DENVER – Senate Republicans Monday morning took just about everyone to task over inappropriate remarks in the House and Senate, beginning in their own chamber. The House wasn’t exempt from their criticisms, either, after a Democratic member of that chamber last Friday threatened to call for the expulsion of another member over a disagreement in a committee hearing.

It’s become a “theater of the absurd,” said Senate President Kevin Grantham of Cañon City.

It’s no longer safe for children to witness some of the proceedings, according to Senate President Pro tem Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling.

Sonnenberg’s grandchildren visited the Senate Monday but were ushered out when Senate Democrats took to the microphone for their daily call for the expulsion of Republican Sen. Randy Baumgardner of Hot Sulphur Springs.

An allegation that Baumgardner slapped the buttocks of a legislative aide was reportedly found credible by a third-party investigator. Baumgardner has denied the allegation and two other formal complaints filed in recent months, but he voluntarily resigned as chair of the Senate Transportation Committee last month.

Discussions about ending the controversy over the resolution take place on a daily basis, including over the past weekend, Grantham told reporters.

And that’s where things got heated.

It was remarks by Democratic Sen. Daniel Kagan of Cherry Hills Village on Friday, during the daily request, that drew outrage from Senate Republicans.

During a 14-minute speech Friday, Kagan used graphic terms to describe sexual acts that have no relationship to the known allegations made against Baumgardner or any other member of the General Assembly. Republican Sen. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs noted that school groups visit the Senate as do family members of lawmakers.

Grantham called Kagan’s trip to the microphone “hypocrisy” and his remarks “despicable.” People came to him after the remarks, visibly shaken and emotionally upset over what they heard, Grantham said.

“This is coming from an individual who is known to habitually frequent the women’s restroom,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, a Democrat from Denver, said in a statement Monday: “Last year – his first in the Senate – Sen. Kagan accidentally used the wrong bathroom near the Senate floor. These bathrooms are unmarked and do not say ‘men’ or ‘women’ on their doors, so it’s common for people new to the Senate to enter the wrong one by mistake.

“There is absolutely no equivalence to Sen. Baumgardner using his position of power to repeatedly, physically harass a legislative aide. This accusation is a shameful attempt by Republicans to distract from very real incidents of sexual harassment at the Capitol.”

Kagan responded that the harsh words directed at him were a political ploy to distract from  Baumgardner. He said he was embarrassed to have used the wrong restroom, but said it was an honest mistake. “It’s true I made a mistake by going into the wrong restroom,” Kagan told Colorado Politics. “It was an innocent mistake and an embarrassment to me. But to blow it into something it was not is beneath the dignity of the Senate.”

He said his comments were about what is covered in the law as sexual assault, noting that it was Grantham who asked for a criminal investigation into the cases at the statehouse. Kagan acknowledged that it was an uncomfortable moment.

“But it’s not half as uncomfortable as being a victim of sexual assault,” Kagan said. “Look, this is difficult, but we have to be adults about it.”

Senate leaders also addressed the recent spat in the House between Democratic Reps. Donald Valdez of La Jara and Jovan Melton of Aurora. Valdez said Friday he was considering a resolution seeking Melton’s expulsion over a disagreement in a committee hearing the previous Wednesday.

“It’s become a popular conversation,” said Senate Majority Leader Chris Holbert of Parker. “Expel! No! We don’t just have the ability to disagree, we have the responsibility to disagree and represent the diverse interests of voters who send us here.”

To jump from a heated argument to expulsion?

“No,” Holbert said. “We have to resolve our differences in more mature ways, more productive ways …. We cannot jump to expulsion over a disagreement on policy. Voters have to be reassured that this is not an outcome that will become common because of disagreement.”

“The cool thing is when we find ways to agree and get policy done,” said Holbert, adding that 62 percent of the bills introduced in 2017 made it all the way to the governor.