About a dozen members of the public decried the way two of Douglas County’s elected leaders have treated their colleague, with some urging the two to return the powers and privileges they’ve taken from her amid a longstanding 2-1 rift.
The long train of public commenters came after several actions by Commissioners Abe Laydon and George Teal to punish or restrict Commissioner Lora Thomas.
“We spoke loud and clear when we elected Lora to represent us,” a man said during the Dec. 5 commissioners meeting in Castle Rock, arguing that the two-leader majority’s actions appear to be “designed to negate” Thomas’ voice.
The scene was reminiscent of a March commissioners meeting where about a dozen speakers criticized the commissioners’ actions, with many taking issue specifically with Laydon and Teal.
In the months since, the two-commissioner majority has continued to reprimand Thomas in response to what they say is inappropriate conduct.
One commenter at the Dec. 5 meeting called the majority “big bullies.” Thomas has been investigated and criticized, but the commenter said Thomas “has been vindicated in all respects.”
In response, Laydon said he feels “a great deal of compassion and sympathy for everyone in this room.”
“For you to be called here and gaslit and told a lie is really disconcerting,” Laydon said, also calling Thomas “a reckless agitator.”
Laydon later implied that the long session of public comment was “subjecting (people) to theater,” eliciting an outcry from members of the audience, who objected to that characterization.
Tensions ran high, with some in the audience speaking over Laydon and one man using profanity toward him.
“For the record, I was not asked to come here,” the man who made the “we spoke loud and clear” comment also said. “It’s not good to gaslight people, and you should stop.”
Cindy Dalton, of Lone Tree, helped organize at least part of the group of speakers that came to the meeting. She has called the majority’s treatment of Thomas “unacceptable” and “unethical.”
John Swartout, who identified himself as a resident of Highlands Ranch, said he has worked with both Laydon and Thomas on positive matters.
“This can’t stand. This conflict has gotten out of everyone’s control,” Swartout said at the meeting. He added: “Let’s figure this out from the heart because this kind of treatment of Commissioner Thomas and the resulting conflict cannot stand.”
Between pushing for an investigation and currently fighting a lawsuit Thomas filed to recoup legal fees, the county will have spent about $50,000 at the direction of Teal and Laydon. The current legal battle has reached at least $26,000 in legal fees, while the initial investigation of Thomas cost $24,000.
Thomas restrained
Some of the actions against Thomas that the commenters took issue with include the following:
• Laydon and Teal voted to censure — or formally disapprove of — Thomas at an Aug. 22 meeting in response to what one of the leaders has called public shaming of county volunteers with inaccurate information. For a look at the arguments behind the censure vote, see Colorado Community Media’s coverage at tinyurl.com/ThomasCensure.
• Around that time, Laydon and Teal voted to remove Thomas from outside boards, or committees, that oversee organizations in the community. Teal and Laydon had also voted to remove her from leadership on outside entities around the early part of this year. See more details in CCM’s coverage at tinyurl.com/ThomasBoards.
• Teal and Laydon voted at a Sept. 5 meeting to cancel Thomas’ county credit card, to suspend her travel and mileage allowance, and to take other action regarding Thomas’ expenses. The county credit card covers spending for items like hotel rooms and airline travel on county business, according to county staff. See more details at tinyurl.com/ThomasExpenses.
Laydon has said a county policy manual provides for “budgetary restrictions” for those who break policy. Laydon and Teal had based their vote to censure Thomas on what they say is “behavior contrary to the Douglas County commissioner code of conduct.”
Authority for actions
As for how the moves square with county policy, the Douglas County Commissioners policy manual outlines actions commissioners can take against each other.
“The Board of County Commissioners may impose sanctions on commissioners whose conduct does not comply with the Board’s ethical standards, such as reprimand, formal censure, loss of committee assignment, and/or budget restriction,” the manual says.
See the manual at douglas.co.us/board-county-commissioners/transparency/policies-procedures.
Investigations in focus
The investigations of Thomas came up again at the meeting — as they so often do in the world of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners.
