December 14, 2023 11:56 AM UTC

House Democrats Clean Up "Acrimonious" Workplace with Committee Changes

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Everybody knows one. Every office has them.

They are the people who make a workplace into a toxic environment with their words and actions (and microwaving leftover fish in the break room). The actions of one or two individuals can poison the culture of an entire office and make it difficult for others to do their work effectively. The State Capitol is no more immune from toxic co-workers than any other office in Colorado.

That’s why House Speaker Julie McCluskie on Wednesday announced new committee assignments for the next legislative session, which begins on Jan. 10. The big news in that announcement was more about the names that did not appear in an expected place on the committee assignment list: Democratic Reps. Bob Marshall (Douglas County) and Elisabeth Epps (Denver).

As Jesse Paul and Sandra Fish report for The Colorado Sun:

“Serving on a member’s top choice of committee is a privilege — not a right,” McCluskie, D-Dillon, said in a written statement to The Colorado Sun. “I took this step to address frustrations that the Judiciary Committee needed a reset due to the level of acrimony in the personal relationships on the committee and to help deliver the progressive outcomes our caucus is looking for. My decisions on where to appoint members depend on their respect of their colleagues, ability to collaborate and adherence to decorum, which was clearly violated during our special session last month.”

McCluskie’s comment referred to how Epps interrupted the chamber’s proceedings on the final day of the special session on property tax and other financial relief as she called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Epps left the House floor and joined pro-Palestinian protesters in the chamber’s gallery before proceeding to shout during a speech delivered by Republican Rep. Ron Weinberg, who is Jewish, responding to Epps’ comments about the conflict. The outburst prompted a long recess before Weinberg continued his remarks…

…Epps also posted on social media that she had shouted “shame on you” to Judiciary Committee Chairman Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, in a parking garage on the night before the special session ended.

We wrote in November about the performative politics of Epps and a band of fellow protestors who attempted to disrupt Colorado’s special legislative session — which was called in an effort to reduce property tax burdens on Colorado families — in a pointless effort to get Colorado lawmakers to do…something about the Israel-Gaza conflict. Of course, Colorado lawmakers have NOTHING to do with American foreign policy and couldn’t change the direction of a conflict in the Middle East any more than they could demand that somebody move the moon.

This sort of non-strategic shouting is the same kind of nonsense employed by unserious politicians such as Congressperson Lauren Boebert — people who are more interested in trying to make a point than they are in crafting policies for their constituents. The end result is generally the same in either case: It serves only to create a toxic work environment (Google Boebert and Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and you’ll see what we mean). Like Boebert, Epps is primarily interested in getting attention as an elected official; in her first term as a lawmaker, Epps is already the subject of an HBO documentary about her, um, interesting ideas on policing.

Not long after the Colorado special session ended, freshman lawmaker Ruby Dickson, who is Jewish, abruptly resigned from the legislature, saying “the sensationalistic and vitriolic nature of the current political environment is not healthy for me or my family.” It wasn’t hard to read between the lines of Dickson’s statement.

But it wasn’t just the special session that caused McCluskie to remove Marshall and Epps from committee assignments.

Marshall and Epps were also sidelined for their joint effort to sue both Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature regarding certain communications between lawmakers that might violate the spirit of Colorado Open Meetings requirements. As we wrote in September regarding the lawsuit that included Epps but was largely driven by Marshall:

These concerns probably could have been worked out without a formal lawsuit and saved taxpayers from the $13,000 bill that covers the legal fees of Marshall’s attorneys, but perhaps it’s hard to be “open meetings guy” if people don’t know that you are complaining about open meetings.

Sure, you could file a lawsuit against your colleagues during your first few months in a new job. Or you could, you know, talk to them instead. Oddly enough, that lawsuit has even created some common ground between House Republicans and House Democrats:

If even House Minority Leader Mike Lynch thinks Democrats did the right thing, it’s pretty tough to argue otherwise.

Epps and Marshall were not removed from committee assignments altogether; Epps remains on the State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee and Marshall is still a member of the Finance Committee. But House Judiciary is a much more influential and sought-after committee posting.

This is an entirely justifiable move for House Speaker McCluskie, whose job includes being a responsible manager for her 46-member Democratic caucus. Perhaps this decision will also help Marshall and Epps understand that their real allegiance should be to their constituents, and not their pursuit of pet causes and individual attention.