State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis is resigning, with two years left in her term.
The Boulder County Democrat announced her resignation in an early morning Facebook post on Tuesday. She was under an ethics investigation for her treatment of legislative aides, and Democratic leaders had banned her from serving on any legislative committees this session. The ethics committee was slated to release its findings later this week.
Jaquez Lewis made no mention of the ethics investigation in her resignation but did write that working at the capitol is a tough job “emotionally, physically and financially.”
In her post, she said she’ll be working with an unnamed regional non-profit that helps develop women and LGBTQ leaders with an international lens.
Jaquez Lewis previously served in the House and last November won a second term in the Senate in a district that includes Longmont. She was a member of the LGBTQ and Democratic Latino caucuses, and the only pharmacist serving in the legislature.
“I have passed an enormous amount of legislation and policy that hopefully benefits every citizen of Colorado and some have become national benchmarks,” she said in her statement.
However, for more than a year, her legislative work has been shadowed by accusations about her treatment of staff.
Last spring, a former aide described to CPR News a list of concerns they’d sent to Senate leaders about what the aide described as a “toxic” workplace in Jaquez Lewis’ office, and pressure they said they’d experienced to “operate in an untruthful manner.”
Senate leaders responded to the complaint by barring Jaquez Lewis from using Democratic Senate staff to assist in hiring her aides, but did not take away her public funding for them. They had also previously stripped her as committee chair of the Senate Local Government & Housing Committee. Jaquez Lewis was also removed as a main sponsor of a wage theft bill last session, over allegations that she had violated the spirit of the proposed law by not signing off on an aide’s paycheck.
She recently pushed back against allegations from the union that represents legislative aides, the Political Workers Guild, that she mistreated staff. Jaquez Lewis said there are larger workplace issues at the Capitol regarding legislative aides being underpaid and not feeling appreciated.
“I agree that these issues should be raised and resolved,” she wrote in a response to the Senate Ethics Committee. “Unfortunately, however, I am being made the artificial focus of this larger conflict. I am being dragged through the mud for political ends. With false allegations, the PWG is using me to showcase its concerns.”
In December, the Workers Guild called on her to resign or be removed from office.
“Too many aides have had to experience workplace violations met with little consequences, and we hope the Senate Democrats view this as an opportunity to send a clear message; that staff in the Capitol are to be respected,” the guild wrote in a letter to Senate Leaders.
Jaquez Lewis’ seat will be filled by a vacancy committee selected from Democrats in her district.
