The tables have turned, with Republican state employees complaining they've received invitations to a fundraiser for Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter on their work e-mail accounts.

Democratic state workers several weeks ago questioned whether it was appropriate for Republican Josh Penry, who is running for governor, to send campaign information to their Capitol accounts.

Two GOP workers recently notified the Penry campaign of the Ritter fundraising invites.

Ritter's campaign director, David Kinney, said Thursday that the campaign "scrubs" its e-mail lists every 10 days or so to try to delete government e-mail addresses but some get through.

"We try so hard, but we get new names added every day," Kinney said.

Penry, the Senate minority leader, was asked what he thought of the turnabout.

"I'm sure Chantell Taylor's errant e-mail outrage machine is snowed in for the day," he said.

Taylor is the director of Colorado Ethics Watch, which filed a series of open-records requests to try to determine whether Penry used e-mail addresses collected by the GOP's ColoradoSenateNews.com.

Several Democrats who signed up to get news releases from SenateNews surmise that's how the Penry campaign got their e-mail addresses.

Taylor said the open-records requests are "turning up nothing," in part because the state told her it can't legally release e-mail addresses.

The issue of campaign e-mails being sent to government work addresses is a problem for both parties, Taylor said, and an issue that needs to be watched.

Penry's campaign has said that its e-mail database was compiled from a variety of sources, including lawmakers, lobbyists and supporters.

The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Legal Services concluded in a 2008 memo that using constituent e-mails during a campaign would not violate a Colorado law that bans state agencies from contributing to campaigns.