The contest between two northeastern Colorado Republicans for House District 63 ratcheted up Monday, when one accused the other of writing checks to himself without explaining their purpose and improperly filing contributions.

Primary challenger Jessie Vance, a resident of Eckley, filed a campaign finance complaint on June 10 against Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron, alleging late filings of contributions, payments made to Holtorf that don’t identify what the payments were for, and using a campaign committee account terminated last year for recording all contributions and expenditures.

Under state law, a candidate has the opportunity to correct or “cure” errors in their campaign finance reports.

Holtorf said he has already corrected most of the errors in his campaign finance reports and added that he is committed to transparency.

“I appreciate accurate campaign reporting,” he said.

Holtorf submitted the paperwork to run as a candidate for the new House District 63 on Jan. 14, but he never filed for a new campaign finance committee.

The state’s campaign finance manual says that move is allowed, but only if the candidate does not solicit or accept contributions or spends their own money. Candidates must register a committee if they accept money or other types of contributions from any other person or entity, the manual says. Indeed, the Secretary of State recommends registering a candidate committee before “accepting contributions or making expenditures,” the manual adds.  

TRACER, the Secretary of State’s campaign finance database, showed three missed filings for Holtorf’s HD 63 account. The filings were all made under the old HD 64 committee that was terminated on March 3, 2021.

Holtorf’s contributions and expenditures are listed for that old HD 64 committee, including the most recent filing, dated May 31.

Holtorf paid himself $20,417 this year, the entirety of all expenditures he has made so far in the 2022 election cycle. Of those expenditures, $8,786 was for consultant and professional services, including a $400 check to his 86-year-old mother, who has extensive political experience; a $400 payment with no identified purpose; and, a $2,000 payment to himself for “campaign consultant fees” with no further information. Another expenditure was for a $25 fee for a check that isn’t showing up in his campaign finance reports.

Holtorf said the latter was a fee to the Department of Revenue. He said the $400 payment with no identified purpose in his report was a double posting for the payment to his mother.

In that May 31 filing, Holtorf also reported two $100 contributions from March, well past the deadline for reporting those donations. 

Holtorf told Colorado Politics he has been filing his TRACER reports and believes his lack of a candidate committee for HD 63 is a glitch in the system – that is, his old HD64 committee should have transferred over to a new HD 63 committee. He said he has spoken to the Secretary of State’s office about that problem.

The Secretary of State’s office set a deadline for an initial review of the complaint for Tuesday, June 28, which is primary day in Colorado.