Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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,
(00:20):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
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
(00:52):
this country should demand transparency from their government.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
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?
(01:21):
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
(01:46):
County commission meetings that I missed? What happened here? How
did it just spring forth out of whole cloth like this?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
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
(02:17):
one word about home rule in the public meetings that
the county government had been having, not one word.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
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?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
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
(03:09):
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.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
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?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
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
(03:57):
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
(04:21):
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
(04:42):
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.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
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.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
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
(05:32):
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.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So they've just gone into executive session without having proper cause, correct,
I mean, that's what it sounds like to me.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
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.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
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
(06:23):
believe it's Pitkin County, have gone to home rule. I mean,
those were true grassroots movements from citizens.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
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
(06:51):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It's my understanding that George Teele wants to be on
the Charter Commission, doesn't he?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Oh, George Abe and Kevin dan Winkle, all three of
the commissioners assigned themselves to be the three at large
people on the Charter.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Cos they've already assigned themselves to the commission.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
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
(07:53):
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.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
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
(08:29):
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
(08:50):
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.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
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
(09:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
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
(10:08):
the story develops. I appreciate the time today
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Thank you for caring about the citizens of Douglas County
because you are one of us, exactly exactly right,
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,
(00:20):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
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
(00:52):
this country should demand transparency from their government.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
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?
(01:21):
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
(01:46):
County commission meetings that I missed? What happened here? How
did it just spring forth out of whole cloth like this?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
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
(02:17):
one word about home rule in the public meetings that
the county government had been having, not one word.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
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?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
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
(03:09):
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.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
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?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
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
(03:57):
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
(04:21):
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
(04:42):
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.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
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.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
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
(05:32):
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.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So they've just gone into executive session without having proper cause, correct,
I mean, that's what it sounds like to me.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
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.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
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
(06:23):
believe it's Pitkin County, have gone to home rule. I mean,
those were true grassroots movements from citizens.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
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
(06:51):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It's my understanding that George Teele wants to be on
the Charter Commission, doesn't he?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Oh, George Abe and Kevin dan Winkle, all three of
the commissioners assigned themselves to be the three at large
people on the Charter.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Cos they've already assigned themselves to the commission.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
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
(07:53):
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.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
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
(08:29):
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
(08:50):
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.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
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
(09:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
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
(10:08):
the story develops. I appreciate the time today
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Thank you for caring about the citizens of Douglas County
because you are one of us, exactly exactly right,
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
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