Victor Marx's gubernatorial campaign gets nearly $58,000 fine for $83,000 in illegal Colorado donations

Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx’s campaign faces a nearly $58,000 campaign finance fine after an administrative hearing officer recommended the penalty for accepting 203 contributions above the state’s legal limit.

The violations involved about $83,000 in donations that exceeded the $1,450 individual contribution ceiling set by the Colorado Constitution, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Administrative hearing officer Macon Cowles said the scale of the violations was “without precedent.” His initial decision recommended a fine higher than what the state had requested.

The Marx campaign admitted it “unintentionally” accepted the excessive donations and attributed the errors to inexperience.

Campaign attorney Chris Murray argued during the hearing that the state’s proposed penalty was “out of whack with the nature of the conduct.” Murray did not respond to an immediate request for comment on whether the campaign would appeal the initial decision.

State rules require campaigns to refund excess contributions or donate them to charity if refunds are not possible.

Cowles wrote that the person responsible for compliance “did not know what he was doing” and that no one above him ensured the rules were followed. He questioned why the campaign did not hire an experienced professional while carrying a bank balance of “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The campaign asked for a reduced fine, arguing it tried to return the funds and reported every overage to the state.

Cowles gave the campaign credit for disclosing the prohibited contributions in its own reports and said there was no allegation of hidden money. But he said disclosure alone did not justify lowering the fine because the campaign held onto the excess money ahead of the competitive June primary.

Cowles cited several aggravating factors, including the volume and duration of the violations, the campaign’s continuation of the conduct after state officials notified it of problems, the depositing of excessive checks, and the campaign’s disregard of pop-up warnings on the state’s campaign finance website.

He also pointed to the months-long retention of prohibited funds, the campaign’s failure to document a single reattribution required by rule, and a series of mistaken and amended reports.

Marx defeated state lawmakers Barbara Kirkmeyer and Scott Bottoms in the June primary and is now on the November general election ballot.