'He Unbuttoned My Shirt': New Complaint Against Lawmaker Lebsock

DENVER, CO -- A legislative aide filed a formal sexual harassment complaint Tuesday against embattled Colorado lawmaker State Rep. Steve Lebsock. Legislative aide Cassie Tanner alleged Lebsock unbuttoned her blouse at a fundraiser and made lewd comments about her breasts and dress, the Denver Post reported Wednesday.

Lebsock was the first in a cascade of male Colorado lawmakers to be accused of sexual harassment in November, 2017, when KUNC published the complaints of nine women --staffers, fellow legislators and legislative aides. Fellow State Rep. Faith Winter filed an official complaint saying Lebsock had grabbed her and asked her to come home with himafter a Denver Democrat event at a bar. Since then, three other lawmakers have been accused: Democrat State Rep. Paul Rosenthaland Sens. Randy Baumgardner and Jack Tate.

Tanner had previously complained about Lebsock's alleged inappropriate behavior to the Post, but she said she filed a formal complaint with the House Majority Leader KC Becker until Tuesday, after Lebsock took to social media to try to discredit her claims.

“I feel like I have to defend myself because he is attacking me,” she told the Post Wednesday. “I’m tired of being called a liar.”

"I was standing near arcade games when Rep. Lebsock came over to greet me," Tanner wrote in her statement. "We talked for a few minutes and then he reached over, popped open the top button of my shirt and said, 'That's better.' I was taken aback and slapped his hand away. He laughed and I quickly walked away. I was shocked and embarrassed and never told anyone what happened until I saw the story about him harassing Faith Winter that emerged last November... In another instance at an event he made lewd remarks about my breasts and the dress I was wearing," she wrote. She alleged Lebsock was "visibly drunk."

Lebsock claimed he was the victim of a "coordinated smear campaign" in a YouTube video released Jan. 10. He also said he "took [a] polygraph and passed it that shows that Faith Winter is lying." He also depicted Winter as a scorned woman, alleging Winter had invited him to "sit in a hot tub with her, and I rejected her. She was a married person at the time and so was I."

Lebsock, a fourth-generation Colorado native and former U.S. Marine, was elected in 2012 and represents Northeast Denver and suburbs of Northglenn, Thornton, Federal Heights and parts of unincorporated Adams Co. He announced he was running for state Treasurer in March, but donations to his campaign dried up after the sexual harassment allegations. He and his wife divorced in 2015.

Read previous coverage on Patch:

Sexual Harassment Claims Against Colo. Democratic Lawmaker

Colorado Lawmaker Accused of Harassment: I Am Sorry

Second Colorado Democrat Lawmaker Accused Of Sexual ...

Image via Colorado State Legislature