Colorado candidate Victor Marx must return thousands of dollars in campaign contributions that appear to be illegal

Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx often points to his prolific fundraising as proof he's the undisputed frontrunner in the race for governor of Colorado.

He's also a political enigma as a first-time candidate, with no statewide name recognition, who has participated in just one debate, and yet has raised more than his two Republican opponents combined.

It's something that just didn't sit right with Darcy Schoening, who has worked for the Colorado Republican Party and run for office herself.

"I don't really have a dog in this fight. I just started investigating Victor Marx because I thought the public needed to know who he is," she said.

Over the last 8 months, Schoening has sifted through hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports and says Marx has created the illusion of being the frontrunner.

"The more and more I dug, the more I found," Schoening said.

Among her most surprising findings is that Marx has burned through almost all of his money, and most of it, Schoening claims, has gone to administrative costs, not voter engagement.

She says Marx has shelled out $866,000 for consulting services, $112,000 for new clothes, $28,000 for airline tickets and hotels, and $1.3 million for fundraising. Almost half the money he's raised goes to solicit more money.

Schoening claims the campaign's fundraising operation is all "smoke and mirrors."

"I believe that it's partially that he wants to make it look like there's thousands of donations coming in across that country so that he looks like the most viable candidate."

But some of the donations, she claims, are illegal. Campaign finance laws cap individual donations at $1,450. Schoening says she found 152 donors who've collectively given nearly $108,000 over the limit. CBS Colorado verified her findings using the Marx campaign's financial disclosures.

While most donors gave a few hundred dollars over the limit, one gave $6,000 -- four times the limit. Another donor gave $2,000, despite being dead for four years.

"This is so unfair to the other candidates it made my stomach turn," says Schoening.

She filed complaints detailing the 152 excessive donations with the Secretary of State's Office. So far, the Marx campaign says it has addressed 85 of them, saying it's, "refunding the contributions or correctly attributing all or part of (them) to the spouse of the contributor..." if they came from a joint bank account.

The campaign is required, by law, to return the money.

In addition to illegal contributions, Schoening claims, the campaign has also reported what appear to be fake contributions. Its financial disclosure last month included thousands of contributions from donors with the same name and street address but in different cities and states.

Schoening claims campaigns often conceal large illegal donations by funneling the money through "straw donors." The campaign retracted its entire financial disclosure and resubmitted a new one days later, which the Secretary of State's said is "not common practice."

Schoening asked the Office to investigate, "The Secretary of State responded and said that because he cured it, because he submitted a new report, they had no need to go any further for an investigation."

But without consequences, Schoening believes, the Marx campaign will continue to ignore the law and stack the deck in its favor.

"You've got this guy with about 150, 160 complaints total now. The Secretary of State takes no action at all," she said.

The Secretary of State's Office says it is following standard protocol with the Marx campaign, including giving it the opportunity to fix the errors before it decides whether to assess any fines. Those fines could be as high as two to five times the excess donations. If Schoening's numbers hold up, that's $216,000 to $540,000, which is more than the Marx campaign has in the bank right now.

A Marx spokesperson sent a statement saying, "The campaign has complied with all applicable campaign finance laws and has worked diligently with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office to ensure accuracy and transparency in all filings."

Marx is one of three candidates vying for the Republican nomination. He's facing state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Scott Bottoms in the primary.