Joining me now is a woman who has put up with more than most politicians have to put up with. She is former Douglas County Commissioner Laura Thomas. But because Laura is not one to be cowed into silence or shrink quietly into the night, she's back with two. Well, I guess we should say bipartisan trip. How do you describe this group that you've assembled here, Laura to ask for some accountability from the current board.
Thank you for having me on, Mandy. And we are three individuals. One is a Republican, one is a Democrat, one is an unaffiliated voter, and almost fifty percent of voters in Douglas County are unaffiliated today, and so the three of us came together because it doesn't matter what political strife you are, every person in this county, in this country should demand transparency from their government.
Correct. It's one of the cornerstones. And it's been very fresh trading to me to see how that transparency has been eroded under the Gold Dome. And we'll talk more about that later, but right now, you guys are talking specifically about the movement to move Douglas County to a home rural county. And I'm not going to pretend that I know all of the ins and outs of this, but I am already what's the sort I'm looking for?
Skeptical that this operation is a grassroots movement by the people of Douglas County, because the Board of County Commissioners announced it as if they'd been chatting about it for some time, even though as far as I could tell, there'd been no public conversations about it up to the point where they announced that they were doing this. What did I miss? First of all, were there discussions during
County commission meetings that I missed? What happened here? How did it just spring forth out of whole cloth like this?
So, Mandy, you didn't miss a thing. I have been kind of just out of interest watching what was going on with my like I always have done, even before I was an elected official. And when I heard on March twenty fourth that on March twenty fifth, the three commissioners were going to put home rule on the ballot, I was stunned because I had not seen or heard one word about home rule in the public meetings that the county government had been having, not one word.
So it is my understanding and you can correct me if I'm wrong here that not only did they make this announcement, they brought forth people that they want on the Charter Commission so they could all get their petitions signed by each other and be submitted so their names could go on the ballot to be on this Charter Planning Commission. Is that accurate?
That is accurate. There were two things that had to happen. First of all, on March twenty first, I'm sorry, March twenty fifth, the commissioners put on the ballot the question do you want to go to home rule? And we will see that on June twenty five. Right. The second question is to elect twenty one people who will write
that very precious, complicated charter. But what happened is the night before, on Monday night, the chair of the Republican Party sent out a letter an email that said, our amazing commissioners are going forward with home rule and these are the twenty one people they have hand picked to be on the Charter Commission.
So what is your group of people? You're a Republican, your Democrat, and you're independent. What are you guys alleging and what kind of relief are you seeking?
So we are alleging that, and we have hard evidence of this, that the commissioners have been meeting with the county Attorney and the county manager sometimes other people in unposted and unrecorded meetings in which they are talking about county business, and they are also going into executive session with other elected officials, starting with public meetings where they vote to go into executive session and tell the public what it is they're going to be talking about while
they are in executive session, and that that leads to the meeting that they had on March twenty fifth where they put home rule on the ballot. Because there was no public meeting before that vote to put home rule on the ballot on that March twenty fifth meeting, we believe that that March twenty fifth meeting is no good, that it needs to be thrown out by the judge, and that then the commissioners will then be forced to go through a public process. Isn't that an interesting word?
A public process, so that the citizens of Douglas County see what they're talking about home rule, and then the commissioners can put it on the ballot again, but they need to do it the right way. NNDY not the wrong way.
So let me ask this question because I also understand that they have spoken to private groups like Parker Conservatives. Those meetings were not open to the public, and more than one county commissioner was there. But I want to ask you because I know, you know what if parameters for going into executive session, they're very limited, aren't they.
Oh, you're absolutely right, Nandy. Twenty four to sixty four to zero two is the open meetings flaw, and it has a few exceptions. For example, if the commissioners want to buy a piece of real estate and they want to go into an executive session to find out from their broker what's the right price and how do we negotiate to get the best price for the citizens. But even those meetings must be recorded and released to the
public once the deal is complete. Personnel matters are another reason that commissioners can go into executive sessions.
So they've just gone into executive session without having proper cause, correct, I mean, that's what it sounds like to me.
Well, that's what it sounds like to me having been a commissioner for eight years and fully well knowing because I worked in that process to know what it is and what it looks like.
So let me ask you another question about that specific part of it. It also seems to me that this entire process, and this is what really gives me pause, Laura, as a citizen of Douglas County, this process is being rushed along and I'm not sure why, and that makes me distrustful of the entire situation. This is much different than the way other counties like Weld County and I believe it's Pitkin County, have gone to home rule. I mean, those were true grassroots movements from citizens.
Correct, You're absolutely right. I've done a lot of research, looked up at old newspaper articles, both in Weld and Pitkin. A group of citizens got together and they were upset by the corrupt nature of their three commissioners because they were hiring their buddies, they were spending money like crazy.
So a group of citizens got together, got it on the ballot, wrote the charter, and you know what, they went to five commissioners because they felt that was a way to break up that power thing that was going on with their corrupt commissioners. So it was absolutely driven by the citizens in the only two home rule counties in the entire state of Colorado.
It's my understanding that George Teele wants to be on the Charter Commission, doesn't he?
Oh, George Abe and Kevin dan Winkle, all three of the commissioners assigned themselves to be the three at large people on the Charter.
Cos they've already assigned themselves to the commission.
Well, they have assigned themselves to the voting process that will happen on June twenty fourth, So that slate of twenty one people that the GOP chair sent out the night before this became official, the three of them are on the handpicked list of the twenty one people. And let me tell you what's going to happen, Mandy. In June, mailboxes are going to fill up with slash email pieces
with pictures of crime. Thing. If you want to keep crime out of Douglas County, vote for home rule and vote for these twenty one people because they are going to preserve your rights. That's what's going to happen.
Well, I am increasingly distrustful of this process. I am increasingly distrustful of this County Commission. And the only way that I think I would move forward if the charter Commission came out with a charter that said none of the current board members may run for reelection on the county Commission. I think that's the If they're going to put themselves on the board, they cannot write a charter that allows them to enrich themselves in any way, shape
or form. So if they want to exclude themselves from further service, then maybe I would accept it. But this all stinks to high heaven. And Laura, I know that you have a lot of animosity towards two of the board members who I believe treated you extremely unfairly. And I want to say that because there's going to be people who are going to say, Laura Thomas is just sour grapes. But the reality of what Laura is saying is still right. Okay, it's she's not wrong here, So Laura,
I appreciate this. Now, are you guys filing suit? What are you looking for specifically in relief? I'm sorry, I know you already said that.
So this morning we did file a lawsuit in Douglas District Court. We're asking that the commissioners start following the law. We are asking the judge to provide an injunction that requires they follow open meetings laws. If they don't, then it becomes a criminal matter, and we're asking that the judge do an injunction that invalidates that March twenty fifth meeting when they put home rule on the ballot, only so that it forces them to do it the right way.
We're not saying we don't want people to vote. We just want the commissioners to put the question on the ballot the right way so that there's transparency involved.
It's that keyword, right and transparency is key. Laura Thomas, I appreciate you and all you do to look out for the people of Douglas County. We're obviously going to be talking about this as it moves forward, and I've urged people in Douglas County who want to be on this commission you have to have your paperwork in by Thursday at five pm, and I put a link on yesterday's blog about that. Laura will talk about this as the story develops. I appreciate the time today
Thank you for caring about the citizens of Douglas County because you are one of us, exactly exactly right,