Democrat accused of repeated use of women’s restroom will resign in January
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Colorado state Sen. Daniel Kagan will resign in January. (Facebook)
A Colorado Democrat whom female colleagues had accused earlier this year of frequenting a women’s restroom inside the Statehouse is resigning, a spokesman said Wednesday.
State Sen. Daniel Kagan’s departure, effective Jan. 11, will come as the Democrats retake the Colorado Senate majority following November's elections, the Denver Post reported.
MALE DEMOCRAT ACCUSED OF USING COLORADO SENATE’S WOMEN’S RESTROOM ‘MULTIPLE TIMES’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s been a great honor to serve the people of Colorado for just short of a decade,” Kagan said in a statement. “An important obligation of leaders, I believe, is to be open to acknowledging that it’s time to pass the torch to new leadership and, for me, that time is now.”
“An important obligation of leaders, I believe, is to be open to acknowledging that it’s time to pass the torch to new leadership and, for me, that time is now.”
Kagan was instrumental in repealing a 19th-century law that criminalized adultery, a law he regarded as giving authorities the power to question people about their personal lives, “which is a gross invasion of privacy that’s fully within the rights of the police right now.”
But Republican state Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik said several women claimed to have seen Kagan using a women’s restroom multiple times since January 2017. She filed a workplace sexual harassment complaint against Kagan in March.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kagan said he’d entered the women’s restroom just once by mistake because it was unlabeled. The debacle prompted the state Senate to post signs outside its restroom designating “men” and “women,” Denver’s KUSA-TV reported.
“I asked for a public apology to all involved, not a resignation,” Martinez Humenik said Wednesday. “We are still waiting on his apology.”
Colorado GOP spokesman concurred, saying Kagan should have apologized rather than “just resigning to avoid having to look at them.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Colorado Public Radio reported earlier this year that Kagan was among a group of Democratic senators who have called for the ouster of Republican state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, amid accusations that he groped an aide in 2016.
“Many butt-slappers and thigh-strokers fancy that they are merely flirting and flattering,” Kagan said before the Senate.
Fox News' Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.