Victor Marx’s gubernatorial campaign has been hit with more than 140 campaign finance complaints, although most have been consolidated by the state’s election office because they follow similar alleged violations.

Marx faces Attorney General Phil Weiser, who won the Democratic nomination, in the general election.

All but one of the complaints filed against the Marx campaign have come from Darcy Schoening, the state GOP party’s former director of special initiatives and an ally of former Colorado Republican Party chair Dave Williams.

The most recent, consolidated on June 30, alleged the Marx campaign accepted $78,000 in excess contributions. That came through, according to the complaint, via 197 contributions from 111 people that exceeded the $1,450 aggregate amount a candidate or candidate committee can accept from any one person in a two-year election cycle.

There were also 10 cash contributions that exceeded the state law limit of $100.

The state Elections Division consolidated the June 30 complaint with others that Schoening has filed this year. Schoening has filed more than 144 complaints over a two-month period, which the Elections Division called an “atypical” way of filing complaints.

The Marx campaign advised the Elections Division it would cure the violations, but on July 17 the office said the campaign failed to substantially comply. The division has now moved the complaint to the investigations phase and sought a hearing with an administrative law judge.

Of the $78,000 in allegedly illegal contributions, only about $58,000 had been refunded, the division said. The campaign also failed to provide valid proof that some of the contributions had been refunded.

Among them were two $1,450 contributions on Jan. 23 from Hugh Bernardi of Douglas County, who has made more than $31,000 in contributions to Republican candidates over the past eight years. The Marx campaign said it sent Bernardi a $1,450 refund on June 6.

Bernardi is a principal with Renewable Water Resources Associates, whose principals are politically active at the local and state levels.

John Kim, another RWR principal, and Sean Tonner, a managing partner with the Fulcrum Group, who is also a managing partner for RWR, each made $1,450 contributions to the Marx campaign. Tonner also gave more than $97,000 to Freedom IEC, an independent expenditure committee, that backs Marx.

The Elections Division has now sought an administrative hearing on the complaints.

The Elections Division is seeking a deadline of Aug. 24 to set the hearing on the Marx complaints.

Editor’s Note: This story was corrected to remove inaccurate information about campaign finance limits for county commissioners.