A Littleton state lawmaker sued the Colorado House’s workplace harassment committee on Thursday, hours after it unanimously recommended that an unnamed representative face several punishments for a “pattern” of harassment and retaliation.
Read more Kroenke Sports and Entertainment announces $135M Ball Arena renovation
The committee, whose work is largely confidential, did not identify the lawmaker when it issued the disciplinary recommendations. On Thursday night, Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Republican, filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court that said that the recommendations were made against her.
Her attorney wrote that she’d been informed in August that the committee determined Bradley violated the workplace harassment policy’s provisions, and the suit states the alleged violations were related to gender, sexual harassment, retaliation and confidentiality.
The committee said Thursday the lawmaker involved in the case should lose all but one of their committee assignments, write and publish a full apology, and face a censure vote from the full state House when it reconvenes next year. The six-member bipartisan committee had already determined that six complaints it received were substantiated and warranted a response, and its recommendations will next be sent to legislative leadership for consideration.
In their closing comments Thursday, all six members of the committee expressed alarm about the contents of the complaints. Several said that the behavior would not be tolerated at a private company.
“This was a pattern and practice — chronic, I would say,” said Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican and the committee’s vice chair. He called the allegations “pretty egregious”: “If this was the private sector, if this was not an elected person, they’d be fired. They’d be terminated for this behavior.”
In interviews Thursday afternoon, Soper and the committee’s chairwoman, Democratic Rep. Jennifer Bacon, both declined to identify the lawmaker at the heart of the investigation.
In her new lawsuit, Bradley asks a Denver judge to throw out both Thursday’s recommendations and August’s findings that she’d violated the workplace harassment policy.
She alleged that the complaints against her were “unfounded” and that the committee violated her due process rights and conducted its deliberations in secret. As it has in prior investigations, the committee discussed the allegations and recommendations in executive sessions that were closed to the public. It has not disclosed any details about the investigation.
Lisi Owen, Bradley’s attorney, declined to describe the allegations against the lawmaker but said she didn’t know what evidence had been presented to the committee. Owen alleged that the executive sessions were improperly used by the committee and that Bradley didn’t have a chance to defend herself or present her own evidence.
House Democratic leadership declined to comment through a spokeswoman. Republican leadership did not return a message seeking comment.
Read more The Pentagon is moving forward with mandatory testosterone testing for most male troops
Summaries of the committee’s work will be available to the public after they’ve been sent to House leaders — Speaker Julie McCluskie, Majority Leader Monica Duran and Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell — who will determine whether to proceed.
The committee also recommended that Bradley lose state funding for legislative aides and that she should receive harassment training. If the alleged behavior continues, the committee determined, Bradley should be warned that she could face a vote to expel her from the legislature.
The lawsuit — and, in Bradley’s view, the harassment investigation — is an escalation of a yearlong conflict in the House that has roiled the minority Republican caucus and repeatedly spilled into public view.
Last summer, Bradley — a two-term Republican and conservative firebrand — filed a harassment complaint against fellow GOP Rep. Ron Weinberg, accusing him of making inappropriate comments and stealing a master key for the state Capitol building, among other allegations.
Weinberg, who is not running for reelection, was later admonished and ordered to receive harassment training. But Bradley was upset that Weinberg did not face harsher punishment, and she launched a lengthy filibuster this spring that drew criticism from Caldwell, the top Republican in the House.
Her lawsuit repeatedly references her allegations against Weinberg.
In June, Caldwell publicly reprimanded Bradley for cursing at the House’s nonpartisan chief clerk, the top administrative official in the chamber, after Bradley’s aide was fired. Caldwell accused Bradley of “unhinged behavior,” and Bradley, who has frequently criticized other lawmakers on social media, castigated Caldwell online in response.
Bacon and Soper, the harassment committee’s chair and vice chair, said the summaries of their findings will be sent to legislative leadership as soon as next week.
The Colorado legislature rarely censures and expels members. The House last expelled a member in 2018 and last censured a lawmaker in 2008. The chamber moved to censure then-Republican Rep. Ryan Armagost last summer, prompting Armagost to move up a planned resignation.
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.
Read more Colorado’s state budget will face yet another $1 billion-plus shortfall next year, forecasts say
