Victor Marx, the Colorado Republican Party’s nominee for governor, is “committing blatant criminal (acts)” by accepting unlimited campaign contributions through his online merchandise store, a GOP operative wrote in a campaign finance complaint filed Monday.
The complaint, filed with the Colorado secretary of state’s office by Darcy Schoening, a former state party official, follows Marx’s solicitation, first reported by 9News last week, of unlimited donations through the website victor2026merch.com, a scheme that one campaign finance attorney described as “patently illegal.”
“If they order merchandise, there’s no limit on that,” Marx said during a livestreamed event July 30. “They can order as much as they want. That will really help us.”
In her complaint, Schoening, a Colorado Springs-based political operative and former director of special initiatives for the state GOP, described visiting several online stores selling Marx campaign merchandise — none of which, she said, disclosed donation limit information or required her to enter her occupation and employer, which campaigns typically report as part of their disclosure filings.
“Where is this money going? Are these donations being obscured?” Schoening wrote. “If Marx is taking money for his merchandise without reporting it, he has committed likely hundreds of violations.”
Colorado’s campaign finance laws limit individual donors to a maximum of $1,450 in contributions to a candidate for governor.
Buddy Jericho, Marx’s campaign manager, told Newsline that the campaign had “just received the complaint and are reviewing it.”
“It appears to concern the same excess-contribution matters the campaign has already been addressing with the secretary of state,” Jericho wrote in an email.
Schoening had previously filed more than a dozen other complaints against the Marx campaign in May and June, pointing to disclosure reports that showed contributions received in excess of the $1,450 limit. The Marx campaign says it has addressed the 152 alleged violations, which added up to about $78,000 in excess receipts. The secretary of state’s Elections Division has scheduled a hearing in those proceedings for Sept. 8.
Marx narrowly won the GOP nomination for governor in the June 30 primary, defeating state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Scott Bottoms. A ministry leader and first-time candidate, he collected nearly $3 million in contributions during the primary, significantly outraising both Kirkmeyer and Bottoms, who blasted Marx as a “con man” and said they would not support him in the general election against the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Phil Weiser.
A spokesperson for Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said she can’t “comment on matters that are or may come before this office.” An initial state review of Schoening’s new complaint is due to be completed by Aug. 17.
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