Colorado State Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who represents parts of Boulder, Weld and Broomfield counties, announced her resignation Tuesday morning amidst an ethics investigation into her alleged mistreatment of staffers. Lewis said she would be working for a nonprofit that focuses on women’s and LGBTQ+ leadership. In her resignation statement, which she posted on Facebook, she did not mention the ethics complaints that were filed against her.
Jaquez Lewis wrote, “I have served my constituents with pride and productivity. I have passed an enormous amount of legislation and policy that hopefully benefits every citizen of Colorado and some have become national benchmarks. As the first pharmacist ever elected to the Legislature and serving during one of our country’s greatest health crisis, I felt like I was able to contribute uniquely to improving access to affordable health care and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.”
In December 2024, the Political Workers Guild (PWG) issued a statement calling for the resignation or removal of Jaquez Lewis for the alleged “mistreatment” of two staff members. The letter alleges “multiple and clear violations of Rule 38,” while citing reports from the Denver Post and the Colorado Sun.
The Denver Post obtained emails via an open records request and published the report in April 2024. The emails show that Senate President Steve Fenberg signed off on a time card from one of Jaquez Lewis’ aides because Jaquez Lewis allegedly wouldn’t sign it.
Fenberg was concerned about the behavior and wrote an email to Jaquez Lewis. He wrote, “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.”
Colorado Sun reported in December 2024 that Jaquez Lewis hired aides with campaign funds to do work outside of the job description. She didn’t report the transactions to TRACER and also had one of the aides sign a non-disclosure agreement. PWG said this is “a prohibited practice under CRS 24-50.5-105.5.” Aides reportedly feared retaliation if they didn’t complete certain tasks.
On January 31, Jaquez Lewis issued a response to the ethics complaints and completely denied the allegations. She wrote, “the only allegations that offer even an iota of ‘evidence’ to support them are contained in an attachment detailing the complaints of two disgruntled young men who did not get the jobs and/or hours that they demanded. The complaint was filed on behalf of the two men and three other persons. The three other persons fail to identify any complaints specific to them.
Jaquez Lewis included letters from former aides, including one anonymous letter and at least one letter that was allegedly fabricated. Former aide Anna McLean contacted Senate President James Coleman and the ethics committee after she heard one of the letters was supposedly written by her. McLean said she did not write the letter.
Jaquez Lewis reportedly said the letter was written based on conversations she had with McLean from years ago. The committee contacted the alleged authors of the other four letters to verify whether they had written the letters, but received no response. The committee told Jaquez Lewis earlier this week that she needed to provide “documentary proof” that those individuals wrote the letters she submitted with a deadline of February 17 at 2 p.m. On Tuesday, Jaquez Lewis announced her resignation.
