Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jon Keyser
Democrats are taking aim at Republican Jon Keyser in Colorado s U.S. Senate race, filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that claims he violated campaign finance rules — a charge the candidate rejects.
The American Democracy Legal Fund submitted the complaint Thursday based on a single anonymous quote in a Colorado Statesman article that reported he received $3 million in commitments of soft money to back his campaign while attending a Republican Jewish Coalition luncheon in December — weeks before he announced his campaign.
The Statesman — a publication run by a former Republican lawmaker and apparently backed by major GOP donors — cited a source familiar with the matter as the attribution for the $3 million claim. The flimsy nature of the sourcing may make the complaint little more than a partisan attack.
But the move from the Democratic group signals that the forces backing incumbent U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet are worried about Keyser s challenge. The former state lawmakers is one of 13 Republicans candidates now vying to challenge the Democrat.
Keyser s campaign dismissed the complaint and tied it to Bennet s camp. It s sad that Senator Bennet is so afraid of facing a decorated combat veteran that he would have his sleazy special interest friends try to smear an Air Force intelligence officer, said spokesman Matt Connelly. We already knew Senator Bennet s campaign was desperate and flailing, but clearly he s in even worse shape than anyone imagined.
The legal fund — run by Democratic operatives Brad Woodhouse and David Brock — cites a recent FEC advisory opinion related to the presidential campaign, which suggested that Jeb Bush needed to adhere to rules related to soft money contributions while he was testing the waters of his campaign.
If the FEC agrees with the Democratic group, it could issue penalties that include fines.
