Douglas County Commissioners 'spin' the results of $17,000 investigative report against one of their own
After spending $17 thousand in taxpayer money to investigate one of their own, two Douglas County Commissioners are refusing to release the investigator's report.
Board Chair Abe Laydon released a statement saying, "The results of this investigation support the decision to remove Lora Thomas as Chair."
Thomas calls that "spin" and is demanding the report be publicly released. While it found she did some of the things she's accused of, they are things she doesn't deny doing and things the investigation found were not only legal but harmless.
"I'm appalled that the public has been lied to about what is in this report," Thomas told CBS4.
For more than a year, Laydon and Commissioner George Teal have publicly accused Thomas of being divisive, dishonest, hostile, even a tumor.
"For years Lora Thomas has been a cancer on the body of this County," Laydon told CBS4 in April.
The investigative report tells a different story.
It's centered primarily on Thomas's connection to an anonymous letter alleging misconduct at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Thomas admits she circulated it as part of her campaign for sheriff, which she lost in the primary, "So yes, I did use the letter for political purposes." But, she says she didn't write the letter.
The investigation did not determine who wrote it and the investigator said that was immaterial to the allegations against Thomas. What the investigation did determine is that it was unlikely Thomas harmed or defamed anyone by releasing the letter.
The investigator wrote, "I find it more likely than not that Commissioner Thomas's publication of the Alleged Deputy Letter did not have a negative impact on County employees, including first responders. There is no evidence that morale among employees of the Sheriff's Office was actually harmed, that the reputation of the Sheriff's Office was actually undercut, or that any County employee resigned from employment because of Commissioner Thomas's publication of the Alleged Deputy Letter."
Thomas admits she did write a different letter, against the direction of Laydon and Teal, seeking the names of people who met with them about a multi-million dollar water project. They accused her of trying to doxx farmers who are in favor of it.
Thomas says she's since learned the meeting was with investors - like former Governor Bill Owens - not farmers.
"This is about big money and that's why I'm being silenced."
The investigation only examined whether she wrote the letter not the motivation behind it.
Thomas says she offered to be interviewed as part of the investigation if she could have an attorney present but she says the investigator didn't contact her.
While she says the report exonerated her, as an elected official, she says she can't bring a claim of slander or defamation.
What she really wants, she says, is for Laydon and Teal to publicly release the taxpayer funded report so the truth comes out.
"I want citizens to read the 12 page report and know I have been exonerated. I have not done the horrible things I've been accused of and I am not a cancer on Douglas County."
Commissioner Laydon declined an interview. In a statement he said, "Our valued citizens expect the county to govern, not be enmeshed in political sideshows which detract from out work."
Thomas agrees.
