Political postcards targeting Douglas County commissioner under scrutiny

Lora Thomas files campaign finance complaint

McKenna Harford
mharford@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Posted 1/19/23

Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office over political mailers accusing her of wasting taxpayers’ time and money.

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Political postcards targeting Douglas County commissioner under scrutiny

Lora Thomas files campaign finance complaint

Posted

Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office over political mailers attacking her on a number of topics and promoting a replacement.

In December and January, an unknown number of Douglas County residents received postcards that accused Thomas of wasting taxpayers' time and money, as well as supporting Democrats.

One postcard reads “You’re being scrooged by Lora Thomas” and asks voters to support state Sen. Kevin Van Winkle to replace Thomas. Thomas is term-limited and can’t run for her commissioner seat in 2023.

Another postcard claims Thomas is working with Democrat state Rep. Bob Marshall to expand the Board of County Commissioners from three people to five people.

Thomas filed a complaint on Jan. 9 because the postcard does not include a paid-for-by disclaimer and doesn’t indicate who sent the mailers outside of the postage license naming Vistaprint, a Nevada printing company.

Thomas told Colorado Community Media that she didn’t want to comment on her complaint while it’s under investigation.

Thomas’ complaint says that she doesn’t believe Sen. Van Winkle is involved despite the postcard touting his name.

One of the mailers also calls out the roughly $22,000 the county has spent to investigate allegations that Thomas inappropriately released a private anonymous letter sent to the commissioners. Two investigations, which were done at the direction of commissioners Abe Laydon and George Teal, concluded Thomas’ actions weren’t illegal.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office has yet to rule on whether the postcards violate campaign finance laws.

Douglas County Lora Thomas, political ads attacking Lora Thomas, Colorado campaign finance violation,

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