The disputes on the board form a complicated story.
Among other accusations, Laydon has said Thomas had attacked first responders by sharing an anonymous letter.
On the other hand, Thomas has said an investigation was “exonerating” of her.
Here’s a look at the ins and outs.
Teal and Laydon had initiated an investigation after accusing Thomas of circulating an anonymous letter that criticized specific employees in the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, allegedly creating a hostile work environment. They also accused her of emailing county legal representation with a request not authorized by the full board.
The investigation into Thomas by outside legal counsel found that while Thomas had distributed the letter, doing so did not create a hostile work environment. It also found she did draft correspondence to legal counsel without informing the board.
The outside legal counsel’s investigation report says: “Commissioner Thomas published the Alleged Deputy Letter on the website for her 2022 campaign for Douglas County Sheriff. In at least one public appearance during that campaign, Commissioner Thomas encouraged the audience to visit the website for her 2022 campaign for Douglas County Sheriff in order to review the Alleged Deputy Letter. Multiple witnesses reported seeing Commissioner Thomas personally distribute the Alleged Deputy Letter at the 2022 Republican Assembly for Douglas County.”
“I find it more likely than not that Commissioner Thomas used the Alleged Deputy Letter to support her 2022 political campaign for Douglas County Sheriff,” the report adds.
Separately, regarding the context of Thomas’ alleged misdirection of legal counsel, the report says the board of county commissioners had a discussion regarding residents of the San Luis Valley region in southern Colorado who feared personal and financial retribution for speaking out about the “RWR proposal.” (That appears to be a reference to a controversial proposal to pump about 22,000 acre-feet of water per year to Douglas County from the San Luis Valley. Renewable Water Resources is the private company that proposed the project.)
The report says the board’s direction was to “ensure that those vulnerable individuals were protected from disclosure of their personal identifying information.”
Thomas drafted correspondence to legal counsel, “without informing the board, that was contrary to this board direction and (signed) it as the (then) chair of the board of county commissioners,” the report says.
That legal counsel, Stephen Leonhardt — apparently in response to Thomas’ correspondence — told Thomas in an email in April 2022 that he “can request that (someone) circulate a sign-up sheet for the attendees at each meeting identify themselves on a list … I understand that some of the attendees may desire that their identities not be made public; ultimately the Board will decide whether any information that we provide will become a public record.”
See the investigation report at tinyurl.com/ThomasReport.
Aftermath of the first investigation
Thomas appeared in a CBS Colorado news story in July 2022 discussing the confidential report that showed the results of the investigation, prompting the Douglas County government’s attorney to find that Thomas could have broken the law by doing so.
Thomas had asserted multiple times in meetings and in her newsletter to constituents that she believes the privileged nature of the document had already been broken by Laydon discussing parts of it publicly.
Another investigation — this time conducted by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office — did not find probable cause to believe that Thomas committed the crime of first-degree official misconduct.
“The Colorado criminal code does not specifically prohibit a waiver of privileged and confidential information by a privilege holder. In this case, as a member of the Board of County Commissioners, Lora Thomas is a privilege holder,” Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Bruce Peterson wrote in a memorandum.
Laydon has argued Arapahoe County “got it wrong” in evaluating Thomas’ actions, saying “the privileged holder of a confidential document is the board” and not just one member of the board. He based his point on the understanding of the law of Chris Pratt, then interim Douglas County attorney.
Thomas’ stance has been that there’s a lack of evidence to justify Laydon and Teal’s actions toward her.
Laydon has argued that “there is a difference between criminal liability and civil” wrongdoing.
At the commissioners’ meeting on Dec. 5 this year, Thomas told the audience: “I work for all of you, and nothing they ever do will ever change that.”
Aside from accusations against Thomas, claims were raised about Teal and Laydon from several years ago during the Dec. 5 meeting. One man brought up an accusation that Teal lied about his military record, and he also brought up Laydon’s charge of driving under the influence.
We slipped up last year and re-elected Laydon. Teal is also a progressive Republican who we must primary out and support a conservative. Remember, vote out Teal in 2024