization which seemed only too well to mirror the fracturing of American society as a whole, I called a convention for October 7, 2023. International events on that day certainly didn’t help attendance, and neither did Cole’s curious calling of a Colorado party meeting at that very same hour.

And things continued to go downhill for the Colorado party, through to this very day. Judge Cole’s term as chair, as outlined in the Unity Party of Colorado Constitution (https://unitypartyamerica.us/unity-colorado-constitution) that he has failed to update one iota, expired on June 6, 2025. After a dumpster fire of a 2024 election for the state party that partly resulted from the nomination of Cornel West (according to ABC News at https://abcnews.com/Politics/rfk-jrs-clever-move-earn-ballot-access-nationwide/story?id=109872197, Cole claimed in writing that RFK “tried and failed” to seek the nomination, but that’s a lie; his campaign lost interest after seeing the destruction wrought by Cole), Cole apparently, especially judging from the hang-dog expression he affected in the one interview he gave the entire 2024 election cycle, had decided to throw in the towel, at least in terms of doing anything constructive for his fellow Coloradans. He allowed his term to expire in June 2025 without electing a new chair, and, then, when a meeting was finally called that only three people (including the hanger-on Bodenstab) attended, he cited a fictional quorum requirement. That December, after I, out of desperation to right a sinking ship, called, chaired and reported a Colorado convention (all per the state party constitution which I wrote and that remains materially unaltered), Cole and Bodenstab emailed the SoS Elections to fraudulently claim leadership of the Unity Party of Colorado.

But it gets even better. As muddied as Cole, with his lack of communication with the real world, has made these waters, some details are a bit hard to decipher, but what is certain is that his autumn online meeting with Karl Schneider, former El Paso County Republican Party Vice Chair and, at least up to that point, enthusiastic aspiring Uniter, was neither positive nor constructive, and indeed could likely have been defamatory and fraudulent.

Alas, Cole seems to have a knack for cherry-picking the most rotten fruit in any bunch.

To the present day: Cole is apparently allowing the impression that he’s still state chair (see unityparty.us/colorado) while at the same time subtly acknowledging his knowledge that he’s no longer chair. Furthermore, either through laziness, incompetence, disregard for the rule of law, a lawyeresque/Orwellian impulse to control the truth or a square deal composed of all four, he’s failed to update that same Elections Office, which he seemed so eager to lie to when needed, regarding the new website https://unitypartycolorado.us.

That very URL, a laughably unoriginal take on the website https://unitypartyamerica.us that I (again on my own dime) was forced to set up to replace the fraudulently stolen unityparty.us (see below) is so very emblematic of Cole & Co.’s all-too-shameless impulse to follow my lead at every possible turn (what, is Colorado going to be the new US?).

Perhaps their Oscar-Wildesque impulses are preferable to the alternative. No doubt as a result of his delusions of grandeur and perhaps an arrogant assumption that I’ve only accomplished what I’ve accomplished because I look the way I look (and not due to instead, my innate drive and will to survive and succeed), Judge Cole thought that he could (attempt to) establish the American Unity Party as an alternative to the UPA.

And here’s where it gets most interesting. The “AUP” (see the top of https://unityparty.us) was never authorized by the Unity Party of Colorado Constitution, which clearly states that the UPC is an affiliate of the UPA (Judge Cole, of course, could have proposed an amendment to that constitution, but apparently never did). That abject failure is of course not even mentioned on unitypartycolorado.us, though legally that bell can’t be unrung, even if unityparty.us (which neither the Unity Party of Colorado nor the “American Unity Party” has ever had any right to) is ever returned to its rightful owner.

Not only is unityparty.us being used fraudulently and illegally (to my knowledge, none of those 100s and 100s of Uniters listed there ever agreed to any of these developments perpetrated by Cole, and, in light of the current administration’s penchant for persecution of political dissent, he might even be placing them in danger), but there is intellectual property, beginning with the logo, being used in violation of copyright.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking the time to read this missive. I hereby ask you to send a loud and clear reminder throughout Colorado, the United States, and the world that those who have ever worn the black robes have forever assumed a mantle heavy with responsibilities beyond those of the average citizen and even those of the rest of the legal profession. Jurists in the United States are proving to be our last line of defense for the Rule of Law, and for any one member of that profession to so blatantly abuse the faith and trust placed in him by his fellow citizens in order to pursue his own agenda is concerning in the extreme. To wit, I therefore ask that you disbar Judge Cole and refer this matter to the appropriate authorities for criminal prosecution for the following:

• Abuse of judicial office or prestige for political purposes

• Misrepresentations to the Colorado Secretary of State

• Continued representation of leadership status after expiration of term

• Misrepresentations regarding party leadership

• Misuse of property, trademarks, websites and member information

• Conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation

Partly because the below address is in Germany, and partly because I am currently traveling, the best way to reach me is via email: therealwrhammons@gmail.com (you can also try by phone, but note I’m eight hours ahead of Denver). Also note that I attempted to (via email) bring these matters to the attention of The Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline (somewhere in there, at some point, the CCJD should’ve had jurisdiction).

Sincerely,

William R. Hammons

55543 Bad Kreuznach

GERMANY