A campaign finance complaint filed earlier this week against Colorado Senate District 8 Democratic candidate Karl Hanlon should be cleared up by the next filing deadline on Monday, he said.
“My finance person missed a receipt, and we have amended the report,” said Hanlon, a Carbondale resident and Glenwood Springs municipal and water attorney who is running for the state Senate seat now held by Republican Bob Rankin, also of Carbondale.
Hanlon is in a June 30 primary race for the Democratic nomination with former Eagle County commissioner Arn Menconi.
“It is frustrating, and it’s disappointing, and ultimately it’s on me as a candidate that it happened,” Hanlon said.
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The complaint was filed by Kyle Feuer of Snowmass Village, who worked on the 2018 congressional campaign of Diane Mitsch Bush. Hanlon was a primary candidate for the 3rd District Democratic nomination that year against Mitsch Bush and Menconi.
Feuer alleged in his June 8 complaint that Hanlon did not properly report $1,510 in Facebook ads and, based on Facebook’s reporting, “$182 worth of advertisements ran without a disclaimer,” Feuer wrote in his complaint.
Feuer said in a phone interview Thursday that similar issues came up with Hanlon’s congressional campaign in 2018, but when confronted about it the candidate “brushed it off.”
“The law is pretty clear that campaigns have to document all fundraising and spending … it’s about transparency,” Feuer said. “The law does not have a difference of opinion on this. He’s a lawyer, and he knows this is illegal, but he continues to do it.”
Hanlon countered that it was an honest mistake, and the expense reporting will be amended in his June 15 campaign finance report.
“I wasn’t trying to hide anything, and it was not intentional on our part,” he said.
The June 1 report in question showed Hanlon had a sizable fundraising lead over Menconi in the Democratic race, with $16,090 received to date compared to $9,136 for Menconi.
Menconi’s campaign also filed two different amendments related to campaign expenses this week, but no formal complaints were filed.
On the Republican side, incumbent Rankin faces a primary challenge from Debra Irvine of Breckenridge. The June 1 campaign finance reports showed Rankin well ahead of all candidates in terms of fundraising, at $53,025. Irvine reported $4,775 in her campaign to win the GOP nomination.
The Monday filings are expected to show a significant amount of campaign fundraising and spending as primary ballots are now in voters hands.
