Two days before lawmakers are set to reconvene in Denver, Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie issued a formal letter of reprimand Monday to Rep. Elisabeth Epps, citing her “significantly disruptive … disrespectful behaviors” during the special session in November.
The reprimand comes seven weeks after Epps, a Denver Democrat, unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a pro-Palestine amendment to an unrelated bill on a summer meal program that was taken up during the session on property tax relief and other aid. She then interrupted House proceedings by sitting with protesters in the House gallery and shouting down at her colleagues below.
“It is both the number and severity of your transgressions that prompt me to take action,” McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, wrote to Epps.
She included a warning about potential future sanctions: “A repeat of behaviors similar to those observed over the Extraordinary Session or other behaviors that cause delays of legislative proceedings or otherwise disrupt the proceedings may result in further disciplinary action by members of the House.”
Epps did not respond to a message seeking comment. In the weeks since the special session, she has criticized several colleagues on social media, including McCluskie. Last month, McCluskie removed Epps from the House Judiciary Committee.
In her letter, sent to Epps on Monday afternoon, McCluskie accuses the Denver Democrat of breaking six House rules, including those related to name-calling; disrupting the House’s work; and disrespecting other legislators.
Other disciplinary actions available in the House include a formal censure vote or a vote to expel a representative. Both are significant steps rarely taken in the Capitol. In response to McCluskie’s letter, House Minority Leader Mike Lynch called for Epps to be censured.
Epps has repeatedly criticized McCluskie publicly in the last several months, most notably during an end-of-session meeting of House Democrats in May.
Two months later, in July, Epps and a fellow House Democrat sued the speaker, her Republican counterpart and the broader House for allegedly violating Colorado’s open-meeting law during legislative deliberations. That lawsuit was later settled, altering how legislators have communicated in recent months.
The reprimand is the second such letter that McCluskie has issued. In August, she chastised Rep. Scott Bottoms, a Colorado Springs Republican, for “deeply offensive” and “unacceptable” remarks he made about Democratic lawmakers, including the legislature’s first and only transgender lawmaker, during a spring townhall.
In that letter, McCluskie asked Rep. Mike Lynch, the top Republican in the House, to direct Bottoms to speak with the legislature’s human resource director.
Legislative officials said they didn’t know the last time a House speaker reprimanded a legislator prior to McCluskie’s letter about Bottoms.
The actions that drew McCluskie’s reprimand of Epps played out in November, as lawmakers met for four days to debate property tax measures. On Nov. 19, Epps attempted to amend a summer meal bill to bar the purchase of “food products that originate in occupied territories” because of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which began in response to a terror attack on Israel by Hamas.
That attempt was unsuccessful, and Epps tried to introduce a similar amendment the next day. The amendment and her comments supporting it drew an outcry from Republicans, and Rep. Ron Weinberg, a Jewish Republican, spoke from the floor in response to Epps’ comments about Israel and Palestine.
She moved to the balcony overlooking the House floor, where she sat with pro-Palestine protesters and shouted down to her colleagues below.
Epps called down from the balcony that Weinberg was “out of order” — an apparent reference to the fact that he wasn’t speaking to the bill at hand — and she argued with fellow Democrats who sought to defuse the situation. After interruptions and breaks, Weinberg finished his speech and she left the gallery.
Epps has said her actions were sparked in part by Weinberg directing a curse word at her as she spoke from the House floor. Weinberg denied that accusation to The Denver Post on Monday.
In December, in the wake of the lawsuit and the special session disruptions, McCluskie announced that she was removing Epps from the House Judiciary Committee, one of the more powerful bodies in the chamber and one that intersects with Epps’ work on bail and criminal justice reform. McCluskie also removed Rep. Bob Marshall, who filed the open-meetings lawsuit with Epps, from the committee.
Epps is up for reelection in November but first faces a Democratic primary in June. One of her opponents, Sean Camacho, has already received several endorsements from current and former Democratic officials, including Senate President Steve Fenberg and Attorney General Phil Weiser.
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