A “controversy committee” of the Colorado Democratic Party has recommended banning Sheena Anne Kadi from party activities statewide, concluding that she engaged in “belligerent harassment” toward Rep. Leslie Herod of Denver.

The committee met last Wednesday and issued their recommendations Saturday.

Party Chair Shad Murib told Colorado Politics he has accepted the recommendations and will implement them immediately.

The controversy committee recommended Kadi be excluded from all party activities, including participation in conversations and assemblies, suspend her access to the state party voter file, ban her from holding any elected party position, deny her access to all party resources, suspend any and all party credentials and ban her from commenting in any official role on party business.

The ban is in effect through April 30, 2027.

The final recommendation is that she be removed from her elected party position by the State Central Committee. Murib said he has not yet set a date for that vote, but indicated it would be after the party’s assembly and convention next Saturday.

“I appreciate the Colorado Democratic Party taking clear and decisive action in this matter. Sheena Kadi does not reflect the values of our party and her immediate removal from her party role is appropriate,” Herod said. 

Kadi told Colorado Politics she was kept out of the Zoom meeting Wednesday, despite trying multiple times to sign into the meeting.

“I’m disappointed to see Shad weld [sic] his power in such an undemocratic way,” she said. 

She said she tried for 45 minutes to join the Zoom meeting with different emails and on different devices, and tried to email the committee, without success.

The party told Colorado Politics that Kadi was able to access Zoom’s waiting room and she was admitted three times – but she “quickly exited the meeting each time.” Someone also gave her the dial-in number and other information to get in, but that “there was no indication that she tried,” the party said, adding officers delayed the meeting for 15 minutes to accommodate Kadi.    

The controversy committee said Kadi misrepresented her role and duties as the party’s Vice-Chair of Public Relations and Marketing, including unauthorized use of her title and representing herself as a spokesperson for the Colorado Democratic Party.

Further, the committee said she engaged in harassment, such as “inappropriate and unsolicited physical, verbal and written contact,” issuing “violent threats,” menacing and abusive language toward other people, and using “sexist, racist and otherwise discriminatory language.”

The committee also found she engaged in “belligerent harassment” of Herod that resulted in a no-contact order that limits Kadi’s ability to serve in her role as an officer of the state party.

Herod was granted a restraining order against Kadi in February, following a year of accusations on social media. Kadi had accused Herod of sexual assault, including on an X account that she also used for communications on behalf of the state treasurer, where she serves as public information officer.

She is currently on administrative leave.

In a Feb. 12 ruling, Denver County Court Judge Clarissa Gonzales found Kadi’s accusations not credible and granted Herod a year-long protective order. The order requires Kadi to keep away from Herod, setting a 100-yard requirement, although with some wiggle room, given that both women work at the state Capitol and could attend the same party functions.

The order also requires Kadi to stop posting about Herod on social media, although it does not require Kadi to remove her previous postings.

“She is unable to post about me or be in my space,” Herod told Colorado Politics last month, adding, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Ms. Kadi’s testimony in this case is found to be incredible by this Court, not only because the nature of her testimony just simply defies common sense in so many instances, but also because the other exhibits, directly the reliable evidence proves this to be simply not consistent,” Gonzales said.

In addition to finding the allegation of sexual assault not credible, Gonzales said all other “so-called incidents of violence or threats are wholly unsubstantiated.”

In the wake of the news about the ruling, four party officials started a petition to remove Kadi from her elected position, which led to Wednesday’s meeting.

CU Regent Wanda James was among the party officers who filed the petition. She told Colorado Politics “what is important in removing Kadi from her responsibilities and not allow her to participate in the party any longer is that we can’t have people blatantly lying with such a horrific crime against our elected officials. Being an elected official is so difficult, not highly paid or with  much glory, and [officials] should not be subjected to this kind of criminal behavior.”