Ethics group asked strategist Boucher to disclose funding

An ethics watchdog group dropped a complaint against a local campaign committee after it agreed to report campaign spending to the state.

Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government, the state branch of a Washington, D.C.-based group, filed a complaint last month against the Northern Colorado Victory Fund. The fund, registered with the IRS as a 527 political committee, is led by Fort Collins conservative strategist Andrew Boucher.

The ethics group complained that Boucher didn't file a report with the state Secretary of State's office last fall after his committee spent nearly $30,000 for television ads attacking Democrat John Kefalas, who beat Republican Bob McCluskey for the House District 52 seat that covers east Fort Collins.

It dropped its complaint Tuesday after an administrative court hearing in which Boucher agreed to file the report, which he said he didn't know he had to file.

"That's the ultimate goal, so we consider that a big win," said Chantell Taylor, a spokeswoman for Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government.

He documented the expenditure in a filing with the IRS in January, though state law also requires any group other than the candidate or the candidate's own committee that spends at least $1,000 a year on electioneering communications - ads, fliers, mailings - to report it to the Secretary of State's office.

Boucher won't face a fine in the case, which could have been up to $50 a day for every day he didn't report the expenditure.

"We're thrilled with the outcome," Boucher said.

Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government also filed a complaint against the Denver-based Committee for the American Dream, which also did not file reports with the Secretary of State's office after it spent nearly $30,000 for ads against Kefalas.

That case was not resolved at the Tuesday hearing, and each side has 10 days to file written closing arguments.