Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
- Rep. Lauren Boebert has been accused of illegally spending $60,000 from her PAC.
- The End Citizens United PAC has accused Boebert of failing to declare in-kind contributions properly.
- "Congresswoman Boebert used her leadership PAC as a personal bank," the ECU's president said.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert has been accused of illegally spending $60,000 from her PAC on campaign calls and texts.
The End Citizens United PAC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee on Thursday, accusing the Republican lawmaker of spending her donors' money on "get out to vote" calls and texts while not reporting it correctly.
"Congresswoman Boebert used her leadership PAC as a personal bank, but unfortunately for her, this practice is illegal under federal law," the ECU president, Tiffany Muller, said in a press release on Thursday.
The ECU argues that the "get out to vote" calls gave the Congresswoman an edge in the November midterms. She narrowly came ahead of the Democratic candidate, Adam Frisch, and was reelected by a margin of just 546 votes, per Newsweek.
FEC filings by the ECU accuse Boebert, her campaign Lauren Boebert For Colorado, We The People Leadership PAC, and Taylor Moose, her PAC and campaign treasurer, of not reporting the calls and texts as in-kind contributions.
In the FEC filing, the ECU accused Boebert of spending $4,623.22 on "text message advertising" on October 28, and her leadership PAC for spending $6,221.73 on "Voter Contact - GOTV Calls/Texts" on the same day.
The ECU wrote that these payments were made to Telephone Town Hall Meeting, a telecommunications service provider in Colorado.
The ECU also said in the filing that on November 18, Boebert's leadership PAC disbursed another $53,760 to TTHM.
These transactions, according to the ECU, violate federal guidelines on how much a candidate's leadership PAC can spend on in-kind contributions.
"The timing of the purchases, and the fact that they were made to the same vendor her campaign used, clearly illustrates that she was attempting to bypass federal law in order to either influence her own race or another campaign," Muller added in the release.
This is not the first time Boebert's campaign finances have been under scrutiny.
In June, Colorado officials investigated claims that Boebert deliberately inflated the amount she spent on her campaign travels in 2020, and claimed higher reimbursements from her donors to pay off tax liens on her restaurant.
Boebert's representatives did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside of regular business hours.