The Denver Gazette

Ex-aide sues Lamborn over COVID conditions at work

BY ERNEST LUNING The Denver Gazette

A former aide to U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn sued the Colorado Republican and his congressional office Thursday, alleging the congressman was “willing to sacrifice the health and safety of his employees” by disregarding safety concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the virus infected Lamborn and multiple staff members.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also accuses Lamborn of firing the aide in retaliation after he raised concerns about workplace conditions.

Brandon Pope, Lamborn’s military adviser until early December, also charges in the lawsuit that Lamborn required his congressional staff to run personal errands and perform tasks unrelated to their jobs for Lamborn and his wife, such as buying the couple Christmas and birthday presents and helping move furniture to the Lamborn’s vacation home.

“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,” the lawsuit charges.

A spokeswoman for Lamborn roundly denied the lawsuit’s allegations.

“The workplace-safety allegations made by Mr. Pope are unsubstantiated and did not result in the termination of his employment. Congressman Lamborn looks forward to full vindication as all facts come to light,” Cassandra Sebastian, the congressman’s communications director, told Colorado Politics in an emailed statement.

She declined to comment further.

The lawsuit was first reported by NBC4, a Washington, D.C., television station.

Lamborn is serving his eighth term representing the El Paso County-based 5th Congressional District.

The 16-page lawsuit, filed under the The Congressional Accountability Act, alleges Lamborn and his wife, Jeanne, and his chief of staff, Dale Anderson, belittled the coronavirus pandemic from the start and “mocked safety protocols such as measures to distance employees from each other and the use of masks.”

At one point early in the pandemic during a meeting with employees at his Colorado Springs office, the lawsuit alleges, Lamborn and his wife “both claimed that COVID was a hoax and asserted that the pandemic was being used to alter the course of the congressional and presidential elections.”

In early October while in Colorado, the lawsuit says, Lamborn learned that his D.C.-based deputy chief of staff had tested positive for COVID-19 and that other staffers who worked at his Capitol office were symptomatic.

Colorado Politics reported at the time that Lamborn said the Capitol physician told him he didn’t need to take precautions or get tested for the virus, but the lawsuit alleges that was because Lamborn lied to the doctor, saying he hadn’t been in contact with his D.C. staff when he had.

Contrary to what Lamborn told the physician, the lawsuit says, the lawmaker had been sleeping in his Washington office during the previous week and attended numerous meetings, putting him in “close proximity” to his staff just before some members were diagnosed with the virus.

The lawsuit also alleges that Anderson, Lamborn’s chief of staff, instructed the office’s D.C. employees not to tell anyone they had been in close contact with people who were infected and to conceal the fact the Washington office was closed due to widespread infection.

According to the lawsuit, Lamborn only allowed some Colorado Springsbased employees to work remotely for a brief period in November, after Lamborn and two other employees tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a crowded meeting devoted to Space Force.

The day after he learned about those test results — from a third party — Pope tested positive for the virus, the lawsuit says. Pope “contends that Rep. Lamborn was the direct or indirect cause of his infection.”

Pope was fired about two weeks after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“Representative Lamborn had a reckless and dangerous approach to COVID-19,” the lawsuit alleges, “and he retaliated against Mr. Pope for seeking to protect employees from unsafe conditions in the workplace.”

Among numerous other allegations unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic contained in the lawsuit, Lamborn is accused of allowing his son to live in a storage area in the Capitol basement for weeks when he was relocating to Washington, D.C. Lamborn also required staffers, including Pope, to help the congressman’s son apply for federal jobs, including staging a mock job interview, the lawsuit alleges.

According to Legistorm, LinkedIn and the lawsuit, Pope, a Marine Corps combat veteran, worked for Lamborn’s office for nearly two years, first as a military and veterans affairs representative and then, beginning last May, as the congressman’s defense policy adviser.

Pope’s attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment. Attempts to reach Pope were unsuccessful.

According to govtrack.us, at least 126 members of Congress, including Lamborn, have either tested positive for the virus or come in contact with someone who was positive and quarantined as a precaution. At least 71 senators and representatives have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Louisiana Rep.-elect Luke Letlow died from the illness caused by the coronavirus in late December, a week before he was to take office, and Texas Rep. Ron Wright died in early February from COVID-19.

“The workplacesafety allegations made by Mr. Pope are unsubstantiated and did not result in the termination of his employment.”

Cassandra Sebastian, communications director for U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, left

DENVER & STATE

en-us

2021-05-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.denvergazette.com/article/281595243418372

The Gazette, Colorado Springs