State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis lost her position chairing a powerful Senate committee and was removed from a bill concerning wage theft — both decisions made by top Democrats earlier this year after she allegedly refused to pay an employee working under her.
Records obtained by The Denver Post show that the senator’s resistance to signing off on an aide’s time card in December was among concerns raised by her party’s leadership over the last year. Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, also was admonished months earlier by Senate leadership for “concerning” behavior reported by staff and other members of the legislature, according to email records.
Early in this year’s session, in January, a Senate leader quietly removed her as chair of the chamber’s Local Government and Housing Committee, though she remains a member of the panel. Committee chairs help steer — or stall — legislation as bills move through the General Assembly, and they are powerful positions when it comes to setting state policy.
Jaquez Lewis was also an initial prime sponsor of House Bill 1008, a bill aimed at preventing wage theft in the construction industry, that was introduced in early January. By February, House Majority Leader Monica Duran had removed Jaquez Lewis’s name from the bill.
Duran did so, she said in an interview Tuesday, because she “felt it would not be appropriate” to have Jaquez Lewis carrying it. Refusing to pay an employee for work done could have led to claims of wage theft if the aide ended up going unpaid for their work.
“I wanted that focus to stay on the bill, not on Sen. Jaquez Lewis,” Duran said. “Nor did I feel it was appropriate to have someone who’s being questioned — being asked about wage theft — to be on the wage theft bill.”
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Jaquez Lewis denied refusing to sign anyone’s timesheet. She said she was traveling when the incident happened and tried to sign off on it when she could, but it had already been handled internally.
Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, would eventually sign off on the aide’s time card, according to records obtained through the Colorado Open Records Act.
Underscoring the rarity of the issue, email records show that Fenberg had to ask staff if it was in his power as Senate president to OK the timesheet if the aide’s supervising senator “refuses” to sign off.
In a brief interview, Fenberg said he chose the word “refuses” because it reflected his understanding of the event. He otherwise declined to discuss the incident, citing workplace confidentiality requirements.
Records show Fenberg also had previously warned Jaquez Lewis about her alleged behavior toward staff members.
In September, Fenberg wrote to Jaquez Lewis that several staff members and legislators “witnessed behavior they found concerning,” according to an email obtained through a records request. While he did not specify the behavior at issue in that email, Fenberg wrote that it was “similar to the issues” previously discussed with her.
“For a staff member to not feel respected and safe in the workplace is never okay and this is something I hope you will prioritize improving upon,” Fenberg wrote to Jaquez Lewis.
He also told her in that email that Senate staff would not help her with vetting or placing any new aides in her office for the 2024 legislative session.
“I don’t want to put caucus staff in a position where they’re recruiting and encouraging someone to work in an office while not being able to disclose to them the concerns that have previously been raised,” Fenberg wrote.
Jaquez Lewis said Tuesday that she could not recall that message and asked a reporter if she was included among the recipients. The email’s header indicates it was addressed to her personal email address.
“It seems to me that if something has occurred, there should be specifics that are out there,” Jaquez Lewis said. “Because I’d like to know what they are.”
She suggested that she was “learning something new” when told about the email.
Jaquez Lewis was first elected to the Colorado House in 2018 and then the Senate in 2020. She won her heavily Democratic Senate district with 68% of the vote.
The aide who submitted the timesheet in question had resigned from Jaquez Lewis’ staff during that pay period. The resignation letter was withheld by the Senate under open records law based on a provision that bars the release of documents used in inquiries or complaints made under the workplace expectations policy. That is separate from workplace harassment policy, which is reserved for more serious allegations.
The records do not name the former aide, and The Post is not identifying the person to protect their identity. The former aide declined an interview request.
Jaquez Lewis said she never heard any workplace complaints.
She also said she stepped down from the committee chair seat because she’s working on a voter and Democratic Party recruitment initiative in Boulder and Weld counties, as well as looking toward reelection in November.
Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, who sets the committee assignments, declined to comment on the change.
Duran, who is leading the construction wage theft bill, said members sometimes leave bills because of workload or other issues, but this is the first time she’s removed someone so that there wouldn’t be “a cloud” hanging over the policy.
Duran said she had that conversation with Jaquez Lewis directly and let her know why she was being removed. But Jaquez Lewis said she wasn’t aware of those concerns.
“I don’t know why (Duran) would say that,” Jaquez Lewis said. “We haven’t talked about it.”
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