Report: Bathroom trips “likely”
Probe finds male state senator probably used women’s restroom three times in 2017
A workplace harassment investigation found it “more likely than not” that Sen. Daniel Kagan, DCherry Hills Village, used a private, womenonly restroom at the state Capitol three times during the 2017 legislative session.
The 21page report was finished in June, but its details and determinations remained a secret until Thursday, when Kagan’s accuser, Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik, RThornton, released it to CBS4.
“My hope has been that Senator Kagan would eventually admit that this was not a onetime incident, but he’s unwilling to do so, even in light of what’s in this report,” Martinez Humenik said in a statement. “After having my honesty and the honesty of other witnesses questioned, I’m sharing this report in an effort to bring this matter to closure and put facts on the table.”
The facts, according to the investigator’s conclusions in the report, were that Kagan first used a bathroom on the second floor meant for female senators in January 2017.
“Both Witness 4 and Witness 6 stated that because Senator Kagan was new to the Senate in January 2017, they perceived that he mistakenly used the restroom in question due to the lack of gendersignage at the time,” according to the report.
The second incident happened in March 2017. Martinez Humenik told the investigator from Employer’s Council, a private human resources firm, that she looked down while using the restroom and saw “a pair of men’s brown dress shoes and cuffed pants.”
She waited at the sinks after washing her hands to see who it was and saw Kagan emerge from the stall.
“I asked him, ‘What are you doing in here?’ He mumbled something about not feeling well. I told him that he couldn’t be in the women’s restroom,” Martinez Humenik said.
The third incident the investigator found credible came from a woman who said she was working late at the Capitol one night when Kagan came “stumbling” into the women’s restroom as she was leaving.
“He just said, ‘Oh sorry,’ and walked past me to use the women’s restroom,” said the woman, whom the report identifies as Witness 5. “He appeared intoxicated at that time.”
Kagan did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he told The Denver Post in March, when the allegations became public, that it was an innocent mistake he made once.
That’s also what he told the investigator.
“It is not accurate that a female
has seen me entering or exiting the women’s restroom more than once. That did not happen,” Kagan said. “I cannot explain why this person would believe that or have that impression.”
Kagan is not the only state lawmaker to face workplace harassment allegations. Outside investigators found allegations against four other lawmakers to be credible during the 2018 session. Rep. Steve Lebsock, DThornton, was expelled by his colleagues in the House while senators fell short of the 24 votes needed to expel Sen. Randy Baumgardner, RHot Sulphur Springs, for sexual harassment.
Martinez Humenik said in her statement that she doesn’t want Kagan to resign or be expelled or even give up his committee assignments.
“All that is being asked for is a public apology for the benefit of all involved and his word not to repeat this behavior in the future,” Martinez Humenik said. “He has stated that he is unwilling to do that, even in light of the facts in this report, so there was no other choice than to make these facts public and hold him accountable for his actions.”