A campaign watchdog group filed a complaint Tuesday against a City Council member, saying that she disparaged one person vying for her vacant seat and praised another at a public council meeting.

At the Oct. 8 City Council meeting, Lakewood City Council President Cheryl Wise said that "one of the folks running for my seat is saying boards and commissions are hand-picked by the council," a reference to Charley Able, a retired Rocky Mountain News reporter who is running to replace Wise in Ward 1. "We always solicit staff before we pick boards."

Wise, who is term-limited, added, "If you have a candidate personally attacking council or staff members, they don't deserve my vote. I'm absolutely appalled by what is being said by some of the candidates."

Opposing Able is attorney Karen Kellen. Wise said that Kellen was so positive about Lakewood when she first met her that "we should use her in an ad campaign for the city."

Wise also said that she likes the campaign approach that emphasizes the positives, "and that's exactly where I think voters ought to vote."

Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonprofit group that tries to hold public officials accountable for their actions, said that Wise violated the Fair Campaigns Practice Act, which doesn't allow a city to use tax dollars in support of a particular candidate.

"Councilwoman Wise broke the law when she endorsed her favorite candidate for her City Council seat at an official City Council meeting," Chantell Taylor, director of Ethics Watch, said. "She should be sanctioned for using city resources to push her political agenda on voters."

Able, who brought Wise's comments to the attention of Ethics Watch, said that her remarks "were a blatant, intentional violation of state campaign laws, the very laws Miss Wise took an oath to uphold." Wise did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Kellen said, "I have a hard time seeing that there is a clear- cut rule here that was violated. I think people are blowing it way out of proportion."

Lakewood City Attorney Tim Cox said it will be up to the Secretary of State to decide if a law was violated.