I don't quite understand how Commissioners Laydon and Teal can take Commissioner Lora Thomas to task for requesting reimbursement of approximately $6,000 in legal costs she incurred defending herself from baseless charges levied by her fellow elected officials.

This request stems from Laydon and Teal hiring an outside attorney (with county funds) to investigate Lora re: a memo released on the DC Sheriff's Department. The outside counsel did not find any cause to bring any additional charges forward. The cost to the county taxpayers was $ 24,000.

In May, Laydon had the county pay $ 17,000 for his 3-week training class at Harvard. Laydon announced that he would pursue grants to cover this individual expense, and if he was not able to obtain grants, he would reimburse the county for the $17,000. To date, not one dime has been repaid.

Using my calculator, I come up with $41,000 in county expenses paid for by requests from Laydon and Teal. Am I missing something? When Laydon and Teal can approve whatever amount they want (we won't add in the $200,000 approved for the Douglas County Community Foundation by Laydon and Teal), but they insist that Lora not only pay her own legal expense, brought on by them, but no the county cannot reimburse her legal expenses? Lora's only recourse is to file suit against the county. For retaliation, Laydon and Teal have revoked Lora's county credit card, and refuse to reimburse any of her expenses for county commissioner business? Sounds to me like they are forcing her to quit, which I doubt will happen. These three elected officials supposedly work for the voting residents, but it appears in Lora's case, she works for only Laydon and Teal?

I find it appalling that there does not seem to be any veto power over the actions of Laydon and Teal. They can approve any expenditure in their way of thinking, but heaven help anyone who voices criticism for their actions. Is this what we thought we were getting with these two elected officials?