Colorado officials are investigating whether Rep. Lauren Boebert misused campaign funds, The New York Times reports.
The Denver Post reported last year that Boebert claimed an eye-popping $22,259 in mileage reimbursements from her campaign.
Under the legally allowed reimbursement rate, Boebert would have had to drive more than 38,000 miles, more than the 24,901-mile circumference of the planet, in order to get that much.
Boebert’s campaign later revised the claim to include other travel costs like hotel rooms but still claimed more than $17,000 in mileage reimbursements.
Around the same time, Boebert paid off eight state tax liens worth $20,000 after she failed to pay unemployment premiums for her business.
Complaint:
The American Muckrakers PAC, the same group that helped spread scandalous leaks about Rep. Madison Cawthorn before his primary loss, filed a complaint earlier this month with the Colorado attorney general.
“As you are both fully aware, utilizing an illegal source of funds or ill-gotten funds to pay off a tax lien is illegal in Colorado and under federal law,” the complaint said. “That is the very definition of ill-gotten funds.”
Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for the Colorado attorney general, told the Times that the complaint was sent to an interagency group “to evaluate the allegations and whether legal actions are justified.”
Boebert denies:
Aides for Boebert told the Times that she logged all of the mileage correctly and that the tax liens were paid off before she cashed the checks for the reimbursements.
"This is another swing and miss from a partisan political group," Boebert said in a statement on Wednesday. "I represent over 50,000 square miles of Colorado; I connect with the people I serve rather than sitting at home in a basement like most Leftists."
