Democrat Ed Perlmutter, a candidate for the 7th Congressional District seat, called on Republican opponent Rick O’Donnell Monday to release the names of those attending his fundraiser last week.
The move comes after the Colorado Democratic Party filed a federal complaint Friday alleging that Stephen Johnson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, may have violated federal law by attending O’Donnell’s event.
The Hatch Act prohibits executive-branch officials from using their titles or allowing their titles to be used in connection with fundraising activities. Organizers for O’Donnell’s event sent out the fund raiser invitation along with an e-mail. The subject line of the e-mail used Johnson’s official title.
However, the e-mail was never approved by Johnson or his agency. The invitation, approved by the EPA’s ethics department, used Johnson’s name but not his title, agency spokeswoman Lisa Lybbert said last week.
Perlmutter, a former state senator, said he wanted to see the names of those attending the fundraiser in order to identify any lobbyists or corporate interests that might have business before the EPA.
“At a time when influence-peddling and corruption are being scrutinized in Washington, Rick O’Donnell appears to have crossed the line to raise money,” Perlmutter said in a statement. “Clearly he hasn’t gotten the message and thinks the rules don’t apply to him.”
O’Donnell’s campaign said it would follow federal election law and file the names of those attending the event with its usual financial disclosures.
“There was no violation here,” said campaign manager K.C. Jones. “This is another one of Ed’s frivolous complaints and just the beginning of what we should expect from him.”
Jones said EPA officials checked the list of all attendees ahead of time to make sure no one had an issue pending before the agency.
An EPA spokeswoman could not be reached Monday.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or at kcrummy@denverpost.com.
