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The Greeley Tribune, Feb 6, 2010
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The Colorado Springs Gazette, Feb 3, 2010
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State Bill Colorado, Feb 3, 2010
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Jan 28, 2010
Ethics Watch Asks Fort Collins City Clerk To Report Apparent Violation By Boucher Campaign
Today, Ethics Watch asked Fort Collins City Clerk Wanda M. Krajicek to notify the City Manager of an apparent campaign finance violation by the Andrew Boucher for Council campaign. Ethics Watch believes that Andrew Boucher, a candidate for City Council in District 5, sent a fundraising appeal in February of this year to voters in Fort Collins. In addition to asking for contributions and promoting his own campaign in this appeal, Mr. Boucher also asked recipients of the letter to support Aislinn Kottwitz, a candidate for City Council in District 3. Fort Collins prohibits candidate committees from contributing to other campaigns or making independent expenditures on behalf of other candidates.
The contribution card enclosed with the letter included a solicitation for checks to Aislinn Kottwitz’s campaign committee as well as for Mr. Boucher’s committee. The card indicates that the mailing was paid for by “Andrew Boucher for Council.”“It appears that Mr. Boucher’s campaign spent more than $3,000 for a mass mailing that promoted not only his own campaign, but also Ms. Kottwitz’s campaign, in violation of Fort Collins City Code,” said Luis Toro, senior counsel for Colorado Ethics Watch. “This mailing was effectively a contribution to Ms. Kottwitz’s campaign when city code dictates that ‘No candidate committee shall make a contribution or contribution in kind to, or accept a contribution or contribution in kind from, a candidate committee of another candidate.’ Mr. Boucher must be held accountable for his campaign committee’s actions, and the city manager should investigate whether Ms. Kottwitz accepted an unlawful contribution by participating in the mailing.”
Boucher’s candidate committee’s payment for this mailing that solicited funds for Ms. Kottwitz’s campaign and advised voters that “she’ll need our support” and “[w]e must hold Diggs’ seat” is clearly a contribution or contribution in kind to Ms. Kottwitz’s campaign committee, or an independent expenditure on behalf of her campaign, because it was made for the purpose of influencing the election.
