Republican Victor Marx faces fine over ‘unprecedented’ campaign finance violations
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Victor Marx, the Republican nominee for Colorado governor, is starting to feel the heat from state elections officials over a litany of alleged violations of campaign finance laws.
Regulators in the Elections Division of the Colorado secretary of state’s office are seeking a $51,427 fine against Marx’s campaign for accepting contributions over the legal limit. A hearing in the case is scheduled for September 10 — and it’s only the first of several potential proceedings against the first-time candidate, which also include complaints alleging Marx is illegally collecting unlimited campaign contributions through his online merchandise store.
“Respondents’ noncompliance with applicable contribution limits was unprecedented,” the Elections Division’s wrote in an August 31 filing in the case. “Respondents accepted and had the benefit of the prohibited contributions throughout Respondent Marx’s gubernatorial campaign and a competitive Republican primary election.”
Colorado’s campaign finance laws limit individual donors to a maximum of $1,450 in contributions to a candidate for governor. The Elections Division investigated complaints filed against Marx in May and June by Darcy Schoening, a former state GOP official, who pointed to disclosure reports that showed contributions received in excess of the $1,450 limit.
The division’s filing lists a total of $83,560 in excess contributions from over 100 individual donors since Marx launched his campaign last year, with overages ranging from 27 cents to multiple thousands of dollars.
Marx had previously called the complaints a “nothingburger,” and said the “secretary of state has been great” in working with the campaign as it refunded excess contributions to cure the alleged violations. But regulators and the campaign are now at odds over whether all the issues have been resolved.
“Respondents have not, in fact, cured all their campaign finance violations,” wrote the division, which says only $61,029 in prohibited donations appear to have been refunded.
Marx’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Part of the dispute stems from the Marx campaign’s claims that it has “reattributed” some excess contributions to spouses or other family members who are joint account holders with the contributors in question. In its own filing, the campaign says it contacted those individuals and “spoke with the joint account holders in order to determine whether any apparent overage could be reattributed to the other joint account holder.”
But elections officials say the campaign hasn’t properly reported those reattributions.
“Respondents have provided no credible evidence that the reattributed contributions were made from joint accounts and did not specify the contributors,” the division’s filing states. “Nor have Respondents provided credible evidence that they notified all joint account holders of the apportionment of the contribution.”
Additional complaints pending
Marx, who narrowly won the GOP nomination in June, is considered a heavy underdog in the race against the Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Phil Weiser. Colorado has elected only one Republican governor in the last 56 years, and Democrats are widely expected to gain ground in a favorable midterm election year.
Both of Marx’s GOP primary opponents said they would not support him in the general election, calling him a “grifter” and a “con man.” A ministry leader in Colorado Springs, he has struggled to answer questions about his sensational claims about his own life, including the practice of exorcisms and work overseas as a self-described “high-risk missionary.”
He faces additional campaign finance complaints, also filed by Schoening, in relation to his solicitation of unlimited donations through an online merchandise store, a scheme that one campaign finance attorney described as “patently illegal.” Those complaints underwent an initial review by the Elections Division and are still pending.
A third round of proceedings against Marx could follow Schoening’s latest complaint, filed on August 27. Citing reporting last month by 9News, the new complaint concerns a new disclaimer linking Marx’s merchandise store to a Wyoming-registered business, “Not Shook LLC.” A campaign disclosure filed in July identified Marx as the company’s owner, which he subsequently called a “silly mistake.” An initial review of the latest complaint is due by September 11.
