Colorado’s unionized legislative aides called for the resignation or removal of state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis on Saturday in response to renewed allegations that she mistreated employees in her office.
“Jaquez Lewis has consistently shown that she does not have the ability to manage an office, sit in a leadership role as chair, and show basic respect and decency to staff and her colleagues,” the Political Workers Guild of Colorado wrote in a Dec. 7 open letter to Colorado State Senate leaders.
Senate leadership stripped Jaquez Lewis of her state-paid aides earlier this week after two staffers formally complained that they were instructed to do chores around her home and bartend at a party she hosted, according to reporting by the Colorado Sun.
She was previously accused of trying to withhold pay from a staffer, which led to her removal as a committee chair and a sponsor of a wage theft bill earlier this year.
Jaquez Lewis said Saturday that she took the union’s letter “very seriously” and would support members’ concerns being investigated in a setting that would allow her to present evidence in her defense.
“I’m deeply sorry for my part of any miscommunication or any action on my part that has hurt anyone,” she said. “I am taking steps to proactively set up a nonpartisan HR management person that my staff can work with and go to for any issues. The path forward from here is to investigate what happened. I feel confident that this process will present my side of the story and all sides of the story.”
Since at least 2023, other Democratic lawmakers, including Senate President Steve Fenberg, have admonished Jaquez Lewis for her alleged mistreatment of employees.
Fenberg wrote in a September 2023 email to Jaquez Lewis that several staff members and legislators had “witnessed behavior they found concerning” and that this behavior was “something I hope you will prioritize improving upon.”
He also said Senate staffers would not help her vet aides or place aides in her office in 2024.
The Political Workers Guild of Colorado in its letter said these previous incidents and the latest allegations were proof of a “drastic” lack of accountability by Jaquez Lewis.
The union also called for the creation of a formal system that would allow aides to express their grievances with legislators.
“For too many years we have been reporting incidents that have been met with few repercussions for the legislator because of the lack of accountability mechanisms in the current system,” the letter reads. “If we believe in the fundamental right of the worker, we need this framework.”
Jaquez Lewis was first elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2018. She secured a Senate seat in 2020 and was re-elected for another four-year term this year.
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