Government

Colorado Congressman Sued By Former Staffer For Turning Office Into 24-Hour Covidpalooza

Catching corona to own the libs!

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(Image via Getty)

As a Colorado state senator, Doug Lamborn once said associating with Barack Obama was “like touching a tar baby.” And yet his constituents saw fit to send him to the House of Representatives in 2007. The promotion seems not to have changed his behavior much, at least according to a lawsuit filed yesterday by a former staffer alleging that he was fired for pushing back against the congressman’s refusal to adhere to COVID-19 protocols because “I don’t care about you guys getting it.”

Brandon Pope, a Marine veteran first hired by Lamborn as a Wounded Warrior Fellow, then promoted to Defense and Business Advisor in the congressman’s Colorado Springs District Office, alleges that his former boss called COVID a “hoax” and took “a reckless and dangerous approach” to coronavirus, endangering the health of his staff and their families.

In the workplace, Lamborn did not require employees in the District Office to wear masks, claiming that he would not allow House Leadership to dictate how he ran his office, and he did not permit all employees to social distance. Worse, when Lamborn and other senior members of his staff became infected with COVID-19 in the fall of 2020, Lamborn refused to implement or follow reasonable and responsible COVID-19 protocols, resulting in the widespread transmission of the virus throughout both the District and Washington, D.C. Offices.

Pope says he got crosswise with Lamborn and his chief of staff by advocating for reasonable COVID protocols and because he stuck up for colleagues who were immunocompromised. He claims that he was terminated in December 2020 for this advocacy, not for being “abrasive” and unprofessional as Lamborn’s COS said at the time.

The suit charges Lamborn with unlawful retaliation in violation of the Congressional Accountability Act, which Pope argues requires members of Congress to adhere to OSHA’s mandate to provide a workplace “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.”

Pope also spills some embarrassing tea about his former boss — you know, just by way of letting the court (and the world) know how “the Representative’s disregard for the rules demonstrate this recklessly self-serving approach to his position as a Member of Congress.”

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Like how the congressman allegedly let his son turn a basement storage space in the Capitol into a squat apartment for a few weeks when he moved to D.C. Luckily the congressman’s staff were reportedly available to help the kid with his job search, even during business hours.

Or how he allegedly forced his taxpayer-funded congressional staff to do campaign work, also during business hours and during their lunch breaks. That is, when they weren’t busy allegedly performing personal tasks for Lamborn and his family, such as moving furniture or picking up their mail. Because staff was like family — which is why their appearance at Lamborn family social events was allegedly mandatory on pain of firing.

Staff were allegedly expected to give Christmas and birthday gifts to Lamborn and his wife, while turning a blind eye to alleged expropriations of office equipment by the Missus, who really needed that laminating machine, darnit!

In short, this complaint is petty as f—. And we love it!

Pope v. Office of Representative Doug Lamborn [Docket via Court Listener]

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Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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