Unhealthy blood continues to spill amongst Douglas County’s high elected leaders, with two commissioners voting this week to demote Lora Thomas from her place as chair of the board, saying she works to “bully, harass and intimidate these with whom she disagrees.”
In a press launch issued Tuesday, commissioners Abe Laydon and George Teal referred to as for an investigation into whether or not Thomas helped contribute to a hostile work surroundings on the Douglas County Sheriff’s Workplace after a deputy there cited the dissemination of a letter containing “false data” about her.
Thomas, who’s serving as commissioner whereas operating for Douglas County sheriff, acknowledged in an interview Friday to referencing and distributing the 2019 nameless worker letter, which outlines a wide selection of management deficiencies and conflicted relationships on the company, on the Douglas County Republican meeting final month.
“I used that letter for my marketing campaign for sheriff,” Thomas stated.
She faces three different Republicans operating for sheriff in Colorado’s June 28 major election.
The deputy, who Laydon recognized as Amanda Walter, resigned from the sheriff’s workplace this month, saying in an April 5 letter to Sheriff Tony Spurlock that the knowledge launched about her was “crushing.”
Makes an attempt to succeed in Walter on Friday have been unsuccessful.
The commissioners additionally alleged that Thomas tried to “doxx” — or launch private or figuring out particulars about — farmers within the San Luis Valley linked to a big water switch challenge Douglas County is exploring.
(1/6) Right this moment the Board of County Commissioners needed to make the unlucky determination to droop Lora Thomas as Chair of the Board and name for an investigation into her conduct following receipt of a letter of resignation from a primary responder whose data had been shared… pic.twitter.com/iTOMK9xXB0
— Abe Laydon (@AbeLaydon) April 26, 2022
“It’s a end result of over a yr of points we’ve been attempting to work by way of,” Teal informed Avisionews Friday of his determination to droop Thomas from her chair publish.
Thomas stated her suspension as chair Tuesday is just an ongoing reflection of her colleagues’ anger at her for not voting in lockstep with them.
“I’ve by no means been institution,” stated Thomas, a retired main with the Colorado State Patrol and a former Douglas County coroner. “I’ve by no means been ‘good ole boy.’ I imagine that is an try to smear my good title and document.”
Right this moment my @douglascountyco fellow commissioners in a politically motivated stunt, eliminated me as Chair for the third time. My crime is defending taxpayers from funding RWR a boondoggle water challenge to take water from the San Luis Valley w/ARPA $$.
— Lora Thomas (@LoraThomasCO) April 26, 2022
She has been a Douglas County commissioner since 2016, having been re-elected in 2020.
This week’s drama in Fort Rock echoes an analogous dispute that sprouted up precisely a yr in the past among the many board of commissioners, when Laydon and Teal tried to oust Thomas from her position as chair after accusing her of “frequent dissemination of misinformation and untruths.”
That scenario was defused when the three commissioners agreed to rotate the chairmanship going ahead.
Teal stated the breaking level for him this week was Thomas’ current try to get an lawyer employed by the county to supervise a proposal by Renewable Water Assets to drill into San Luis Valley aquifers and pipe water a whole bunch of miles to fast-growing Douglas County to reveal the names of members at conferences scheduled within the valley final week to debate the challenge.
“The Board can be in receipt of correspondence from Lora Thomas which was not licensed by the Board whereby she tried to “dox” farmers who had expressed worry that there can be private and monetary retribution to them for talking out about water points,” the county’s press launch stated.
Teal stated the board had already voted to not publicize the names of farmers participating within the water talks and Thomas went behind the board majority’s again together with her request.
“You’ll be able to’t go towards the vote of the board and count on to be chair,” he stated.
Thomas, who opposes the water switch challenge, stated the allegation she was attempting to doxx anybody was a “bald-faced lie.” She stated she was simply attempting to acquire primary details about a significant proposed endeavor by Douglas County.
“I used to be with the Colorado State Patrol for 26 years and I perceive the significance of confidentiality,” she stated.
