- Rep. Lauren Boebert's use of campaign funds is being investigated in Colorado.
- Boebert was accused of filing inaccurate mileage estimates and using donor cash to pay tax liens.
- The claims were in a complaint lodged by the PAC that leaked videos of ousted Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
Colorado officials are investigating whether controversial GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert may have misused campaign funds.
According to The New York Times, local officials in Colorado are investigating whether Boebert falsely logged the mileage she clocked on the 2020 campaign trail. The officials are also examining whether Boebert used around $20,000 in donor cash to pay tax liens on her restaurant, Shooters Grill, per the outlet.
The investigation was sparked by a complaint against Boebert by the American Muckrakers PAC, an organization that brought an ethics complaint against Rep. Madison Cawthorn. The ousted congressman was the subject of multiple video leaks from the website "FireMadison.com" which was set up by the PAC.
The people behind the PAC, including its president, David Wheeler, have now turned their attention to Boebert with the website "FireBoebert.com."
The Denver Post first reported in 2021 that Boebert had cashed $22,259 worth of checks for mileage reimbursement, based on a mileage estimate of 38,712 miles on the road — more than the circumference of planet Earth.
The complaint about Boebert's use of funds centers around tax liens from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment filed against Boebert from August 2016 to February 2020, which demanded payment on unemployment premiums for Shooters Grill.
Boebert paid off the liens in late 2020 and reimbursed herself for campaign travel during the same period. However, the complaint suggests there was an inappropriate use of funds on Boebert's part, among other allegations.
"As you are both fully aware, utilizing an illegal source of funds or ill-gotten funds to pay off a tax lien is illegal in Colorado and under federal law," the PAC's complaint wrote. "That is the very definition of ill-gotten funds."
On Tuesday, Janet Drake, Colorado's deputy attorney general, confirmed that the Colorado Department of Revenue and the Department of Labor and Employment would "investigate the issue," per The Times. A spokesman for Colorado's attorney general also said that an interagency group would "evaluate the allegations and whether legal actions are justified."
Meanwhile, representatives for Boebert told The Times that the lawmaker had accounted for the mileage and paid off the tax liens before the donor reimbursements were banked.
"Colorado citizens should be disgusted with Lauren Boebert. Lauren Boebert created this problem on her own and is finally going to be held accountable. This is what happens when you elect a clown that can't even pay her employees money owed to them or pay the appropriate taxes," wrote Wheeler in a press release about the Boebert investigation.
Wheeler added that he thought Boebert "should be ashamed of her actions."
"Anyone that uses donor money to pay their taxes is not fit to hold public office," Wheeler wrote.