Face the State

Facts Reveal That Candidate Kliebenstein Complied with Law
Face the State Staff Report

Broomfield — Like most young campaigns, Nick Kliebenstein’s staff is still learning the ropes when it comes to Colorado’s complicated campaign finance laws. But due to a Democrat-provoked attack, the state House contender now says he is being unfairly targeted for reporting problems he experienced due to a technical glitch within government software. The Secretary of State cleared Kliebenstein's campaign of any wrongdoing. In light of those facts, the liberal "watchdog" group, Colorado Ethics Watch, has withdrawn its complaint.

“I’m satisfied that Colorado Ethics Watch has withdrawn their complaint because it was groundless and partisan to begin with,” he said. “I’d like to focus on policy issues in the future and I hope that I’m not spending the 13 months leading up to the election dealing with these types of baseless accusations.”

At issue is Kliebenstein’s first campaign finance report, filed Oct. 15. A week later, on Oct. 22, Colorado Ethics Watch, an organization led by Democrat activist and attorney Chantell Taylor, filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office alleging that Kliebenstein had violated state law by “accepting three separate contributions that exceed contribution limits for state house candidates."

Under Colorado’s strict campaign finance laws, state legislative candidates are only permitted to accept $200 from individuals for primary and general elections, with a total individual contribution of up to $400. According to Kliebenstein and the Colorado Secretary of State, it’s a standard his campaign never violated.

Kliebenstein, the GOP’s candidate for House District 33, a seat currently held by Democrat Dianne Primavera, concedes that contributions made to his campaign were listed incorrectly on the Secretary of State’s database as $800 from three individuals, when in fact, they were six $400 donations made by six individuals. The six contributions were initially reported as being from three individuals, each of whom were married to an additional contributor. The report should have listed the contributions as being from each of the six contributors.

After filing the initial report with the incorrect numbers, Kliebenstein said his treasurer, Katie Potter, immediately realized her error and attempted to amend the report the next day. Under state law, candidate committees are allowed to amend reports when such mistakes happen. Due to technical problems within the Secretary of State’s Web site, however, Potter’s amended filing showing the correct contribution figures wasn’t posted.

The problems weren’t realized by Kliebenstein or the Secretary of State’s office until days later when Taylor made her complaint on the 22nd. According to Kliebenstein, Potter’s mistake resulted from incomplete information she had received at a Secretary of State training session the week before. Kliebenstein describes Potter as a “close family friend” who has served as a bookkeeper for organizations in the past.

Kliebenstein’s version of events is confirmed by Christi Heppard of the Secretary of State’s Elections Division. In an Oct. 23 letter from Heppard to Kliebenstein’s campaign, she notes that Kliebenstein was not at fault for his campaign’s failure to file an amended report. “Regrettably, while trying to file an amended disclosure report, your committee encountered a programming error not previously brought to our attention. “

The letter confirms that Kliebenstein’s treasurer attempted to amend the report on Oct. 16th but was unable to do so until the Secretary of State’s information technology department “was made aware of the issue and intervened.”

In the letter, Heppard also apologizes “for the inconvenience you have experienced and appreciate the difficulties you have encountered as a result of this issue. Further, please be aware that this office is working diligently to correct the programming error so that future filings will not be affected.”

On Oct. 22, the day before Heppard sent her letter to Kliebenstein, Taylor admitted that Kliebenstien would have a strong defense to her accusations if the reporting problem was due to a technical glitch.

“Certainly, if that’s what the amendments show, then that’s his strong defense,” she told Jolie Breeden, a reporter for the Broomfield Enterprise.
Taylor also told Breeden that she made the complaint after she called the Secretary of State’s office earlier that day. The office did not yet know of the technical problems.

According to Kliebenstein, Taylor never contacted him prior to making her complaint. He says that he has since given her his cellular telephone number.

In addition, while Taylor received a copy of Heppard’s letter, forcing Colorado Ethics to withdraw its complaint, the organization has still not pulled from its Web site the press release announcing the accusations. It has also not printed a retraction.

To view Kliebenstein’s amended report, visit the Secretary of State’s elections division at http://www.elections.colorado.gov/