Chapter 8 / Commissioners from Hell

• March 9, 2021 - County Commissioner George Teal thanks Douglas County Joe Oltmann, conspiracist and grifter, for threatening violence during a COVID protest.  
• A few months prior, on January 6, 2021, Oltmann was in attendance at the Trump war-room  at the Williard Hotel in Washington DC. with Rudy Gulliani and several trump associates. 
• Oltmann is the author of the Dominion Voting Systems conspiracy, and currently a defendant in the Coomer vs Trump Election Campaign.  
• JSNE attended the County Commissioner Meeting in June, 2021, and provided a public comment  about Teal's relationship with Oltmann. Teal did not respond.  
• At no time did Teal denounce Oltmann's subsequent "hanging" threats against Governor Polis and Secretary of State Griswold, or Oltmann's multiple threats against public officials and residents.   

• Commissioner Lora Thomas is a charter signer of the FEC United public official pledge.  
• FEC United is a Radical Right anti-government and militia group headed by Joe Oltmann.  
• JSNE attended the County Commissioner Meeting in June, 2021, and provided a public comment  about Thomas' relationship with Oltmann and FEC United. 
• In response, Thomas stated that she agreed with the core pledge, and denied she was an active member of FEC United.
• At no time has she denounced Oltmann's subsequent "hanging" threats against Governor Polis and Secretary of State Griswold, or Oltmann's multiple threats against public officials and residents.   

Colorado Community Media by Ellis Arnold, September 15, 2023

In what could signal a turning point in the string of recent 2-to-1 conflicts on Douglas County’s board of elected leaders, Commissioner Abe Laydon voted against the fourth attempt in less than a month to reprimand Commissioner Lora Thomas.  Specifically, Teal proposed to remove Thomas from positions on organizations including the High Line Canal Conservancy; the Douglas County Emergency Telephone, or 911, authority; and the Unified Forensic Lab board.

Denver Post, September 3, 2021

"Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon is a political coward. Faced with a tough task — telling parents and kids that for the good of the community they must wear masks in schools — Laydon and his fellow shells of public officials cowed to an angry mob that makes up a minority of voices in their sprawling suburban community.

The commission voted to leave Tri-County Health because public health officials ordered that school districts require teachers, staff and students to wear masks. This is a myopic and selfish decision born of an arrogance that makes people like Laydon unable to fathom that suffering occurring abroad or even in Southern states could happen in his community.

Laydon’s victory speech would be laughable if there weren’t children gasping for air in hospitals across the nation right now.   “So I would just like to again assure moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas that in Douglas County, you can have cost-effective, efficient, exceptional public health services, and also retain your freedom and your decision-making ability around your family’s health care decisions,” he said, straightfaced, pretending that wearing a mask for a legitimate public health crisis infringes on “freedom.” 

 It takes some gumption for Douglas County commissioners to ignore the pleas of the very health care providers serving on the front lines of a virus that has strained their staff and facilities for months without end. 

We understand that there is a legitimate debate about how well masks work to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and we’ve reviewed many relevant scientific studies. Masks work by capturing exhaled droplets capable of taking the coronavirus and other viruses airborne. Cloth masks are not perfect, but we are convinced by data and common sense that masks do help reduce the transmission of airborne viruses." 

 Colorado Community Media (CCM), November 23, 2021
"As Denver, Adams, Arapahoe and Jefferson counties implement new indoor mask mandates amid rising cases and hospitalizations of COVID-19, Douglas County’s Board of Health is not considering such a move, according to a county spokesperson.
During a Tuesday work session, the county commissioners — two of whom are also county health board members — were updated on the latest COVID-19 figures in the county, which at the time showed about 90 people in local hospitals for the disease and eight deaths so far this month.The county’s ICU capacity was 101% full and the inpatient beds were 91% occupied, according to the Tri-County Health Department’s data dashboard.  “We are seeing breaking points in other systems around the state and the metro area,” county Commissioner George Teal said in the meeting. “I have an appreciation for the system here in Douglas County being stressed. There’s a big difference between a system being stressed versus a system breaking.”
Teal and Commissioner Lora Thomas both serve on the county’s recently-formed board of health.Unlike nearby counties with new indoor mask-wearing mandates, Douglas County has a public health order in effect that prevents businesses from requiring masks. While that order originally halted mask mandates in schools, it no longer applies to the school district after a federal lawsuit was filed against the board of health.