February 15, 2018 03:22 PM UTC

Denver Post: Time for Baumgardner to Resign

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• by: Colorado Pols

Senate Republicans are really, really, really not dealing well with allegations of sexual harassment against their own members. Today, the editorial board of the Denver Post made a very public call for change in arguing that State Sen. Randy Baumgardner should resign from office. More importantly, perhaps, the Post hangs plenty of blame on Senate GOP leadership:

We are disappointed that Republican Senate leaders — Senate President Kevin Grantham and Majority Leader Chris Holbert — have not taken action against Baumgardner by removing all but one of his committee assignments to at least send a clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated.

Instead, Grantham and Holbert ordered Baumgardner to take sensitivity training but then defended their colleague, saying the investigation was full of “inaccuracies, bias, conflicts of interest and inconsistencies.” They offered no specifics, which is unhelpful…

…Sexual harassment has been tolerated for far too long in the Colorado General Assembly and we are disappointed that Republicans in the Senate are choosing to enable those bad actors who would abuse their power at the expense of a professional and civil workplace environment. Whether intentional or not, Grantham and Holbert have also sent a clear message to any potential victims about how their accusations will be treated if they find the courage to speak up.

Amen to that.