Senate President James Coleman announced on Tuesday that the ethics complaint against Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont, is moving to a committee.

Jaquez Lewis has been accused of mistreating her aides.

According to the Colorado Sun, a workplace misconduct complaint filed on Nov. 15 with the Office of Legislative Workplace Relations alleged she paid an aide to do landscaping work and tend bar, and that she paid him with a campaign check. She did not report those expenditures in her campaign finance reports. She also paid the aide to knock on doors for an Adams County commissioner candidate in the June primary who faced off against the wife of one of Jaquez Lewis’ legislative rivals, according to reports.  

“Out of respect to those employees’ privacy, I do not wish to comment in detail on HR matters,” Jaquez Lewis told the Sun. “I will note that all campaign work by my staff this cycle was the choice of those individuals and was fully compensated. That compensation is reflected in checks that they were paid. I regret that there was an oversight in filing these payments in TRACER. I am amending the reports to reflect these payments.”

Jaquez Lewis’ campaign amended her Aug. 1 campaign finance reports to reflect two payments: $275 to Luis Echeverry on June 29 and $175 on July 9. Both are listed as payments for “consultant and professional services.”

The Political Workers Guild filed the complaint against Jaquez Lewis on behalf of Echeverry, Lee Davis, Luke Doescher, Lacey McGinty, and Molly Stawinoga, as identified in the formal announcement of the committee in the Senate Tuesday.

In its letter to the Senate, the Guild demanded Jaquez Lewis resign, but if she didn’t, a formal ethics complaint be lodged.

The duties that Jaquez Lewis had been asking her aides to conduct “shows a lack of respect and decency,” the group wrote. “It is contrary to the values of PWG, and we hope the values of the Senate Democrats, to make aides feel pressured to do tasks out of fear of retaliation.”

“Jaquez Lewis has consistently shown that she does not have the ability to manage an office, sit in a leadership role as chair, and show basic respect and decency to staff and her colleagues,” the group added. “Allowing Jaquez Lewis to stay in the Democratic Caucus is a reflection of the Caucus and their values.”

Jaquez Lewis was denied committee assignments for the 2025 legislative session and barred from using Senate funds to pay for legislative aides. However, she can still use campaign money for that purpose, and as of Dec. 10, according to TRACER, the Secretary of State’s campaign finance database, she had more than $19,000 left in her campaign account.

The letter to the Senate from Coleman said leadership had concluded they could not dismiss the complaint because “it was not meritorious” and would move forward with appointing the committee. It will be chaired by Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, with Sens. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, and Sens. Cleave Simpson, R-Alamosa, and John Carson, R-Highlands Ranch. Simpson will serve as the committee’s vice-chair.

Jaquez Lewis has 10 days to submit a written answer to the committee.

Gonzales addressed the Senate after the committee announcement was made.

She began by noting the inauguration in Washington, D.C. the day before. Some gathered to acknowledge the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., she said. Others may have watched the inauguration, and questioned “what the shift in our national politics may mean for us at home.”

“I want to acknowledge the gravity and importance the work of the ethics committee will engage in,” she said.

Gonzales saluted Coleman for taking ethics matters seriously. But she also reminded her colleagues about a letter sent to the Senate last September from outgoing Senate President Steve Fenberg, which said that in a time when institutions are threatened and that confidence in legislators is being questioned, “we all have an opportunity to recommit ourselves to be better.”

She asked that this serve as a reminder about upholding the public trust at all times. “That’s our work,” Gonzales said. 

She also announced she would send a letter to the 30 Senate members not on the ethics committee, asking them to refrain from engaging with the committee as it moves forward with the complaint. “Please allow the committee the time in order to engage in this important work, so we can conduct a fair and impartial hearing,” she asked. 

Finally, “let us all recommit to acting in a manner that is befitting of the glory of this chamber,” Gonzales said.

No date has been set for the committee’s first meeting.