Face The State Staff Report
Face The State has learned that Assistant House Majority Leader Mike Garcia, D-Aurora, is facing accusations that he exposed himself to a female lobbyist while making lewd comments after a political fundraiser earlier this month.
www.leg.state.co.us
According to the woman, she and Garcia were part of a group that met up at Lancer Lounge on Seventh Avenue for a round of pool after an event on Jan. 7. She alleges that Garcia waited until there was no one else in the room, then approached her, exposed his genitalia, and allegedly asked, “Wouldn’t this be real nice inside of you?”
Face The State is protecting the woman’s identity, consistent with newsroom policy not to reveal the identities of alleged sex assault victims.
According to the woman, she had resolved to keep the episode quiet until she learned during the next week that at least four other women had alleged similar interactions with Garcia. “It was something I was willing to dismiss when he took his penis out his pants, but when I went to the Capitol the next day, another female lobbyist said he put her hand on his penis,” she said.
When asked how she would like to see the situation resolved, the woman said, “I want him to get counseling. He is an elected official and someone people look up to.” She expressed concern that Garcia’s alleged actions, if left unaddressed, could lead to more serious problems. “He is a very sick man. Is he a sexual predator? I don’t know but we should be concerned. This could be a precursor to a worse-case scenario.”
The woman said she approached House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, about her allegations earlier this week and that Romanoff is “taking the situation very seriously.” It is unclear when Romanoff first learned of the allegations.
In addition to serving in the Colorado House, Garcia, 34, is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Garcia was first elected to represent House District 42 in 2000, and will be term-limited after his four terms at the end of this year's legislative session. He has announced his candidacy for the 2008 Colorado state Senate.
While the woman is uncertain as to whether she will pursue criminal charges, under Colorado law her allegations could result in Garcia being charged with a class one misdemeanor for unlawful sexual contact, defined under C.R.S. § 18-3-401(4) as "the knowing touching of the victim's intimate parts by the actor, of the actor's intimate parts by the victim, or the knowing touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the victim's or actor's intimate parts of that sexual contact is for the purposes of sexual arousal, gratification or abuse."
Calls to Garcia's office for comment were not immediately returned.
Never ceases to surprise me how democrats
On February 3rd, 2008 Socrates says:
will attempt to excuse bad....even criminal.....behavior on the part of their "leaders" however they possibly can.
If he did nothing wrong, then why did he resign so quickly?
Get all the facts before you jump to conclusions
On February 2nd, 2008 bacachris says:
The media should check the background of the accuser. Perhaps she has something in her past that she is hiding and that provoked her to lie about this incident. I am a woman and I have known Michael for 8 years. I have never seen him act inappropriate with anyone. The accuser should have to prove her allegations. I have personally witnessed scorned or pissed off women lie to authorities regarding sex, abuse, etc. to get back at a man. Just because a woman said it happened doesn't mean it happened. There is a lobbyist who stalked Michael prior to becoming a lobbyist. Perhaps this is the accuser and she is upset that Michael is engaged to another woman and turned her down. You need to get all the facts before you jump to a conclusions. A person is supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty but in today's society you are guilty and have to prove yourself innocent.
That sure sounds a lot like Carville talking
On February 3rd, 2008 Socrates says:
about "dragging a dollar bill through a trailer park." Nice attempt at accusing and blaming the victim.
He's another idiot who thinks he's above the law
On February 1st, 2008 1barkley says:
Garcia is a moron. Balance redacted - potentially libelousEd. note: Face The State is happy to provide a forum for the civil discussion of our content and we do not regularly edit visitor comments. However, we will not tolerate grandiose personal attacks as was originally contained in this comment and have edited this comment accordingly.
Anything else I should know about my family?
On February 6th, 2008 onetimeblogger says:
Marijuana use and alcoholism are two things I would never associate with my cousin. Furthermore, I have never known anyone in my family to use heroin.
Mike may have made a poor decision, but not one that I am personally willing to judge him by. If anything I respect him more for being honest, which is a quality few persons possess.
Funny, over at "Colorado Confidential" they've been reporting
On February 1st, 2008 Socrates says:
all this week about how Mr. Ankeney was going back to jail for sexual offenses, even though he's been out of the political world for about 7 years. They had a lot of fun bashing Republicans and claiming that only Republicans were sex offenders (somehow forgetting all about Bill Clinton). Wonder if they'll report this story.......probably not.
Hey...
On January 31st, 2008 Milton1016 says:
HEY, AT LEAST HE DIDN'T KICK ANYONE.
Wow!
On January 31st, 2008 sheblogger says:
I wonder how long Romanoff has known? How long until Garcia resigns? He seems like a nice guy. I'm shocked. Good reporting Face The State!