March 21, 2018 11:30 AM UTC

Tate's Harassment Victim Sick of Senate GOP Stonewall

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• by: Colorado Pols

KUNC’s Bente Birkeland once again breaks news that casts Senate Republicans in an unfavorable light as the foot-dragging reluctance by Senate President Kevin Grantham to take action against Senators found by independent investigations to have committed harassment becomes the story–despite desperate attempts to muddy the waters:

It has been nearly two months since an independent investigator with the Employer’s Council concluded and found the accuser to be credible in allegations of sexual harassment against Sen. Jack Tate. Weeks later, there have been no consequences as a result and the accuser said she wants to know why. So she says she now wants to make the investigator’s report public, which is allowed under the General Assembly’s workplace harassment policy, in hopes it will spur action.

Senate President Kevin Grantham is charged with determining consequences for Tate, R-Centennial. When asked about it in early March Grantham, also a Republican, said he didn’t feel obligated to rush to a conclusion when dealing with something this serious.

“If we’re going to take action on these we have to make sure we’re crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s,” Grantham said. “If I cross t’s and dot i’s to a fault, I’ll take that. But I want to make sure that we do things right.”

Two months since the investigation into Sen. Jack Tate’s conduct was completed with a finding that the alleged harassment occurred based on the preponderance of the evidence. Two months that Grantham has known the allegations were credible, and the victim has known that her voice has been heard–yet nothing has been done.

So the victim authorized the release of the investigative report in its redacted entirety:

The investigator said she found the accuser credible generally because of the specific details she gave that made the allegations seem plausible, and because she didn’t appear to have a reason to make up the allegations. The report said the accuser gave Tate the benefit of the doubt, “that his actions were based on not understanding personal space. This leniency… bolsters her credibility.”

The investigator questioned Tate’s credibility because she said he attempted to sway the investigation with outside information, because his answers appeared rehearsed with his attorney by his side and because of Tate’s general demeanor. [Pols emphasis]

It’s very easy to see from the full contents of the investigative report documenting the allegations against Sen. Tate why Senate Republicans attempted to distract the press and public with their ill-conceived attack on Sen. Daniel Kagan. It didn’t work, and appears to be backfiring–but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand why they tried.

It’s because this is a PR disaster of the highest order. It indicts the entire GOP Senate leadership, which has been sitting on the results of this investigation for almost two months while women have no choice but come to work at the Capitol with Tate and other lawmakers credibly accused of harassment. And after the House took bipartisan action to expel Rep. Steve Lebsock, the Senate’s failure to take any meaningful action to deal with their own sexual harassment problem has created an unacceptable double standard.

If the Republican leadership of the Colorado Senate won’t fix this, it falls to the voters in every single Colorado Senate district to ensure Republicans no longer hold the majority in that chamber in 2019. All we can say is this: Republican Senate leadership is giving Democrats everything they need to accomplish that goal and then some.