Democratic Rep. Steve Lebsock of Thornton announced during an appearance Friday night on the CPT-12 program “Devil’s Advocate” that he intends to file a defamation lawsuit against fellow Democratic Rep. Faith Winter of Westminster.

Lebsock spoke of the sexual harassment allegations made against him with “Devil’s Advocate” host Jon Caldara. Three women – Winter, former lobbyist Holly Tarry and, most recently, former legislative aide Cassie Tanner – have filed formal sexual harassment complaints against Lebsock.

Last November, KUNC’s Bente Birkeland broke the news that nine people, all lawmakers, lobbyists or aides had said Lebsock harassed, intimidated or made unwanted sexual advances toward them. Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran of Denver immediately called on Lebsock to resign, as did Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The accusation from Winter involved an after-session party at Stoney’s bar on the last day of the 2016 session. Winter claimed Lebsock tried to persuade Winter to leave with him for sexual activity. According to the KUNC report, “Winter also said Lebsock later left her a voicemail and said he was sorry. As part of an informal mediation process with party leaders and legal staff he said that he would stop drinking and get therapy.”

Lebsock continued to maintain he has never sexually harassed any woman at the state Capitol and that he had passed a polygraph regarding Winter’s allegations. However, according to the American Psychological Association, there is little evidence that polygraphs can tell the difference between a truth and a lie. Such tests are also inadmissible in a court of law.

Winter told Colorado Politics Friday night, “Defamation is to protect people when people lie about them. I’ve told the truth, I continue to tell the truth.”

The night at Stoney’s, Winter said Lebsock fell on her and caught himself, and there was physical contact.

“I was angry and believed he had purposely made physical contact. I have reviewed this  incident in my head thousands of times. I gave him the benefit of the doubt that the physical contact wasn’t actual sexual assault. When I originally went to the press, I only talked about what he said to me. However, I put in my complaint factual details of that night. He is the only one who went to the press and publicly revealed that physical contact was anything more than a drunken mistake.”

The Employers Council, formerly Mountain States Employers Council, is conducting an investigation into the complaints; results from that investigation are likely before the end of the month.

After the session began last week, Lebsock said he would no longer caucus with the Democrats but he was clear with  Caldara that he will continue to be a Democrat. A fellow lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Matt Gray of Broomfield, has said he plans to introduce a resolution to expel Lebsock but is waiting for the investigation to conclude before introducing that measure.