This story was produced by the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese now disputes Democratic assertions that she covered up for former Republican Rep. Ryan Armagost after he took a picture of a Democratic colleague last session without that lawmaker’s knowledge during floor proceedings.
The image of Democratic Rep. Yara Zokaie was later circulated online by an anonymous conservative source and was at the center of a social media harassment campaign.
Democrats announced on Thursday that they would move to censure Armagost for taking the original photograph. He was already planning to leave the legislature in September to move to Arizona for a job, but ended up stepping down abruptly on the eve of the planned censure resolution vote. He has declined to comment on why he took the picture.
Armagost shared the picture of Zokaie internally among Republican House members before an unknown person posted it to social media. However, Democrats say it took them weeks to determine who had snapped the photo.
In an earlier interview with CPR News, Democratic Majority Leader Monica Duran said that after she became aware of the photo on social media, she talked with Pugliese, with whom she says she has a close working relationship, and asked for her help in figuring out who took the picture.
“And she said, ‘Absolutely.’” Duran recalled. “She said, ‘That's not right. And I will certainly have conversations with my caucus and see what I can find out for you.’”
Pugliese belongs to the caucus-wide group chat where Armagost originally shared the photo. Duran said Pugliese did not tell her about it or who took the photo; she also did not remove Armagost from his committees or take any other public-facing disciplinary action. Because of that, some House Democrats have wanted House leadership to take action against Pugliese as well as Armagost.
When CPR News originally reported on the Signal chat, Pugliese did not respond to questions about Duran’s claim that she was misled. However, in a statement Thursday night, Pugliese rejected Duran’s description of events.
“Back in April, I informed the Majority Leader about who took the photo and told her I would address the matter with my caucus, which I did, making it clear that the behavior was unacceptable.”
The statement continues: “Unfortunately, it was House Democrat leadership that failed to inform Representative Zokaie. While I had hoped to preserve a bipartisan relationship with the Majority Leader, I cannot remain silent while my integrity is called into question. I have been a steadfast advocate for protecting women throughout my career, and I will not allow my character to be impugned for the sake of political games. My focus remains on working for Colorado women and families.”
In an escalating war of words, Duran called Pugliese’s statement an extreme mischaracterization of their conversation.
“Had the Minority Leader told us it was Rep. Armagost in April, we would not have needed to pursue video footage to find out who took the photo, and if she had taken action to address this incident, then we would not have felt the need to pursue a censure. They are more focused on evading responsibility and accountability than taking action to address this clearly inappropriate and unacceptable behavior.”
As of Thursday evening, Democratic leaders were discussing possible next steps for Armagost’s censure with legal counsel, including whether it’s even possible to move forward to censure a former lawmaker.
That question is likely to be resolved when work resumes Friday morning. But the tension and discord between the House leaders could make it harder to manage floor work for the remainder of the special session, and possibly even into the regular session that begins in January.
