Twenty people gave Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca's campaign more than the $1,000 limit during her run against incumbent Albus Brooks last year, according to campaign finance records.
The violation, first reported by Colorado Politics, came after someone named Allan Kroll submitted a complaint to the Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder over Labor Day weekend. In his complaint, Kroll provided documentation of the councilwoman's public donations log, which was verified by Denverite.
Most donors who exceeded the limit donated between $3 and $600 more than the allowable $1,000. But records show one donor, Zeppelin Development Inc., a prominent Denver developer, gave $1,000 extra. CdeBaca's wife, Kerrie Joy Landell, gave $210 dollars over the cap.
"I am shocked to learn of this anonymous complaint, and I will fully comply with any recommendations from Denver Elections and the Clerks and Recorder's Office," CdeBaca said in a statement. In an email to Denverite, Kroll provided documentation that showed the complaint was not anonymous. "I have never hidden my support and have always transparently reported every dollar we received during the campaign," CdeBaca added.
CdeBaca faces no penalty for the violation because there's a one-year limit on enforcement and the donations were made over a year ago.
Before and during her campaign, the councilwoman publicly supported campaign finance reforms that have since included a lowered cap on donations to city political offices. Clerk and Recorder Paul López said he created a position to build a more proactive approach to potential violations, which are currently only investigated if someone complains.
"Additionally, we recently began contracting with a vendor to build a new reporting application to automatically catch violations like this and we are currently working on legislation to increase penalties for violating these regulations," López said in as statement.
In all, the 20 donors gave close to $5,600 more than the limit. CdeBaca raised about $145,000 during her campaign. Brooks raised close to $400,000.
This article was updated to correct a statement asserting the complaint was filed anonymously.
