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Colorado Department of Law to investigate campaign finance complaint against Secretary of State Jena Griswold

By and 03/04/2025 | updated 6 months ago

The Colorado Department of Law said it will investigate a campaign finance complaint against Secretary of State Jena Griswold tied to a website proclaiming a run for governor.

The Jan. 14 complaint from The Public Trust Institute, which is represented by Suzanne Taheri of West Group Law, alleged that Griswold “expended funds on a gubernatorial campaign and had a website dedicated to a gubernatorial run but has not registered a committee or filed a candidate affidavit for governor.”

The website — jenaforgovernor.com — first surfaced in August but was taken down soon after 9News reported its existence on Dec. 20.

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According to the complaint, when asked about the website, Chris Griswold, brother and campaign manager for Colorado’s top election official, “initially lied, stating it was ‘definitely’ not their domain.”

The complaint said the Griswold campaign revealed it purchased the website only after learning that his email address was tied to the campaign’s email subscription.

Chris Griswold told Colorado Politics in January the complaint is “baseless.”

“Jena is committed to serving Colorado, advocating for working people, and standing up to Donald Trump to protect our freedoms. She has not decided how that service will look beyond 2026,” Chris Griswold said. 

The complaint said the website fits Colorado law’s definitions of a public campaign announcement, citing Colorado Constitution Article XXVIII, Section 2. It further claimed that the purchase of the website’s domain name denoted an official campaign expenditure, citing the same law.
 
Colorado campaign finance law requires an individual who becomes a candidate to file a candidate affidavit within 10 days of filing it. A personal financial disclosure is also required within 10 days of the filing. 

The complaint noted that Jena Griswold failed to submit a candidate affidavit for governor or form a candidate committee as required by the Fair Campaign Practices Act.

The complaint was turned over to Attorney General Phil Weiser for further investigation to avoid a conflict of interest in the Secretary of State’s office.

Weiser, who heads the Department of Law, declared his candidacy for governor in January. 

Under state campaign finance laws, a respondent has 10 days to “cure” or fix the problems on a campaign finance complaint. 

Griswold was given that opportunity on Jan. 28, but, according to the TRACER website, she did not take advantage of that opportunity.

In its letter to Griswold on March 3, once the Department of Law has concluded its investigation, it will decide whether to file a complaint with the Office of Administrative Courts or file a motion to dismiss.

This is the sixth campaign finance complaint filed against Griswold by the Public Trust Institute since June 2022. Four complaints were dismissed for insufficient evidence; the fifth, over Facebook ads in 2022 that lacked the “paid for” disclaimer, resulted in Griswold being levied a fine of $563.24.

Robert Gluck of the Colorado Springs Gazette contributed to this report.

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