Hickenlooper violated campaign finance laws, according to new FEC complaint

Colorado Democratic Senate candidate John Hickenlooper may have violated campaign finance laws by working with an outside super PAC to coordinate a political advertisement, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission.  

The complaint, filed by right-leaning watchdog group Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, alleges that Hickenlooper, a former Colorado governor, posted a statement to one his campaign websites that was used days later in an advertisement by the Senate Majority PAC, an Democratic political action committee. 

FACT is now suggesting that "there was a coordination between Hickenlooper's campaign and the Senate Majority PAC."

Following Hickenlooper's conviction by a state review panel last month for violating gift rules during his tenure as governor, Hickenlooper posted a statement on his website GetTheFacts.com in mid-June. 

The statement defends his ethical record and pins the charges on attacks made by Republicans. The post was titled, "Coloradans need to know the facts about the Republican attacks against John Hickenlooper."

The phrases "need to know" and "deserve to know" have been used as subtle advertising requests by Democratic candidates to sympathetic super PACs in the past.

Less than two weeks after the post went up, the Senate Majority PAC ran an ad using similar language to Hickenlooper's statement. 

"The fact that 12 days after the ask was published Senate Majority PAC ran the advertisement leads me to believe there was coordination between the campaign and super PAC," said Kendra Arnold, executive director of FACT.

The complaint also accuses the Senate Majority PAC of violating campaign finance rules by using B-roll footage from an ad that had been filmed for a past Hickenlooper's gubernatorial campaign and used again during his Senate campaign.

Super PACs are prohibited from using materials from candidate's campaigns, even if it can be sourced publicly.