'This Is About You Not Being Invited To A Party?' Douglas County Commission Meeting Devolves Into Bickering, Accusations
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - A fight over a controversial water proposal has turned into a power struggle on the Douglas County Commission. A meeting Monday afternoon got so heated, a resident interrupted and told the three commissioners to "act like adults."
They couldn't even agree on the purpose of the meeting. Chairwoman Laura Thomas accused Commissioners Abe Layden and George Teal of trying to oust her as chair.
They accused her of lying, just before they voted to remove her as Chair for all meetings involving a high-stakes water proposal. It calls for pumping water from the San Luis Valley into Douglas County.
Layden and Teal said Thomas couldn't chair the meetings because she had taken a public position opposing the proposal.
She countered that they had made Facebook ads for the group supporting it, "So for you to say you haven't weighed in on this Abe when you were in those videos makes me wonder what's going on here."
Teal interrupted Thomas and suggested she was jealous that she wasn't in an ad, "So this is all about you not being invited to a party?"
Layden, who along with Teal voted to make himself chair of the water meetings, accused Thomas of playing politics, "I'm not going to engage in more political theater teed up for self to create a circus."
Layden insists he hasn't taken a public position on the proposal.