Colorado Republicans said Friday that they will choose a replacement for former state Rep. Steve Lebsock, who last week switched his party affiliation to the GOP just before he was expelled from the House of Representatives over sexual harassment accusations.

The former Democrat was ejected from the legislature on a bipartisan, 52-9 vote, but the political harmony didn’t last long.

His expulsion gave the GOP the option of convening a vacancy committee to select the ex-Thornton lawmaker’s replacement. They also could have punted the decision to Gov. John Hickenlooper, but opted against it. Instead, the episode may only serve to further fan partisan flames over the issue of sexual harassment.

“After careful consideration, we concluded it would be dereliction of duty to punt the appointment to … Hickenlooper,” Colorado Republican Party Chairman Jeff Hays said in a written statement. “We owe it to the people of House District 34 to give them the experience of ethical representation, which the Democrats, when they controlled the seat, signally failed to provide.”

Hays says the GOP’s decision to select Lebsock’s successor was influenced by his contention that Democratic leadership in the House kept the allegations against Lebsock a secret when they first surfaced in the spring of 2016.

“Without the cover-up, it’s highly unlikely the Democratic nominee, Lebsock, would have won re-election in November 2016. If voters had known what Democratic leadership knew, they would have roundly rejected Lebsock,” Hays said in the statement. “We won’t reward the Democrats’ bad behavior by allowing them to choose the replacement for a representative who won his seat in November 2016 only thanks to their cover-up.”

House Speaker Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, has defended her handling of the allegations against Lebsock, which surfaced after fellow Rep. Faith Winter, a Westminster Democrat, came forward with a complaint nearly two years ago. At the time, Winter asked that the situation be handled internally, but went public in November with her accusations after finding out there were other accusers.

Duran has said if she had known all along about the breadth of the complaints against Lebsock, she would have acted differently.

Rep. Dave Williams, R-Colorado Springs, called for an investigation into Duran on March 2 as the House was debating whether to expel Lebsock. But his motion was met with a bipartisan rebuke, as several Republicans joined with Democrats to reject a procedural motion that would have allowed his proposal to be heard.

On Friday afternoon, Democratic Party Chairwoman Morgan Carroll fired back with a statement of her own, in which she criticized Republicans for their own handling of accusations against three GOP senators.

“Democrats took action to expel Steve Lebsock because it was the right thing to do, regardless of the political consequences,” Carroll said. “Lebsock has now found his natural home in a political party that protects sexual predators instead of holding them accountable.

“This seat does not belong to either political party,” she added. “It belongs to the voters, who will have the ultimate say in November.”

Republicans must next form a committee and have until roughly April 1 to pick Lebsock’s successor.

Democrats hold the House majority, and a Republican taking Lebsock’s spot won’t change that. The former representative had been siding with the GOP this legislative session on a number of issues.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the Colorado Democratic Party is going to challenge the move. Democrats said regardless of what happens to Lebsock’s seat, they are confident the post will be in their hands come 2019, following November’s election.

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