After years of bitter public battles between Douglas County’s three elected leaders, Commissioner Lora Thomas has resigned after claiming her colleagues were forcing her out of her office space at county headquarters – more than a month before her term expires.

For years, Thomas has been the target of “unfounded investigations and vindictive punishments” by Commissioners Abe Laydon and George Teal, Thomas said at a Dec. 6 news conference announcing her resignation.

She argued that she had experienced “insults, slander, harassment and unfounded investigations, oppression,” as well as “marginalization and outright removal as a duly elected county commissioner.”

Thomas said Teal and Laydon refused to let her appear in videos for Douglas’ upcoming State of the County meeting, an annual event aimed at highlighting the county’s actions.

“I now find it completely impossible to serve the people who elected me to the best of my ability, as promised,” Thomas said.

The Board of Commissioners is the county’s policymaking body. It approves Douglas’ annual budget and adopts local laws governing unincorporated areas or areas outside the city limits. This includes Highlands Ranch and many other parts of the county. Thomas and her fellow commissioners are all Republicans.

Thomas claims Teal and Laydon ordered district employees to “evict” them from their office space on December 9th.

“This directive was issued with the full knowledge and consent” of Republican state Sen. Kevin Van Winkle, who won election in November to become the new Douglas County commissioner starting in January, Thomas claimed.

“He has no legal authority to do business on behalf of the county,” Thomas said.

Thomas spoke of a meeting she said Teal and Laydon attended where it was decided to remove them from their office space.

Van Winkle told Colorado Community Media that he has not made a request for her position.

“I was shocked by the news this morning,” Van Winkle said Dec. 6. “Like most commissioners, my focus is on serving the people, and from my outside perspective, the thought of moving into the office next door never occurred to me.” Enabling redevelopment would impact their ability to serve Douglas County. “

In his opinion, Thomas “just moved into the office next door so their previous office conversions could be renovated over the holidays,” he said.

“Until I am sworn in, I have no authority or decision-making power over office space or district business,” Van Winkle said. “I was asked about the process for state representatives and senators during the transition and said we are leaving our positions before the end of our term.”

In a statement, Laydon said: “It is completely normal and common for boxes to be moved and transitions to begin following an election in November.”

“We are grateful for the peace, positivity and cooperation that Commissioner-elect Kevin Van Winkle will bring to Douglas County,” the statement continued.

CCM reached out to Laydon for comment on why Thomas should be moved out of her office space with over a month left in her term.

“Commissioner-designate Van Winkle will be actively trained and onboarded so he can hit the ground running from day one,” Laydon said. “This is a highly complex task and the process takes a lot of time. Facilities also needs to paint its office and install furniture, which also takes time.”

Laydon added: “We have offered to fully accommodate Lora with office space right next door on the same floor.”

When asked when he first moved into his county office after being elected to his first term as commissioner, Laydon did not directly address the question.

“The moment I won my election, I began working with the workforce, just like almost every other elected official everywhere,” Laydon said.

Thomas said she offered to move out of her office space on Jan. 6 to give employees time to transition at the start of Van Winkle’s term. Thomas’ term is not scheduled to end until Jan. 14, she said.

Thomas recently ran in the GOP primary for the House of Representatives to represent the Highlands Ranch area in the Capitol, but lost to Republican Matt Burcham, who ultimately lost to incumbent Democratic state Rep. Bob Marshall in the November election.

Thomas could not run for another term as county commissioner because her term is term-limited. According to the county website, she was elected commissioner in November 2016 and began her first term in January 2017. She was re-elected in 2020.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

RELATED