Maui County Councilwoman Elle Cochran filed a state Campaign Spending Commission complaint Tuesday against the political action group Pacific Resource Partnership/Forward Progress, alleging that it plotted illegally with a political opponent to unseat her.

Also named in the complaint is Butch Ka‘ala Buenconsejo, whom Cochran beat by 3,332 votes in the 2014 general election to retain her seat. Buenconsejo is now Maui County parks director under Mayor Alan Arakawa.

Cochran’s complaint argues that there is “substantial evidence” of coordination between PRP/Forward Progress and Buenconsejo. Federal election laws allow a noncandidate committee to spend an unlimited amount of money to support or oppose the campaign of a political candidate, but only if there is no coordination between the two.

Cochran, in a statement, said “super PACs” such as PRP/Forward Progress need to be shown “that if they refuse to play by the rules, they will be held to the highest standard of the laws that they refuse to follow.”

Former Gov. Ben Cayetano filed a defamation lawsuit against PRP after it infused $3.6 million into the 2012 Honolulu mayoral campaign in an effort to defeat him. The lawsuit was settled when PRP issued a published apology and agreed to donate to two charities.

In December, the commission fined PRP/Forward Progress $3,100 for infractions tied to Maui County Council races, including failing to link Buenconsejo with an expenditure.

The complaint filed by Cochran on Tuesday said PRP/Forward Progress spent more than $63,000 on mailers, radio ads, media consulting and a voter poll in support of Buenconsejo’s campaign.

Buenconsejo, on Tuesday, denied any collusion. He said he would have preferred that PRP/Forward Progress stayed away from the race but that he could not even ask the group to do that for fear of violating the coordination statute.

A spokeswoman for PRP/Forward Progress said its officials had not seen the complaint and could not comment.