La Plata County Treasurer Allison Aichele faces a $66,500 fine from the state of Colorado for failing to properly file financial disclosures that date back to her 2014 campaign.
The Secretary of State’s Office last week sent Aichele a notice of the penalty.
In the notice, the Secretary of State’s Office says Aichele failed to file a financial report on campaign contributions in October 2014. Aichele apparently filed the financial statement on June 13 of this year.
The Secretary of State’s Office has the authority to impose a penalty of $50 a day for late filings. The resulting penalty, because Aichele was 1,330 days late filing the report, is $66,500, the office said.
Aichele challenged the penalty, asking for a waiver of the fee.
Aichele told The Durango Herald on Monday that the fine is a result of an error she made when running for county treasurer in 2014.
Aichele said she was contributing money to her own campaign at the time, and “did not realize” she had to file financial reports from personal contributions.
“It was an erroneous error on my part,” Aichele said.
The funds not reported amounted to $1,375. Aichele said she made monthly contributions of about $150 to herself over the course of nine months.
Aichele said she has been working in recent weeks with the Secretary of State’s Office to correct several issues from her 2014 campaign.
“The website is difficult for me to understand and correct,” Aichele said. “I’m working through it very diligently, line item by line item, with Secretary of State.”
The Secretary of State’s Office has 60 days to decide whether to impose or waive the fee.
Aichele faces challenger Tim Walsworth in the Democratic primary Tuesday. It is the only contested primary for La Plata County candidates. The winner faces Republican candidate Colton Black.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
