“Potential penalties for doing political work at taxpayer expense include criminal liability and termination”
A new Colorado Springs Indy report reveals that the fake environmentalist who appeared in Senator Cory Gardner’s campaign commercial misused Colorado taxpayer resources to create her sham organization.
Allie Killey, a state employee and staffer for pro-polluter Senator Paul Lundeen, filed the paperwork to create “Wild for Colorado” (a sham organization with “no history of environmental work” and whose only advocacy appears to be campaigning for Gardner) while on the clock and being paid by Colorado taxpayers. This all happened on the very same day Senator Gardner introduced his “Great American Outdoors Act” in the U.S. Senate.
“It was disappointing to discover Senator Gardner used a sham organization to try to cover up his abysmal environmental record, and now it’s extremely troubling to learn he benefited from Ms. Killey and pro-polluter Senator Lundeen’s misuse of Colorado taxpayer dollars to prop up his campaign,” said Melissa Miller, Hickenlooper for Colorado spokesperson. “Senator Gardner needs to immediately disavow this shady, phony group.”
In case you missed it:
Colorado Springs Indy: Sen. Cory Gardner campaign ad under fire, legislative aide in crosshairs
By now, it’s well known that a TV ad by the campaign of Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado called “Both Parties” is somewhat misleading in that two speakers the ad suggests represent Democrats and Republicans are both Republicans
…
The campaign submitted a records request for Killey’s time sheets during her time with Lundeen’s office and found she apparently filed initial paperwork for Wild for Colorado LLC during work hours.
The document was filed at 11:11 a.m. March 9. A legislative aide time sheet shows Alexandra Killey, the name listed on the Secretary of State filing, claims to have been on the clock for Lundeen at that very time. That raises questions about whether Killey was performing political tasks — setting up the so-called shell LLC used in Gardner’s ad — while being paid by taxpayers to serve as Lundeen’s aide.
It’s worth noting that Lundeen signed off on the time sheets, and Killey had previously attested she’d read the handbook for aides and agreed to follow its policies. Potential penalties for doing political work at taxpayer expense include criminal liability and termination.
…
Hickenlooper’s spokesperson Alyssa Roberts had this to say:
“First Senator Gardner used a phony environmental group to cover up his toxic record of voting against Colorado’s clean air and water, and now we’ve learned that an employee of one of Big Oil’s top allies started the fake group on taxpayer time — abusing taxpayer dollars in a shady political scheme that helped Cory Gardner deceive Coloradans. Meanwhile, John Hickenlooper is proud to have earned endorsements from the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, and other leading (and not fictitious) environmental organizations who know he’s the only candidate who will protect our public lands and fight climate change.”
