The two-member majority of Douglas County’s elected leaders voted again in rebuke of the third member, this time restricting her ability to spend on matters of county affairs.

The move comes a week after Commissioners Abe Laydon and George Teal voted to remove Commissioner Lora Thomas from outside boards that oversee organizations in the community — and it comes two weeks after they voted to censure, or formally disapprove, of her.

That censure vote occurred in response to what one of the commissioners has called public shaming of county volunteers with inaccurate information.

Thomas in her email newsletter had criticized the actions of a volunteer board that advises the county on how arts and culture funding should be spent. She argued for the group to support spending a part of its funding in a different way.

Actions including “public shaming” by Thomas have “diminished the council’s morale,” James Smith, chair of the council, wrote in a letter offering to step down after Thomas had criticized the group.

In response to Thomas’ criticism, conflict continues among the county commissioners. Teal and Laydon voted at a Sept. 5 meeting to cancel Thomas’ county credit card, to suspend her travel and mileage allowance, and to take other action regarding Thomas’ expenses.

The county credit card covers spending for items like hotel rooms and airline travel on county business, according to county staff.

“You cannot prohibit my ability to work on behalf of the citizens of this county,” Thomas said at the meeting.

Laydon said a county policy manual provides for “budgetary restrictions” for those who break policy. Laydon and Teal had based their vote to censure Thomas on what they say is “behavior contrary to the Douglas County commissioner code of conduct.”

‘Not going to apologize’

Teal said Smith, in his letter offering resignation, requested an apology from Thomas.

“Do you want to give an apology … right now, to Mr. Smith?” Teal asked Thomas in the meeting.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Thomas said. “I’m not going to apologize for telling the public what’s going on.”

Thomas’ email newsletter had taken issue with the actions of the cultural council.

“This year there was more funding available for distribution than there were requests, but (Douglas County) commissioners did not learn about this windfall until after the council had made recommendations,” Thomas wrote in an Aug. 6 newsletter.

Organizations outside of Douglas County that can prove that they provide services to county residents are eligible for funding, according to Thomas’ newsletter. 

But “I felt strongly that after all of the requests for funding had been fulfilled, that the Cultural Council should disperse the additional (money) only to organizations located in Douglas County,” Thomas wrote. 

The cultural council recently met, and the request to keep the dollars in Douglas County failed on a 5-2 vote, according to Thomas’ newsletter.

Thomas’ newsletter criticized the decision and said: “I would like to give credit and applaud the courage of Cultural Council members Ann Speer and Sid Simonson who voted in the minority to respect Douglas County taxpayers and organizations.”

The newsletter then included a link that read: “Click here for a roster of the cultural council members.” It led to a page on the county’s website that describes the cultural council and lists its members.

Laydon had described the newsletter as engaging in “doxing,” which means to publicly identify or publish private information about someone.

Thomas has said that the link to all the board members’ names is public information on the county’s website.

Thomas at the Aug. 22 meeting said: “I did not post anybody’s picture or name in a public place.”

One of Thomas’ newsletters included what appears to be a screenshot of a videoconferencing meeting that includes video-feed images of members of the cultural council and their names.

Thomas has argued that when people get involved in government and have input on public spending, the public has the right to information.

Smith wrote in a document sent to the county that the cultural council’s funding should focus on impact to residents.

“The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District's primary goal is to ‘bring arts, culture, and scientific experiences within reach for every resident,’” the document said. “The residents of Douglas County are our primary stakeholders, and decisions should reflect their interests, not the interests of a handful of organizations that have a home office in Douglas County.”

(The cultural council works with the SCFD, the Denver-area arts funding district.)

Ultimately, Laydon expressed satisfaction with the council’s process. In the end, the county commissioners voted 3-0 to certify the funding as recommended by the cultural council, according to county staff.

‘Insinuating bad intent’

Laydon at the Sept. 5 meeting said the problem is not Thomas’ asking questions of the cultural council.

“It’s about you insinuating bad intent without information that can support that,” Laydon said.

Laydon said Thomas insinuated the Douglas County Community Foundation — a nonprofit that is building up a “relief fund” that can help take care of people during natural disasters or other emergencies — was mishandling funds. Laydon said that was not the case.

Thomas had also asked county staff to obtain from the foundation the budget for how dollars from the county were to be spent. 

“You know the information and you know that zero of these dollars have been used for their gala,” Laydon said.

Lawsuit and board removals

During a meeting of county officials on Aug. 28, along with Teal and Laydon’s vote to remove Thomas from outside boards, the two commissioners also voted to ensure that the county’s volunteer boards and some outside boards would hear of Thomas’ censure.

And in a separate matter, Thomas recently filed a lawsuit against Laydon and Teal, seeking to recover attorney fees she incurred amid accusations and investigations of her last year that stemmed from her release of documents.

“While Laydon and Teal directed multiple legal actions against me using county-funded lawyers, they forced me to personally shoulder my own legal expenses to defend against their ridiculous and outrageous allegations,” Thomas wrote in an Aug. 29 news release.

See Colorado Community Media’s coverage of the lawsuit and related details at tinyurl.com/CommissionersLawsuit.