Speaker 1: Joining me now is a woman who has put up
Speaker 1: with more than most politicians have to put up with.
Speaker 1: She is former Douglas County Commissioner Laura Thomas. But because
Speaker 1: Laura is not one to be cowed into silence or
Speaker 1: shrink quietly into the night, she's back with two. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess we should say bipartisan trip. How do you
Speaker 1: describe this group that you've assembled here, Laura to ask
Speaker 1: for some accountability from the current board.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me on, Mandy. And we are
Speaker 2: three individuals. One is a Republican, one is a Democrat,
Speaker 2: one is an unaffiliated voter, and almost fifty percent of
Speaker 2: voters in Douglas County are unaffiliated today, and so the
Speaker 2: three of us came together because it doesn't matter what
Speaker 2: political strife you are, every person in this county, in
Speaker 2: this country should demand transparency from their government.
Speaker 1: Correct. It's one of the cornerstones. And it's been very
Speaker 1: fresh trading to me to see how that transparency has
Speaker 1: been eroded under the Gold Dome. And we'll talk more
Speaker 1: about that later, but right now, you guys are talking
Speaker 1: specifically about the movement to move Douglas County to a
Speaker 1: home rural county. And I'm not going to pretend that
Speaker 1: I know all of the ins and outs of this,
Speaker 1: but I am already what's the sort I'm looking for?
Speaker 1: Skeptical that this operation is a grassroots movement by the
Speaker 1: people of Douglas County, because the Board of County Commissioners
Speaker 1: announced it as if they'd been chatting about it for
Speaker 1: some time, even though as far as I could tell,
Speaker 1: there'd been no public conversations about it up to the
Speaker 1: point where they announced that they were doing this. What
Speaker 1: did I miss? First of all, were there discussions during
Speaker 1: County commission meetings that I missed? What happened here? How
Speaker 1: did it just spring forth out of whole cloth like this?
Speaker 2: So, Mandy, you didn't miss a thing. I have been
Speaker 2: kind of just out of interest watching what was going
Speaker 2: on with my like I always have done, even before
Speaker 2: I was an elected official. And when I heard on
Speaker 2: March twenty fourth that on March twenty fifth, the three
Speaker 2: commissioners were going to put home rule on the ballot,
Speaker 2: I was stunned because I had not seen or heard
Speaker 2: one word about home rule in the public meetings that
Speaker 2: the county government had been having, not one word.
Speaker 1: So it is my understanding and you can correct me
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong here that not only did they make
Speaker 1: this announcement, they brought forth people that they want on
Speaker 1: the Charter Commission so they could all get their petitions
Speaker 1: signed by each other and be submitted so their names
Speaker 1: could go on the ballot to be on this Charter
Speaker 1: Planning Commission. Is that accurate?
Speaker 2: That is accurate. There were two things that had to happen.
Speaker 2: First of all, on March twenty first, I'm sorry, March
Speaker 2: twenty fifth, the commissioners put on the ballot the question
Speaker 2: do you want to go to home rule? And we
Speaker 2: will see that on June twenty five. Right. The second
Speaker 2: question is to elect twenty one people who will write
Speaker 2: that very precious, complicated charter. But what happened is the
Speaker 2: night before, on Monday night, the chair of the Republican
Speaker 2: Party sent out a letter an email that said, our
Speaker 2: amazing commissioners are going forward with home rule and these
Speaker 2: are the twenty one people they have hand picked to
Speaker 2: be on the Charter Commission.
Speaker 1: So what is your group of people? You're a Republican,
Speaker 1: your Democrat, and you're independent. What are you guys alleging
Speaker 1: and what kind of relief are you seeking?
Speaker 2: So we are alleging that, and we have hard evidence
Speaker 2: of this, that the commissioners have been meeting with the
Speaker 2: county Attorney and the county manager sometimes other people in
Speaker 2: unposted and unrecorded meetings in which they are talking about
Speaker 2: county business, and they are also going into executive session
Speaker 2: with other elected officials, starting with public meetings where they
Speaker 2: vote to go into executive session and tell the public
Speaker 2: what it is they're going to be talking about while
Speaker 2: they are in executive session, and that that leads to
Speaker 2: the meeting that they had on March twenty fifth where
Speaker 2: they put home rule on the ballot. Because there was
Speaker 2: no public meeting before that vote to put home rule
Speaker 2: on the ballot on that March twenty fifth meeting, we
Speaker 2: believe that that March twenty fifth meeting is no good,
Speaker 2: that it needs to be thrown out by the judge,
Speaker 2: and that then the commissioners will then be forced to
Speaker 2: go through a public process. Isn't that an interesting word?
Speaker 2: A public process, so that the citizens of Douglas County
Speaker 2: see what they're talking about home rule, and then the
Speaker 2: commissioners can put it on the ballot again, but they
Speaker 2: need to do it the right way. NNDY not the
Speaker 2: wrong way.
Speaker 1: So let me ask this question because I also understand
Speaker 1: that they have spoken to private groups like Parker Conservatives.
Speaker 1: Those meetings were not open to the public, and more
Speaker 1: than one county commissioner was there. But I want to
Speaker 1: ask you because I know, you know what if parameters
Speaker 1: for going into executive session, they're very limited, aren't they.
