One faction of the Unity Party selected its 2024 presidential ticket over the past weekend, nominating Paul Noel Fiorino and Matthew May. However, a separate presidential nominating convention organized by the Unity Party’s Colorado affiliate will take place this upcoming Saturday.
According to the Unity Party of America website, delegates convened remotely on Saturday for the party’s seventh United National Convention. In addition to nominating a presidential ticket for the 2024 election, delegates deliberated upon six proposed amendments to the Unity Party Constitution, one of which included the adoption of a party pledge. Readers can access a summary of the convention here.
Background information from Fiorino’s campaign website, which still incorporates sections from his previous political efforts, indicates that he is a ballet artist and educator in Colorado. Fiorino has previously run for several state and local offices there, including five gubernatorial campaigns and twice for Denver mayor. His site does not yet list information on his running mate, Matthew May.
However, while Fiorino and May were nominated at the remote convention, there exists a possibility that neither will appear on the general election ballot—at least in Colorado, where the party already has ballot access.
Ron Gunzburger, the creator of the online candidate directory Politics1.com, stated on social media following the April 6 convention that there will be a separate convention this coming Saturday, April 13, during which delegates will also select a presidential ticket. At this convention, Fiorino is expected to face independent candidate Dr. Cornel West, who is reportedly also seeking the organization’s ballot line.
“Two candidates are competing at the Unity Party convention on Saturday for the party’s presidential ballot line: progressive independent Cornel West (NJ) and frequent state candidate Paul Fiorino (CO). Party insiders believe West is favored to capture the spot,” Gunzburger said over X on Monday.
An additional comment made by Gunzburger on Wednesday referred to the recently-held Unity Party convention as “meaningless and ceremonial.” He further implied that contention exists between Bill Hammons, the party’s original founder and current chair according to the website, and the Colorado organization, where the upcoming convention is being held.
Research done by Independent Political Report following Gunzburger’s comments confirms that a separate convention is being organized on April 13 by the party’s Colorado affiliate with the intent to nominate a presidential candidate. Information shared on the public Unity Party of Colorado Open Discussion Facebook group further clarifies that the convention is being organized by the United National Committee treasurer Eric Bodenstab, who will also speak at the event.
The Colorado-affiliate convention is set to convene at 805 Excalibur Street in Lafayette, Colorado. Delegates will network with state and local candidates, hear from presidential candidates or their campaigns, and select a 2024 ticket, among other activities.
It’s not yet certain when the contention began in the Unity Party, but it appears to stem from a leadership dispute. According to details from the currently active website, Bill Hammons first organized the party in 2004 out of a grassroots group supportive of then-Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark. He eventually served as chair of the United National Committee, the party’s central body, from 2010 until 2022. Following his departure, the party experienced a period of high leadership turnover before Hammons later returned to the role toward the end of 2023.
There also exists a separate, older Unity Party website which lists Tim Wolf as chair, but it does not appear to have been updated since the end of last year. There also exists earlier references to an April 13 presidential nominating convention in a late December press release on the actively-used Unity Party website, implying that party contention occurred at least within the past five months.
The Unity Party of Colorado has an open and democratic nomination process. Concerning the rumor that the Unity Party of Colorado was considering nominating RFK Jr., representatives of the Kennedy campaign did reach out about possibly seeking the Unity Party’s presidential nomination, but they chose not to pursue the party’s nomination after they spoke with Bill Hammons.
On 3/31/2023 Tim Wolf resigned as National Chairman. Jim Wiest of Olympia, Washington had been elevated to Vice Chair the previous summer. He became Chairman and will remain until the end of 2024.
– Secretary & Treasurer
The Unity Party of Colorado state assembly voted on April 13th to nominate Cornel West for President with 95% of the delegate vote versus 5% for Paul Noel Fiorino.
Bill Hammons is not the national chairman of the Unity Party of America. At this point, he is just a delusional con man pretending to be a tinpot dictator of a “national” political party that only has ballot status as a recognized political party in Colorado – where he no longer resides. Bill Hammons manufactured this petty drama himself to feed his own ego. Bill Hammons’ worst enemy is himself.
The bogus “Unity Party of America” video assembly that Hammons hosted remotely on April 6th (from wherever in the world he is now) is background noise, a distraction, held one week prior to the Unity Party of Colorado state nomination assembly in a manipulative effort to preempt and disrupt our nomination assembly.
The Unity Party of Colorado will vote on candidate nominations today, starting with the presidential race, and working our way down the state’s ballot. The results of Bill Hammons’ illegitimate video assembly and the posturing of its “resolutions” have no bearing on the Unity Party of Colorado, where registered party members will vote on nominations – not people on a list maintained by Bill Hammons.
Bill Hammons has no authority over anyone but himself.
I would love to have Paul Noel Fiorino and Matthew May on the Unity Party’s ballot line in Colorado this year – for offices other than President and Vice President.
Paul Noel Fiorino is free to make a pitch for our presidential nomination, as is Cornel West. Paul and I have been friends for years. We will be carpooling to the Unity Party of Colorado assembly together today, where I will cast my vote for Cornel West for President and hope to vote for Paul for some other office.
I met and talked with Matthew May at Cornel West’s campaign rally in Boulder last night. My understanding is that he is onboard the West-bound train.
Gary Swing, Secretary
Unity Party of Colorado
I heard a rumor that the Unity Party of Colorado was going to put RFK Jr. on the ballot. It looks lime that is not happening now.