Rose Pugliese, the top Republican in the Colorado House, resigned from the legislature Monday, three weeks after she publicly sparred with her Democratic counterpart over a photo taken of another lawmaker.

“This was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make,” Pugliese, of Colorado Springs, wrote in a Sunday letter addressed to friends and supporters. “When you are called to service, as I have been, it is difficult to walk away at a time when so many things need attention.”

The minority caucus leader was the second House Republican to resign in recent months. Rep. Ryan Armagost left in August , expediting a planned resignation after Democratic lawmakers announced their plans to censure him for surreptitiously taking and sharing a photo of a Democratic colleague, whose appeara

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