Speaker 2: Oh, you're absolutely right, Nandy. Twenty four to sixty four
Speaker 2: to zero two is the open meetings flaw, and it
Speaker 2: has a few exceptions. For example, if the commissioners want
Speaker 2: to buy a piece of real estate and they want
Speaker 2: to go into an executive session to find out from
Speaker 2: their broker what's the right price and how do we
Speaker 2: negotiate to get the best price for the citizens. But
Speaker 2: even those meetings must be recorded and released to the
Speaker 2: public once the deal is complete. Personnel matters are another
Speaker 2: reason that commissioners can go into executive sessions.
Speaker 1: So they've just gone into executive session without having proper cause, correct,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what it sounds like to me.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what it sounds like to me having been
Speaker 2: a commissioner for eight years and fully well knowing because
Speaker 2: I worked in that process to know what it is
Speaker 2: and what it looks like.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you another question about that specific
Speaker 1: part of it. It also seems to me that this
Speaker 1: entire process, and this is what really gives me pause, Laura,
Speaker 1: as a citizen of Douglas County, this process is being
Speaker 1: rushed along and I'm not sure why, and that makes
Speaker 1: me distrustful of the entire situation. This is much different
Speaker 1: than the way other counties like Weld County and I
Speaker 1: believe it's Pitkin County, have gone to home rule. I mean,
Speaker 1: those were true grassroots movements from citizens.
Speaker 2: Correct, You're absolutely right. I've done a lot of research,
Speaker 2: looked up at old newspaper articles, both in Weld and Pitkin.
Speaker 2: A group of citizens got together and they were upset
Speaker 2: by the corrupt nature of their three commissioners because they
Speaker 2: were hiring their buddies, they were spending money like crazy.
Speaker 2: So a group of citizens got together, got it on
Speaker 2: the ballot, wrote the charter, and you know what, they
Speaker 2: went to five commissioners because they felt that was a
Speaker 2: way to break up that power thing that was going
Speaker 2: on with their corrupt commissioners. So it was absolutely driven
Speaker 2: by the citizens in the only two home rule counties
Speaker 2: in the entire state of Colorado.
Speaker 1: It's my understanding that George Teele wants to be on
Speaker 1: the Charter Commission, doesn't he?
Speaker 2: Oh, George Abe and Kevin dan Winkle, all three of
Speaker 2: the commissioners assigned themselves to be the three at large
Speaker 2: people on the Charter.
Speaker 1: Cos they've already assigned themselves to the commission.
Speaker 2: Well, they have assigned themselves to the voting process that
Speaker 2: will happen on June twenty fourth, So that slate of
Speaker 2: twenty one people that the GOP chair sent out the
Speaker 2: night before this became official, the three of them are
Speaker 2: on the handpicked list of the twenty one people. And
Speaker 2: let me tell you what's going to happen, Mandy. In June,
Speaker 2: mailboxes are going to fill up with slash email pieces
Speaker 2: with pictures of crime. Thing. If you want to keep
Speaker 2: crime out of Douglas County, vote for home rule and
Speaker 2: vote for these twenty one people because they are going
Speaker 2: to preserve your rights. That's what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: Well, I am increasingly distrustful of this process. I am
Speaker 1: increasingly distrustful of this County Commission. And the only way
Speaker 1: that I think I would move forward if the charter
Speaker 1: Commission came out with a charter that said none of
Speaker 1: the current board members may run for reelection on the
Speaker 1: county Commission. I think that's the If they're going to
Speaker 1: put themselves on the board, they cannot write a charter
Speaker 1: that allows them to enrich themselves in any way, shape
Speaker 1: or form. So if they want to exclude themselves from
Speaker 1: further service, then maybe I would accept it. But this
Speaker 1: all stinks to high heaven. And Laura, I know that
Speaker 1: you have a lot of animosity towards two of the
Speaker 1: board members who I believe treated you extremely unfairly. And
Speaker 1: I want to say that because there's going to be
Speaker 1: people who are going to say, Laura Thomas is just
Speaker 1: sour grapes. But the reality of what Laura is saying
Speaker 1: is still right. Okay, it's she's not wrong here, So Laura,
Speaker 1: I appreciate this. Now, are you guys filing suit? What
Speaker 1: are you looking for specifically in relief? I'm sorry, I
Speaker 1: know you already said that.
Speaker 2: So this morning we did file a lawsuit in Douglas
Speaker 2: District Court. We're asking that the commissioners start following the law.
Speaker 2: We are asking the judge to provide an injunction that
Speaker 2: requires they follow open meetings laws. If they don't, then
Speaker 2: it becomes a criminal matter, and we're asking that the
Speaker 2: judge do an injunction that invalidates that March twenty fifth
Speaker 2: meeting when they put home rule on the ballot, only
Speaker 2: so that it forces them to do it the right way.
Speaker 2: We're not saying we don't want people to vote. We
Speaker 2: just want the commissioners to put the question on the
Speaker 2: ballot the right way so that there's transparency involved.
Speaker 1: It's that keyword, right and transparency is key. Laura Thomas,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you and all you do to look out
Speaker 1: for the people of Douglas County. We're obviously going to
Speaker 1: be talking about this as it moves forward, and I've
Speaker 1: urged people in Douglas County who want to be on
Speaker 1: this commission you have to have your paperwork in by
Speaker 1: Thursday at five pm, and I put a link on
Speaker 1: yesterday's blog about that. Laura will talk about this as
Speaker 1: the story develops. I appreciate the time today
Speaker 2: Thank you for caring about the citizens of Douglas County
Speaker 2: because you are one of us, exactly exactly right,