DENVER (KDVR) — Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas resigned from her position after she was reportedly prematurely removed from her office, citing continued attacks, harassment and punishment from her colleagues as the reason for her resignation.

Thomas announced her resignation Friday, just over a month before her second and final term ends on Jan. 14, 2025, and Commissioner-elect Kevin Van Winkle will take the seat.

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Thomas said her resignation, effective Friday, comes after she was ordered to vacate district office premises by Dec. 9, six weeks before her term expires. Thomas said Van Winkle knew about the order and agreed to it.

“After a four-year onslaught of false accusations, insults, slander, harassment and unfounded investigations, suppression, censorship, marginalization and outright removal as a duly elected county commissioner, I am absolutely unable to provide the level of effective representation required. “I have strived to provide something for the people of Douglas County for the past eight years,” Thomas said in a news release.

Thomas said she was expelled from her district office by her colleagues during a Dec. 4 meeting when Commissioner George Teal and Commissioner Abe Laydon allegedly said that Thomas should be ousted immediately.

Thomas said in a news release that she offered to leave her office on Jan. 6.

“It was completely unnecessary to force me out of my office before my term expired; “It’s just another petty, spiteful harassment from Teal and Laydones. It is unfortunate that Kevin Van Winkle has chosen to begin his first term as commissioner with such selfish and dishonorable intentions,” Thomas said.

Meanwhile, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners issued the following statement:

“It is tragic that our censured colleague repeatedly violated our policy manual and then held a press conference when the county was honoring the Kendrick Castillo family. It is completely normal and common for boxes to move and transitions to begin after an election in November. We are grateful for the peace, positivity and cooperation that Commissioner-elect Kevin Van Winkle will bring to Douglas County,” said the Board of Douglas County Commissioners.

According to the press release, this was not the only incident Thomas faced with commissioners.

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“For four years, Teal and Laydon have worked tirelessly to remove me as commissioner because I had the audacity to tell the people of this county exactly what they did to abuse their authority and waste taxpayer dollars to protect theirs to promote their own political advancement and benefit their friends and cronies,” said Thomas.

Thomas was first elected as a county commissioner in 2016.

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