The Colorado House ethics committee voted Monday to pause the ethics complaint against Rep. Mandy Lindsay while she seeks legal counsel.

The hearing was scheduled to begin with two days of testimony, during which Lindsay could present evidence and call witnesses and other witnesses — including Rep. Junie Joseph, D‑Boulder — were expected to testify.

The committee last week issued a subpoena for Joseph, who, along with Lindsay, co-chairs the House Democratic caucus and is responsible for managing caucus funds.

Lindsay’s attorney will be paid by taxpayers, as allowed under the legislature’s rules and with the Committee on Legal Services’ affirmative approval, according to the Office of Legislative Legal Services.

The committee did not set a date for the hearing, but discussed the potential for late summer or early fall.

Lindsay has been accused of misusing caucus money in a complaint filed last year by Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch.

The caucus chair is responsible for managing the group’s fund, including collecting member dues, creating and overseeing the budget and disbursing and accounting for all expenditures.

Lindsay had access to the fund’s bank accounts and holds signature authority over them, according to the complaint.

Each caucus member is supposed to pay $2,500 in dues for every two-year term — 46 members in 2023-24 and 43 members in 2025-26. According to the complaint, those dues should have generated more than $200,000.

Marshall alleged that Lindsay mismanaged and misappropriated funds for her own personal use in an unethical and potentially criminal manner.

His complaint alleged that, on March 12, 2025, a “self-written check” to Lindsay for $2,500 was posted to the caucus fund records. Marshall’s complaint alleged that this could constitute money laundering, since funds from a campaign account cannot be deposited into a personal account.

The complaint said Lindsay wrote the check to herself and deposited it in her personal bank account, noting on the subject line that the check was for “dues return.”

The complaint said Lindsay never paid caucus dues in 2025-26, and her last payment was on Nov. 29, 2022. That payment came from her campaign account, Marshall claimed.

The complaint also alleged that, from Nov. 18 to Nov. 21, 2024, six debit card purchases totaling $6,358.68 were made at the Golden Courtyard Marriott by the House Democrats’ caucus fund.

Those payments were for a retreat.

On Dec. 4, a self-written check to Lindsay for the same amount was deposited in her personal bank account. The subject line said “retreat reimbursement,” according to the complaint.

When confronted, Lindsay claimed the amount was owed to her for dozens of caucus expenses she had personally paid, despite the information on the check’s subject line.

She was asked to provide receipts for those expenses. She, instead, provided sticky notes with the expenses she claimed she incurred on behalf of the caucus, according to the complaint. Joseph then called for an audit.

Lindsay previously told Colorado Politics, “I respect the ethics committee, trust in the work they will do and I look forward to the process.”

In a response filed with the committee, Lindsay explained each allegation.

As for her own caucus dues, Lindsay said she paid them in 2025-26 with a personal check. However, she later decided to use campaign funds for those expenses and wrote herself a check to reimburse her personal account.

She later learned the original check had never been cashed. “When I learned of this mistake, I immediately wrote a check back to the caucus … This was absolutely not money laundering; it was an oversight, combined with a lack of access to the online banking platform to reconcile records,” she wrote.

Regarding the retreat check, Lindsay explained that several weeks after the retreat, she received an email from the hotel stating they would charge the balance owed to the card on file, which was Lindsay’s personal card.

Lindsay said she panicked and paid the $6,358.68 balance but later learned the caucus card had paid it after all.

Lindsay said she kept the check because she had spent thousands of her own dollars on caucus expenses.

Joseph “had some understandable questions” about that, and they met regarding it on April 4, 2025. However, after that meeting, Joseph requested another meeting with the Speaker and the Majority Leader, which took place on April 14. It was that meeting when the state Democratic party was asked to step in to do an audit.

“These two meetings are the only time that my co-chair and I have ever sat down to discuss caucus finances, since a serious strain in our relationship developed, following an altercation that occurred at our caucus retreat in November of 2024,” Lindsay wrote.

The Post-it notes, Lindsay explained, were intended only as a visual aid and not in place of receipts, which she said she furnished a week later.

Lindsay admitted to “accidentally” using the caucus card to pay for travel expenses for herself and her daughter in March 2025, but said she reimbursed the account immediately. She attributed the error to the caucus card and her personal debit card having similar account numbers. According to her explanation, both had two threes in the account numbers.

Lindsay also noted that Marshall never once spoke to her about his concerns.

“He acknowledged that he had not ever taken the time to look through all of the information available, and had also chosen not to speak to me beforehand as he worried it could be considered blackmail,” Lindsay wrote. “I told him it was seriously irresponsible of him to make such claims without digging into all the evidence, and that I had nothing to hide.”