State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis speaks at a gun violence prevention town hall at First Baptist Church in Denver, Feb. 8, 2023. (Kevin Mohatt for Colorado Newsline)
A Colorado Senate ethics committee met Friday for the first time to consider a complaint against Democratic Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis over alleged mistreatment of staff.
The committee was formed on Tuesday.
The complaint was filed Jan. 10 by the Political Workers Guild on behalf of five former staff members. It alleges violation of a Senate rule that calls, in part, for lawmakers to perform their “legislative duties at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and independence” of the Legislature. It also alleges wage theft law violations, misuse of non-disclosure agreements and campaign finance violations.
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The Longmont Democrat has faced multiple complaints from former staff and is alleged to have used campaign funds to pay them to do personal yard work for her, according to The Colorado Sun, and withholding pay from one employee, according to Colorado Public Radio. She is now not allowed to have state-paid legislative aides and was stripped of her committee assignments this session.
“The mismanagement of aides in her office is a pattern, and issues continue to this day. We believe that her behavior is inappropriate and unacceptable as an elected official, especially given the lack of trust and transparency in her own office,” the complaint letter to Senate leadership reads.
The former staff members making the Political Workers Guild complaint are Li Davis, Luke Doescher, Luis Echeverry, Lacey McGinty and Molly Stawinoga.
Jaquez Lewis has until Jan. 31 to formally respond to the complaint if she wants.
She denied the claims and characterized them as a political fight between legislative aides, the guild and Senate leadership in a statement texted to Colorado Newsline.
“The Guild ethics complaint is made up of disgruntled workplace complaints from past staff, who not getting enough hours when out-of-session or an aide not getting the job he wanted. These anonymous stories are blatantly untrue,” she wrote. “I sympathize with any worker who feels mistreated, but I do not believe that I should be the focus of this workplace discussion, or the platform for a bid for unionization and collective bargaining.”
The complaint outlines a former office fellow’s experience doing outside campaign work — yard work preparation for a political fundraiser and bartending at the event — with the expectation of working as a junior aide. He ended up being offered an intern position following a summer and fall with few hours of actual work in that junior aide position, which he said affected his ability to budget, according to the complaint.
A senior aide was simultaneously and unexpectedly demoted to a junior aide position, according to the complaint, because he planned to start a graduate school program and could work fewer hours, but that demotion affected his health benefits. This office shuffle was never communicated clearly, the complaint alleges, and was handled “in a manner meant to pit (them) against one another to avoid accountability.”
Those payments for outside campaign work were not originally reported in TRACER, the complaint alleges. That prompted a campaign finance complaint at the secretary of state’s office.
The complaint also includes details about a disorganized office environment and allegations that Jaquez Lewis criticized a former aide to other employees.
Weighing probable cause
Jaquez Lewis said that the specific allegation of wage theft is potentially “slander for which legal action can be taken.”
“The specific allegation is simply that I did not sign off on a timesheet when I was traveling,” she said, adding that the matter was resolved and the aide was paid in a timely manner.
She also said she was frustrated by the ethics committee process itself, because there is no way to ensure the committee members are unbiased.
The ethics committee is chaired by Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, and vice-chaired by Sen. Cleave Simpson, an Alamosa Republican. It also includes Democratic Sens. Mike Weissman of Aurora and Dylan Roberts of Frisco and Republican Sen. John Carson of Highlands Ranch.
On Friday, the committee went over the process of an ethics complaint investigation, requested evidence to review and decided when to meet.
The committee has until Feb. 20 to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that an ethics violation occurred. If it finds probable cause, there can be an evidentiary hearing at Jaquez Lewis’ request. The committee can then decide whether to recommend to the Senate reprimand, censure or expulsion of Jaquez Lewis.
Last year, an ethics committee investigated conduct by Sen. Faith Winter, a Westminster Democrat, and determined that she violated chamber rules when she appeared to be intoxicated at a public meeting.
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