The head of one of the state's leading business lobbying groups is stepping down to pursue business interests and to teach. Sam Cassidy, president and chief executive of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, said Monday he will leave the organization by June 1. He has been its director for a little more than two years. Cassidy, a former state senator and lieutenant governor under Gov. Roy Romer, said he succeeded in focusing the group's …showed first 75 words of 376 total…

…showed last 75 words of 376 total…employees, Cassidy said. No lawsuit has been filed, but the matter is being investigated by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, he said. "We believe it's defensible," Cassidy added. Cassidy said Schwartz didn't leave the association over that issue. Nor did it have anything to do with his own decision to step down, he said. Schwartz didn't return a telephone call seeking comment. Johnson, the board president, said he had no comment on pending legal matters.