DENVER – The Colorado Supreme Court has asked other branches of state government to help launch an investigation into allegations of sexual discrimination and harassment in the Colorado Judicial Department and whether a contract was given to a former employee to prevent her from revealing them.
Members of the Governor’s Office, Attorney General’s Office and the Legislature will name independent investigators to look into the allegations, the court said in a press release Tuesday.
Chief Justice Brian Boatright plans to comment more when he delivers the biennial State of the Judiciary speech on Thursday, the court said.
“We’re disappointed and absolutely heartbroken by this situation, and nobody wants these investigations to go forward more than I do,” Boatright said in the release.
Former state Court Administrator Chris Ryan has told The Denver Post that the judicial training contract worth at least $2.5 million that he signed was aimed at stopping former judicial department Chief of Staff Mindy Masias from filing a lawsuit that would expose sexual misconduct she knew of during her 20-year career. The contract was later canceled.
Ryan told the newspaper he welcomes the investigation.
Masias could not be located for comment. A telephone number listed for her was no longer working.
