#Metoo rules, but change elusive
Moments after the final gavel, the bar near the Capitol where lawmakers, lobbyists and staffers gather each year to celebrate the legislative session sat mostly empty.
This year, the Colorado Capitol didn’t feel like a party.
The lawmakers managed to strike bipartisan deals on major issues — securing the state’s pension system, pumping millions into roads and boosting rural development — but the 120-day term did little to address a culture that some believe tolerates sexual harassment.
“It was miserable — I felt like this place was haunted by complaints and no one was listening,” said Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-aurora.
The #Metoo discussion dominated the 2018 session, consuming as much attention and energy as any single policy issue. But many of the men and women who came forward to put it at the forefront left unsatisfied and now wonder where the movement at the Capitol goes from here.
“When I look back at it, I feel unsupported,” Fields continued. “I feel a lack of protection and a
lack of understanding.”
Rep. Faith Winter’s allegations against a male colleague in November started the conversation, a cascade effect that led to the expulsion of a Colorado lawmaker for the first time in more than a century.
The Westminster Democrat said the attention to the issue made a difference this session. “The culture has changed. I think there is so much awareness now,” she said. “I think a lot of people didn’t even know this was happening. And now it’s very clear it is.”
But she’s the first to acknowledge more is needed.
“We took steps forward in accountability, but not enough,” she added. “It’s still confusing if you are thinking about filing a complaint … and if it’s going to be worth it and there’s going to be accountability at the end.”
In the months before the next session begins, a special legislative committee will look at how to rewrite the workplace harassment policy and overhaul the complaint reporting process.
But it’s not clear whether lawmakers can answer the deeper question about how to improve the culture in a building built on power dynamics, high stakes and partisan pressure.
To keep the #Metoo effort alive at the Capitol, Winter and other women say a political shift is needed at the ballot this November.
“This is just another reason that shows why it’s important to have women running for office and in positions of power,” Winter said. “So I think it’s another motivation for women to get involved.”
The timeline of a scandal
The lingering frustration is embedded in how the scandal played out this session.
All told, five lawmakers — two Democrats in the House and three Republicans in the Senate — faced allegations of sexual harassment. Also, a Senate Democrat faced a complaint for using the women’s bathroom.
Winter’s complaint against Rep. Steve Lebsock stemmed from the 2016 end-of-session party at Stoney’s Bar and Grill near the Capitol, where she said he discussed sexual acts and tried to grab her by the elbow to get her to leave with him. Lebsock denied the allegations.
An independent investigation into the complaint later led to 10 credible accusations of harassment by five women against Lebsock — prompting House Democratic leadership to call for his ouster.
The expulsion resolution passed March 2 by a 52-9 vote after a debate filled with dramatic revelations. Two Democratic lawmakers admitted that they were wearing bulletproof vests for protection. And Lebsock switched his affiliation from Democrat to Republican moments before the vote, giving his new party the power to replace him.
Down the hall in the Senate, Democrats pushed repeatedly for the resignation, and later the expulsion, of Sen. Randy Baumgardner, R-hot Sulphur Springs, after validated allegations of sexual harassment emerged.
Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-cañon City, rebuffed the calls and discredited the investigation into Baumgardner’s actions. Weeks later, on April 2, when the Democratic resolution for expulsion came to the floor, the Republican majority blocked the effort, with one lawmaker calling it “a public lynching.”
Meanwhile, an outside investigation of legislative workplace culture con- firmed prior reports about a problematic atmosphere, where sexual harassment and misconduct were widespread and rarely reported.
Even if most felt comfortable at the Capitol, about one-third in the survey acknowledged seeing or experiencing harassment, with half saying they observed sexist or disrespectful behavior.
Days later, Democratic Rep. Paul Rosenthal, Ddenver, lost his re-election bid in a Democratic caucus vote in which some people cited the allegations of sexual harassment against him, which he denied.
Legislative leaders face criticism for handling of the issue
The disparities in how the two chambers handled the sexual harassment complaints and delivered punishments drew outcries from the accusers, women’s rights organizations and other advocates.
“There are conflicting messages happening right now,” said Gena Ozols, the political director for NARAL Pro Choice Colorado, a women’s reproductive rights group. “The House is saying, ‘We believe you, come forward.’ The Senate is saying, ‘We don’t, keep your mouth shut.’ ”
Much of the criticism of the Senate was directed at Grantham — and the credible findings of new allegations against Baumgardner late in the session only heightened the pressure for him to act before adjournment.
Baumgardner voluntarily stepped down as transportation committee chairman after credible allegations earlier in the session, and the new complaints prompted Grantham to remove him from four other committees.
On the final day of the session, a Democratic lawmaker and two advocacy groups, including NARAL, delivered 1,000 petitions to Grantham demanding tougher action on the complaints.
In an interview, Grantham dismissed the criticism. “People are going to criticize no matter what I decided to do on that,” he said.
He declined to grade how he handled the complaints against Baumgardner and Sens. Jack Tate and Larry Crowder this session, saying he’s heard positive and negative feedback.
When he talks about the issue of sexual harassment, he casts it as a larger, societal problem, rather than an issue particular to the legislature. The discussion this session, he said, brought “an awareness to a situation that is nationwide, and honestly, that is a real problem, as we’ve seen evidenced across the country.”
The Senate leader joined with the House speaker to demand a review of the legislature’s policies weeks before the session began.
And the outside report identified more than two dozen recommendations for lawmakers. The legislature’s new human resources director — hired in response to the controversies — also proposed a new workplace harassment policy. But the leaders in both chambers delayed action.
“I’m looking forward to having a new and better policy in place next session,” said Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik, R-thornton. “There’s room from improvement.”
Brie Franklin, the executive director at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said both parties need to do a better job on the issue in the months ahead.
“Since #Metoo,” she said, “there has been pretty much an unwillingness to address sexual misconduct in any form by our elected officials — whether dealing with credible accusations of sexual harassment in their own midst or on particular bills that have addressed aspects of sexual violence.”