Lora Thomas's SPOTLIGHT 25-17

This section is copied from former Commissioner Lora Thomas's Newsletter dated 5-10-25, #25-17

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Opposition to Home Rule Getting More Visible

I found this 90-second video on NextDoor about concerns with the way home rule is being brought to a vote in a surprise special election next month in Douglas County, and thought you might like to take a look.  It's also something you can share with others as it brings up many important points and questions.

What's interesting about the length of this video--90 seconds--is that is the same amount of time it took the Douglas County Commissioners to discuss and vote to put the most monumental decision about county governance on the ballot - a mere 90 seconds!  

They were on a tight time schedule because for several weeks they had been planning the 1:15PM Press Conference that took place AFTER the 1PM Special Business Meeting where home rule was put on the ballot because there was a regular Business Meeting scheduled at the normal time of 1:30PM!   

An interesting piece of testimony during the April 29 hearing was that the matter of putting home rule on the ballot was too important to include in the previously scheduled Business Meeting at 1:30PM on March 25 so a Special Business Meeting needed to be held concerning home rule - and then it only took 90 seconds to actually discuss home rule!!

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Sample Ballot for the June 24th Election.

Ballots for the June 24th Special Election that will cost taxpayers $500,000 will be mailed on June 2; ballots needed to comply with the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 will be sent out even earlier.

The wording for the first question every voter will be asked to decide:

"Shall the voters of Douglas County, State of Colorado, elect a County Home Rule Charter Commission to study the structure and organization of Douglas County government?"

What I LOVE about this specific ballot question is that it makes clear that the only things that the Home Rule Charter can address are the "structure and organization" of our county government!  It says NOTHING about deciding which state laws we don't like and are going to OPT ourselves out of!!

The next ballot question pertains to the election of 3 At-Large members for the Charter Commission; every voter will have the ability to vote for 3 candidates on his/her ballot.

Then, ballots will be styled in three different formats, depending on which of the three county commissioner districts in which the voter resides.  Each voter in each of the three commissioner districts will receive one ballot on which you first vote YES or NO on the question of should the county have a Charter Commission study the structure and organization of our government.

Then, regardless of how each voter votes on the first question, each voter can then vote for up to 3 At-Large Charter Commission members.

Finally, depending upon your commissioner district, your ballot will contain the names of candidates to represent the commissioner district in which YOU live.   

Here are the lists of candidates in the order each voter will see them in on their ballot.

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More Evidence Discovered That Commissioners Violated Open Meetings Laws

As we continue reviewing records pertaining to the operations of the Douglas County Commissioners since Van Winkle entered the scene in December 2024, we are surprised at the continued revelations in yet more evidence of Open Meetings violations. 

This week we located an email from a veteran journalist responding to a March 25 email at 10:37AM from Caroline Frizell, the county's Director of Communication, concerning information about "Douglas County Announcement" that was EMBARGOED (delayed release) until 1:30PM that day.

Ernest Luning from Colorado Politics wrote on March 25 at 11:02AM in response to the embargoed news release:

"What's with an embargo until 15 minutes AFTER they've already taken formal action?"

(Here's the really relevant part!)  

"Also, if the board is aware at this point that they will approve this by formally voting on the issue, as your release states, does that mean that commissioners have already deliberated on the matter?  If so, was that done in properly noticed public meetings, as required by Colorado's Open Meetings Laws?"

Ernest Luning  Colorado Politics  

Folks, this tells us that the Opens Meetings Violation was so blatantly obvious that a seasoned journalist immediately noticed it, and within 30 minutes of receiving Frizell's email alerted her to the possible illegal action!!

Frizell's response was:  "Thank you for touching base. It's a posted meeting. In anticipation of interest in this, I was simply sending a courtesy heads-up in case people don't see the posted meeting." 

Essentially, a non-response ignoring the Luning's question and legitimate concern...