In an underreported on story from mid-Feburary of 2025, State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis (D-CO), abruptly took to Facebook to announce that she would be leaving the Colorado legislature to pursue another opportunity; what she left out is that she had just been caught fabricating a letter in a desperate attempt to ward off an ethics probe threatening to bring her down.

As background, Lewis announced her resignation right before the Colorado Senate Ethics Committee announced, as part of its ethics probe into her mistreatment of staffers, that she had submitted at least one, and potentially multiple, fabricated letters of support. The letter at hand was purported to be from an aide, in support of her, but the aide informed legislators that she didn’t write it and Lewis had likely made it up.

Even without the letter, the ethics probe was reportedly on the verge of bringing Lewis down, as multiple years’ worth of ethics breaches, taking the form of abominable treatment of staffers, had breached into the open and become a massive investigation that would likely have led to her removal from the Colorado legislature.

So, she ran away before that happened and resigned. Announcing as much on Facebook, she said, “I have wonderful news to share. I have the opportunity to serve with a regional not-for-profit that focuses on developing future women and LGBTQ+ leaders through an International lens.
So, Today, I am announcing my resignation from the Colorado Senate.”

Continuing, she claimed to have done a great job on the legislature, ignoring that she had to leave it because of an ethics probe, saying, “Serving the people of Colorado as an Elected Official from Senate District 17, Longmont, Lafayette and Erie has been the honor of a lifetime. I have been in the General Assembly for 7 years. During that time, I have served my constituents with pride and productivity. I have passed an enormous amount of legislation and policy that hopefully benefits every citizen of Colorado and some have become national benchmarks.”

Then, describing the various woke causes she supported, Lewis wrote, “Being recognized by the White House multiple times for my work as a leading advocate for gun violence prevention, reproductive rights, gender-affirming care, LGBTQ+, Latino, social justice issues and environmental, climate policy and my service during the Marshall fire is something I will never forget.”

She again tried framing her retreat from the Senate as something other than getting about before an ethics probe completely brought her down, writing, “It’s a tough job to be in the State Legislature, emotionally, physically and financially and my family and I have made great sacrifices over the last 7 years. I have accomplished more legislative goals and helped more folks in their every day lives than I ever could have dreamed of. I am ready for some real and true time off.”

That retreat from the Senate came shortly after Lewis claimed the massive ethics investigation was nothing more than a scapegoating of her, saying, as the Colorado sun reported, “This complaint is no more than a compilation of incidents unsupported by actual facts that are meant to focus attention on valid universal aide issues by scapegoating one senator. I am being dragged through the mud for political ends. With false allegations, the PWG is using me to showcase its concerns.” She then quit after her fake letter was revealed.

Featured image credit: Sonya Lewis Facebook