In The Denver Post, political reporter Nick Coltrain reports that former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, was sentenced to two years of probation and 150 hours of community service after being convicted of four felonies tied to faking letters of support during a Senate ethics investigation.
According to the piece, Jaquez Lewis was convicted in January of three counts of forgery and one count of attempting to influence a public servant. Prosecutors said the case was not really about the underlying ethics allegations, but about her response to them: submitting letters she wrote and then signed with other people’s names to the Senate Ethics Committee.
The judge, Anita M. Schutte, did not buy the “whoopsie” defense. She said Jaquez Lewis broke bonds of trust and called out what she viewed as a lack of responsibility, including the claim that the letters were a simple mistake.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Former Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis got probation and community service for faking support letters during an ethics investigation. If you are thinking “that seems… bad,” you are catching on quickly.
- The convictions were not minor paperwork hiccups: three forgery felonies plus attempting to influence a public servant. That is not “misfiled a form,” that is “forged the form.”
- She admitted making “bad decisions,” but tried to frame the forged letters as a simple mistake and suggested the process was politically motivated. The judge was not impressed.
- The court also imposed a $3,000 fine, with the possibility it could be waived if she completes an additional 100 hours of community service.
- The judge explicitly questioned her credibility on the “simple mistake” line and highlighted her lack of responsibility. The jury, too, did not find the innocent intent story.
My Bottom Line
I’ll just place this story here with a not-so-gentle reminder: when you are picking candidates for office, character and integrity matter far, far more than ideological purity.
A lot of people treat elections like a team jersey. If the candidate says the right slogans and checks the right boxes, the rest gets waved away as “noise,” “attacks,” or “politics as usual.” Well, here is the problem. If someone will forge letters to save their own skin during an ethics probe, what exactly do you think they will do when the stakes are a budget, a regulation, a contract, or a backroom deal?
Public service is supposed to be built on trust. Not vibes. Not “my side.” Trust. And yes, that applies whether the offender has a D or an R next to their name. The standards are not supposed to change depending on who you voted for.
If you want a healthier political culture, stop rewarding the smooth talkers with flexible morals. Choose adults with a backbone. Because once you elect someone without integrity, everything downstream gets uglier, and you do not get to act surprised when the receipts show up in a courtroom.
Source: Colorado Politics
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