By Sara Wilson for Colorado Newsline
Democratic Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis announced her resignation from the Colorado Senate on Tuesday, a few hours before an ethics committee met to continue investigating alleged mistreatment of her staff.
In a Facebook post, the Longmont Democrat said she has an opportunity to serve with a nonprofit that “focuses on developing future women and LGBTQ+ leaders through an International lens.”
She did not reference the ongoing ethics investigation, which was set to determine probable cause of the complaint this week and ultimately could have led to her expulsion from the chamber.
She emailed her resignation to Senate leadership on Monday evening.
The complaint was filed in January by the Political Workers Guild on behalf of four former legislative aides and a former campaign manager and alleges power dynamic abuse and a lack of accountability. It details allegations that Jaquez Lewis demoted and fired two aides without proper communication. One of those aides had worked a Democratic fundraiser at Jaquez Lewis’ house over the summer.
On Tuesday morning, Ed DeCecco, director of the Office of Legislative Legal Services, told committee members that an author of one of the support letters that Jaquez Lewis submitted in her answer to the complaint was most likely fabricated. The author wrote in an email that she did not actually write the letter and hadn’t spoken to the lawmaker in the last year.
“She stated that her name was ‘being used to indicate public support of Sen. Jaquez Lewis without my consent or knowledge,’” DeCecco said, referencing a Feb. 11 email.
In a subsequent workplace expectation investigation about the letter, Jaquez Lewis said the letter was information she had from the former employee from years ago and was based on conversations they had.
The Office of Legislative Legal Services then attempted to verify the other exhibits that Jaquez Lewis submitted, but had not heard back from the relevant people by Tuesday morning.
“Candidly, it shouldn’t take a Senate rule to treat your staff, your colleagues and your constituents with dignity and respect. It shouldn’t require a written Senate rule with the honor and respect it requires in service of one’s constituents,” said Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who chaired the ethics committee.
“In a moment when how we hold ourselves and each other to account matters deeply, I’m grateful for the rigor, diligence and integrity with which each of you has taken on this unenviable task. I hope that the constituents of Senate District 17 receive Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis’ resignation knowing that our committee took our work to uphold integrity in the Colorado Senate seriously,” she said.
The resignation means that Senate District 17 will be without representation until a vacancy committee picks her replacement, which could take several weeks.
The Senate is currently facing important votes on a change to the state’s union law and a bill to require training to own most semiautomatic weapons. While Democrats will still have a 22-12 majority in the chamber with the vacancy, the open seat could make it more difficult to pass legislation, such as the gun bill, that has some Democratic opposition.
Jaquez Lewis was first elected to the Legislature in 2018. She won a second term to the Senate in November.
This article originally appeared in Colorado Newsline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: [email protected]. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and X.
