State Rep. Steve King asked the state to reimburse him for mileage, gas and a meal at a pancake house last year, even though records suggest his campaign account already was footing the bill for those expenses.

King, R-Grand Junction, faces a statehouse ethics panel today and an allegation by a political-watchdog group that he has double-dipped.

King, a police investigator, declined to explain the transactions until after the ethics committee delivers its findings.

He cast the accusations as an attempt to ruin his chances in an upcoming state Senate bid.

"It's very apparent this was an orchestrated, premeditated attempt to end my public service by assassinating my character," King said. "I will respond appropriately."

Ethics Watch, which found the alleged overlap, said King is boosting his pay at taxpayer expense.

There is no policy against charging two accounts, legislative staffers say, though lawmakers declare on reimbursement forms that the expenses they claim have not been reimbursed by anyone else.

Republicans frequently complain that Ethics Watch, which does not disclose its funders, is a left-leaning group, even though it occasionally chastises Democratic politicians as well.

The Ethics Watch director said the group analyzed the travel and campaign records of all 100 lawmakers and that King stood out.

King travels 254 miles between Denver and his far-flung district and regularly accrues hundreds of dollars a week for round trips to attend the legislature as well as travel in his district during the off-session.

Lawmakers are reimbursed 45 cents a mile for vehicles used in the course of their state duties. Out-of-town lawmakers also receive $150 a day during the session to ease the burden of travel, lodging and meal costs while they're away from home.

They also can claim airfare and rental expenses for travel to and from the Capitol. Records show that for a week in April and during the entire month of March, the state paid King a total of $1,935 for rental-car expenses, which can include the rental and related gas. The forms don't reflect the exact days the cars were rented, and King and other lawmakers are not required to submit receipts to collect reimbursement.

King's campaign account paid $214 for a rental car April 15.

And during March, the month King drove a rental to and from the state Capitol every week, his campaign paid $575 for a rented car "during vehicle repair" and $216 in gas for what disclosures described as a campaign vehicle.

King declined to say whether the campaign vehicle and the car he drove to and from Denver for legislative duties were the same car.

King on Sept. 4 charged the state $55 after he traveled 110 miles for a town-hall meeting in his district, even though his campaign paid $65 that same day to rent a car. Later that month, he charged the state for all of his allowed meal reimbursements while he was in Denver for a transportation committee meeting, though his campaign bought a $30 meal at the Original Pancake House.

Ethics Watch director Luis Toro said it's possible there is another explanation for the dual payments, but King's disclosures raised enough questions for the group to file a complaint.

"If you allow people to claim reimbursements from the state and pay out of campaign accounts, essentially it's taking state money and putting it in your pocket," Toro said. "It's taking money you're not entitled to."

The House Democratic and Republican leadership both declined to comment on the complaint, a process that is typically handled confidentially.

The potential penalties if King is found to have double-dipped are unclear because there is not a written rule prohibiting that specific behavior.

Previous lawmakers who've come before ethics panels have faced sanction, as in the case of former Colorado Springs Rep. Doug Bruce, who was accused in 2008 of kicking a news photographer on the House floor.

Panels also have cleared lawmakers, such as Republican Rep. David Balmer, who last year faced allegations that he enlisted the help of a lobbyist to influence internal GOP leadership elections.