Democrats are going on the offensive against state Sen. Paul Lundeen, a legislative aide and ultimately, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner over an ad touting Gardner’s environmental record.

Complaints against Lundeen, a Republican from Monument, and Alexandra “Allie” Killey, who worked for Lundeen, are tied to claims that Killey set up a faux environmental group to back Gardner while she was on the clock at the state Senate last March.

According to the Secretary of State’s business database, Killey filed the paperwork for Wild for Colorado the same day Gardner filed the bill for the Great American Outdoors Act. Killey’s paperwork, according to the secretary of state, was filed at 11:11 a.m. on Monday, March 9. The state Senate convened at 10 a.m. that day. 

Work records obtained through an open records request filed by Colorado Politics showed that Killey was paid by the General Assembly for a ten-hour day on March 9, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lundeen told Colorado Politics she “probably” took a break to file that paperwork.

Killey later appeared in a “Both Parties” campaign ad for Gardner, praising his environmental work. She is identified in the ad as founder of Wild for Colorado.

The complaints were filed by Halisi Vinson, executive director of the Colorado Democratic Party.

The ethics complaint against Killey states “on public time, and while using public resources, established a limited liability company (LLC) to promote the U.S. Senate candidacy of Cory Gardner.” Wild for Colorado has no track record of environmental activism; Killey is unknown in the environmental community. 

The complaint further states that “Killey improperly used state resources to set up a phony group, so that Cory Gardner for Senate could later use it as a fake third-party validator in a campaign advertisement. The IEC should further investigate these allegations to determine the full, surrounding circumstances of what the documents show was an abuse of government resources, undertaken to deceive the public.”

The complaint against Lundeen states he “permitted an employee on public time, while using public resources, to establish a limited liability company (LLC) to promote the U.S. Senate candidacy of Cory Gardner.”

A separate complaint was also filed with Senate President Leroy Garcia. In the letter to Garcia, Vinson stated the same claims, and asked Garcia to appoint a committee on ethics and investigate the “abuse of government resources, undertaken to deceive the public.”

Vinson pointed out that “criminal and civil statutes prohibit the use of state resources for campaign or personal purposes, and make Respondent Senator Lundeen responsible as a fiduciary for the stewardship of those resources.”

A 2016 memo from the Office of Legislative Legal Services outlines the use of House and Senate legislative staff, equipment and resources. The memo states that it is “improper and unethical to use state equipment and state services such as offices, telephones, internet access accounts, copiers, fax machines, computers, postage, supplies, and staff time for campaign or personal purposes.”

Vinson’s letter claimed that “first degree official misconduct” has been committed “if, with intent to obtain a benefit for himself or another, he knowingly commits an act relating to his office but constituting an unauthorized exercise of his official function.”

In addition, Colorado law prohibits state departments and agencies, including the legislative branch, from spending public funds to make contributions in kind to candidates for public office, Vinson’s letter states.

Lundeen said he believes the ethics complaints with the state’s Independent Ethics Commission will be dismissed as frivolous. “My understanding is that [what Killey did] was on personal time and a personal effort. If it’s different from that, it would bear looking into but my understanding is that this is not the case.”

Garcia’s office, in a statement to Colorado Politics, said that in “accordance with Senate Rule 43, I can’t discuss the details of any ethics complaint, but what I can say is that our aide training is very comprehensive, so stories of this kind of rogue behavior are certainly shocking and concerning. Moving forward, we need to further impress upon all staffers the gravity of the policies laid out in this handbook, because the consequences of noncompliance can be serious.”

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