Colorado Springs police are investigating a possible political theft.

Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt accused former state Rep. Larry Liston of stealing a stack of political fliers from a table he had set up at a Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition meeting last week.

“He’s a thief and a liar,” Klingenschmitt said.

Liston said he took five fliers.

“Gordon is paranoid and delusional,” Liston said.

Police are looking into the matter after Klingenschmitt filed a police report on Saturday.

Klingenschmitt is running for State Senate District 12 against Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs attorney and former state representative. Liston and Gardner are friends, but Liston said he’s not working on Gardner’s campaign. All three are Republicans.

The fliers in question were double-sided printouts depicting Gardner’s voting record.

“It’s filled with half-truths, lies and innuendos,” Liston said.

He said he took five copies so he could show others, including Gardner, the El Paso County GOP and members of the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition executive board.

Klingenschmitt said he saw Liston walking with about $50 worth of materials from his table. He approached Liston in the parking lot and asked for the items back. Liston said he told Klingenschmitt he planned to distribute them and left.

Police spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley on Tuesday refused to release a copy of the police report until after the investigation is complete.

Liston said he spoke with two police officers on Monday and showed them the five fliers he took.

Klingenschmitt said he has witnesses to the alleged theft.

“I think Larry was upset. He didn’t want anyone at the Pikes Peak Coalition to get copies of Bob’s voting record,” Klingenschmitt said. “The reason I called the police was not just to get my stuff back, but to put him on notice. … In the future I think he will be stealing my yard signs.”

The fliers included the title page for a bill Gardner carried in 2013 dealing with the state’s health care system. “Obamacare is now permanent law in Colorado state statute thanks to Bob Gardner,” reads the flier.

“The fliers are wholly false, but I guess in this business that’s permitted,” Gardner said. “He takes the cover page of a bill I carried and then misrepresents what that bill did.”

“I am very troubled that an elected state representative would file a police complaint about that and expect the Colorado Springs Police Department to spend any time investigating the matter,” Gardner said.

The latest incident adds to the bad blood between the Klingenschmitt and Gardner campaigns. Klingenschmitt points to a unsettled campaign finance violation that Gardner is tied to and Gardner says Klingenschmitt has many unanswered questions about the nonprofit he runs alongside a for-profit ministry.

The election isn’t until November 2016, although Gardner and Klingenschmitt could face off in the June primary election.

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter @CapitolSchrader

Colorado State Representative Gordon Klingenschmitt looks up into the balcony during the first day of the Colorado General Assembly on Wednesday, January 7, 2015. Klingenschmitt is a Republican representing House District 15. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)