An outside investigator determined in late December that Lontine's allegations were "more credible" than Crowder's denials.
Lontine said she hoped to resolve the matter in private but decided to go public late Thursday because she believes Senate President Kevin Grantham is attempting "to gloss over this serious issue."
"I didn't see a bit of leadership or indication that he was going to do anything," Lontine told The Denver Post in an interview.
But in a subsequent interview with The Post, Grantham appeared baffled by the criticisms, insisting that he believed the two lawmakers had resolved things among themselves, and that Lontine preferred to keep the matter private. Grantham added that he hadn't received a copy of the investigative report — the complaint was filed with House Speaker Crisanta Duran, who he says didn't provide him with its findings.
"I'm being asked to take disciplinary action on a report I haven't received yet," Grantham said.
He added: "An apology was issued. It appeared to have been accepted. ... It was assumed at that meeting that the matter was closed, and so no disciplinary action needed to be taken because resolution was found and completed."
"I told him verbally that (Lontine) was requesting that Sen. Crowder receive education regarding issues of sexual harassment," Duran said. "She also wanted that the findings to be part of a record in the event that there were additional issues that came up."
Duran and Grantham dispute how the investigation should then have proceeded, with each saying it was the other's responsibility to advance the report to the Senate leader, though Duran said Friday she was planning on sending him a copy.
A third-party investigation found credible allegations that Baumgardner slapped and grabbed the buttocks of a legislative aide multiple times during the 2016 session, but Grantham has taken no public action despite receiving the report weeks ago. In a rare move, Senate Democrats demanded Baumgardner's resignation Thursday, days after Minority Leader Lucia Guzman removed herself from the disciplinary process.
"Two investigations have been done and two deemed credible against the accused and nothing's happened," Lontine said.
By disclosing her complaint, Lontine said she hoped it will "have some impact and put some pressure on the Senate about this issue."
Grantham suggested that what's transpired this week could have the opposite effect, at least in the Baumgardner investigation. He said he wanted Guzman to help make the decision on discipline.
"Now we're back in limbo," he said. "They didn't want me to make decisions by myself, and now they've created a situation where I have to make decisions, practically, by myself. And I didn't ask for that. This is what they have put upon me."
House and Senate leaders outlined steps to address the issue — including an independent review of the Capitol's climate and harassment policies — but the two chambers diverged on how to handle the complaints.
In the Democratic-led House, the two lawmakers who faced formal complaints involving inappropriate behavior were immediately removed from their committee leadership posts. Grantham did not do the same with Baumgardner or Sen. Jack Tate, who also is under investigation for harassment, because Grantham said he would not "react off the cuff."
Duran — who also came under fire for her actions — later dismissed a complaint against Rep. Paul Rosenthal, a fellow Denver Democrat, but still stripped his vice-chairmanship of the local government committee.
Now, in a new interview, Lontine described an incident in January 2015, her first year in the House. During a joint legislative session for Military Appreciation Day, Crowder gave a speech in which he suggested that everyone "hug a vet."
Thinking "it was congenial," Lontine said she approached Crowder, a veteran. "When I went to hug him, he took the opportunity to pinch me on the back end on the floor of the House," Lontine said. She told the House speaker at the time but decided not to pursue it.
Two weeks after The Post's investigation, Lontine filed a confidential formal complaint Nov. 30 with the House speaker.
"My whole intent was to never go public," she said.
More than a month after the completion of the report — which found her account "more likely than not" to be accurate — Crowder requested a meeting with Lontine and Duran in which he asked Grantham to attend.
At the Feb. 5 meeting, Crowder didn't acknowledge he touched her inappropriately and said she misunderstood his remark in August, but apologized nonetheless. "He basically gave me an apology that is really not an apology," she said. "He didn't acknowledge what he did."
In an interview, Crowder said he did offer an apology but that he "can't apologize for something that didn't happen."
Crowder said he told Lontine at the meeting that "there might have been a time when I bumped into you accidentally, or something like that. But as far as pinching you, to my knowledge, it never happened."
As far as the comment — which Crowder says was about alcohol "affecting his performance" — he said it was not a sexual remark in any way, but acknowledged it was maybe "an unfortunate choice of words."
"I apologized for some of the verbiage I said," Crowder said. "I thought everything was worked, out and then this came out. So I'm not sure where we're at."
"This is the only way I know how to make him take responsibility, and I don't even know if it will work," she said.
When asked where the complaint goes from here, Grantham said he doesn't know.
"It puts us in unknown territory here," Grantham said. "When something is resolved and then it is unresolved by one of the parties, where does that put us? That's a great question. I think we are, in my mind, where we were at that day it was resolved. There's nothing in the book to direct us in this situation."