Fashion sense? Oh, I got it. After all, 98% of my wardrobe was proudly purchased at Costco. And the ladies dig a man who’s dripping in Kirkland-labeled couture. They sense the money, the power.

Another man who knows fashion is former state Rep. Ryan Armagost. On a private Signal chat, this Republican fashionista took a picture of Democratic state Rep. Yara Zokaie and sophomorically commented on her clothing choice. Other Republicans joined in.

Classy? Obviously not. But it makes a delightful case study of media bias, the power of the professional victim class and the hypocrisy of Colorado’s one-party ruling class

A picture is worth a thousand words; thus, they give awards for photojournalism. And at the center of this little storm is a photograph — a picture the media refused to show us. They won’t allow us to form our own opinions.

This photo and its accompanying written comments are the key pieces of evidence to the whole mini drama. The media knowingly and deliberately withheld it so we can be at the mercy of their interpretations.

Kyle Clark at 9News interpreted for us Armagost was a “creep,” and he took a picture of Rep. Yara Zokaie and “shared this photo” with other House Republicans.

When he said “shared this photo” the 9News TV screen showed her official photo from the state legislative website, implying that was the photo he shared. But it wasn’t.

At best that was some seriously sloppy reporting. At worst, fake news fitting their “mean conservatives” narrative. Insult a woman about how she looks in her chosen photo is just so … Republican. So … Trump.

Armagost did share a photo of her at the well of the House of Representatives wearing knee-high, spiked-heeled leather boots. Those party boots were offset by her bare thighs popping out just below her black sport coat.

Clark then interpreted Armagost’s colleagues “likened her to a stripper and a prostitute.” Maybe. The actual words in the text thread were, “That’s awful. I didn’t know it was dress like a stripper day,” and “Wellllll, we ARE on Colfax.”

I guess “on Colfax” only means “prostitute” to 9News.

I haven’t seen any mainstream outlets publish the photo in question. Very few even reprinted the text exchange. Content matters. And the media failed by hiding not some, but all the content.

Again, I’m not defending the boorish humor. It wasn’t professional. But maybe it also wasn’t professional to dress like you’re going on a hot date at the legislature.

The event reminded me of two other mini scandals. In 1994, Ohio Congressman Martin Hoke had a “hot mic” moment. Unaware the tape was rolling, he whispered to another congressman before a TV interview about the looks of the reporter, “She’s got big breasts.”

Yep. He shouldn’t have said it. But if it matters, she did have big breasts. Proof politicians can tell the truth.

TV stations hire hotties to tantalize us. Notice only the opinions of leggy bombshells seem worthy of broadcast. So, when the same media pounces on a guy for crudely taking their bait, does it have a whiff of entrapment?

When the United States Senate loosened its dress code, Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman infamously came to work in shorts and a sweatshirt. Many found it inappropriate.

Some might have found Zokaie’s cocktail attire inappropriate too, but the moralistic media protected our virgin eyes from it, presumably for our own good.

The legislature voted to denounce Armagost. They could not censure him — the legislature’s most severe form of reprimand — since he’d already resigned. But according to news reports, a censure was in the works. 

So, they denounced a guy who wasn’t even there. Our one-party rulers will have their pound of flesh to virtue-signal their victimhood. No “sticks and stones will never hurt me” types in this crowd of oppressed overachievers.

But odd, isn’t it, that these folks who are so dialed into sensing hurtful behavior can’t bring themselves to censure their own?

I don’t recall a censure vote by the legislature on Zokaie for comparing parental rights groups to hate groups like the KKK, or even when former Denver Rep. Elisabeth Epps heckled a Jewish lawmaker speaking about the Holocaust.

Sen. Faith Winter can show up to work sloppy drunk; former Rep. Matt Gray can drive drunk in a school zone; Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis and Rep. Regina English can abuse their staff. All did so without having to face a censure.

The truth of this hypocrisy should be made as bare as Rep. Zokaie’s thighs.

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts “The Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara” on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics.