A Manitou Springs woman has filed a complaint against recall election candidate Bernie Herpin for ads he sent out attacking the Democratic senator he hopes to replace. The door hanger, which says “Paid for by Bernie Herpin for Senate District 11” advocates for the recall of Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs. Ann Schmitt says in the complaint that candidate committees are supposed to refrain from spending money or advocating in issue campaigns. The recall portion of the ballot is an issue campaign – with committees advocating for voters to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to kick Morse out of office. The second portion of the ballot is a candidate campaign – with the Republican candidate Herpin advocating for votes to replace Morse if he is recalled. So Morse’s campaign, which is an issue committee, would be unable to campaign against Herpin who is a candidate and vice-versa.
At issue is whether Morse should be recalled from office on Sept. 10 for his leadership style and his support of gun legislation that became law this summer.
The complaint is a minor one that would require Herpin’s campaign to pay a fine until it set up an issue committee to run the ads and money through.
But first the ads would have to be found in violation of campaign finance laws.
Full Article: Election complaint filed against recall candidate Bernie Herpin.