The three incumbent Douglas County Commissioners
The three incumbent Douglas County Commissioners are apparently in the revenge business, violating county ordinances to inflict retribution on those who dare to demand accountability or question their authoritarian rule.
Former Republican Central Committee board member Loretta Johnson built her home in Roseburg in 2004. She’s lived there for 22 years, enjoying the scenic environment and the company of good neighbors.
“But I was one of the petitioners,” Johnson explained, “trying to get hand counting (instead of electronic tabulation) on the ballot. And I supported the election fraud lawsuit against county clerk Dan Loomis.”
As a consequence of her connection to an election fraud lawsuit (case #25CV37488) so radioactive that every judge in Douglas County recused themselves, Tim Freeman, Chris Boice, and Tom Kress are subjecting Johnson to what can only be described as an unequal application of the law—as payback.
“That’s why I am being targeted,” said Johnson.
In 2020, Angelo Munk, owner of Munk Race Fab custom automobiles, bought the house next door to Johnson. In June 2024, Munk applied for a conditional use permit to build a single-story 40’ x 70’ oversize shop on his property.
Johnson and Munk and came to a mutual agreement regarding the location of the single-story structure. Munk promised Johnson that the proposed building would not be seen from Johnson’s home, so it “wouldn’t be a problem.”
Months went by and Johnson didn’t hear back from Munk. “He lives up the hill,” Johnson explained. “So, I couldn’t really see what he was doing.”
But unbeknownst to Johnson, in March of 2025, Munk met privately with the county planning department, requesting a “minor amendment” to his permit application but falsely claiming the proposed structure could not be seen from Johnson’s property.
In October 2025, Johnson discovered Munk had violated his conditional use permit by building the structure 28 feet closer to Johnson’s property line than the permit specified.
But worse, Munk was building a two-story structure, despite the fact that his permit specified that it was to be a single-story. This deviation legitimately constituted a “major [not minor] amendment,” requiring service of written notice to Johnson pursuant to Section 2.065 of Douglas County Land Use and Development Ordinance (LUDO).
But Johnson was never notified and in this way, her rights were taken away.
In Munk’s “minor amendment” application, he wrote that, from Johnson’s property, “trees block view of the building.”
But this assertion is patently false; the two story building is now a constant eyesore for Johnson.
Alarmed, Johnson went to the county planning commission and told them Munk lied on his application. But Johnson was surprised when she discovered planning manager Jeff Lehrbach had already approved Munk’s amended application without informing her—an application that clearly states that the building was to be a “single-story accessory structure.”
Johnson explained, “I asked the county to come out and inspect the site. I told them the setbacks were wrong. I even had to pay $1,000 for a survey to prove the building was off by 28 feet, just as I had told them.
“So, the planning department guy came out with a tape measure—he didn’t bring a EDM device—so it wasn’t very accurate because it’s on a slope. It was just ridiculous. I spent hours on the phone, trying to get help from the county.”
“I had left so many messages for Joshua Shacklee, the current Douglas County planning director; but he’d dodged my calls. But once I hired a lawyer, Dan McKinney, Shaklee finally answered the phone.
“Joshua Shacklee told me to have my attorney write a letter to Mr. Munk, asking him to plant trees to hide the new building so I wouldn’t have to look at it.
“Shacklee told me, ‘Nobody likes to get a letter from an attorney.’ And he said, if Mr. Munk didn’t comply, I should report to him before filing for a revocation. So I did all these things he asked.”
Johnson’s attorney, Dan McKinney, sent a November 25, 2025, letter to Munk that said, “You falsely stated to the planning department the new building would not be visible to neighbors as ‘trees are blocking the view of the building.’ Then you began construction of the building 28 foot closer to the property line than the county approval which you received…”
McKinney told Munk if he did not “discontinue construction on the building site…Ms. Johnson will seek to have your planning and approval revoked…pursuant to LUDO 3.52.450…”
But weeks went by and Munk never responded to McKinney’s letter.
On December 16, 2025, McKinney hand delivered a letter to Douglas County Planning Manager Jeff Lehrback and Planning Director Joshua Shacklee, requesting they issue a “Stop Work Order.”
But neither Lehrback nor Shacklee responded.
So, McKinney sent them another letter on December 31, 2025 asking for revocation. And yet he received no response. The county was stonewalling Johnson and her lawyer.
Photos of property after Munk built his 40 x 70′ two-story shop
Johnson was fed up. In February 2026, she went down to the planning department with her thick file of photos and correspondence documenting “the eyesore Mr. Munk had created.”
“Joshua Shacklee met me in the lobby,” Johnson remembered. By law, he had to take my request for revocation. But Shacklee told me he wasn’t going to respond to my letter or send anything to me in writing. He told me I could file for a revocation because the setbacks on the neighbors building were wrong, and because Mr. Munk had lied on his request for the ‘minor amendment.’
“But Shacklee told me that he wasn’t going to make Munk do anything,” Johnson remembered, “He said the damage was already done and there was nothing that he could do about it.”
“When I asked him to send me his response in writing, so I could appeal to the state of Oregon, he outright refused. Joshua Shacklee told me that he would not put it in writing because ‘he did not want me to be able to appeal.’
“So, I said ‘Well, I did complete a violation form, and I will have your violation officer put the response in writing for me.
“And Shacklee told me, ‘No, I’ll make sure he does not. You can call in and they’ll just tell you over the phone. We’re not going to send you anything in writing.”
He also said he would not be answering her attorney’s letters.” Johnson was nearly in tears. “Please Joshua, you cannot just ignore this,” she implored him.
But Joshua Schacklee, under the direction of his superiors, the Douglas County Commissioners, took no action of any kind.
Apparently, the commissioners built a simple loophole in the permit system: if they never put it in writing, then there’s no way to appeal it to the State of Oregon.
Johnson admitted, “According to my attorney, they are required to enforce the setbacks in the conditional use permit. So, I decided I would contact one of the Douglas County Commissioners, Tom Kress. I have known him all my life. I grew up with him; I went to kindergarten with him; we graduated from high school together. And I thought, well, at least he’ll talk to me, and I can go to him, and he’ll help me resolve this issue.”
But Tom Kress, infamous for his lack of empathy, his propensity for gaslighting, and his penchant for stonewalling constituents and friends, predictably did not return Johnson’s many calls and emails.
“My attorney had written to the county,” Johnson remembered, “requesting a meeting with the commissioners or the planning department. But n the end, the county attorney Tiffany Podlesnik sent McKinney an email saying, “There will be no meeting.”
In his two-story 40 x 70’ shop, Johnson’s neighbor Angelo Munk builds high-end, top-dollar custom cars—apparently operating in direct violation of his county conditional use permit which plainly states that he is prohibited from operating a business at this location.
Johnson believes that the Douglas County Commissioners are acting out of retribution, allowing Munk to build his two-story shop, while ignoring planning and building codes and regulations as a form of payback.
“The reason I’m being treated this way,” Johnson admitted “is because my daughter Michaela Hammerson is party to Todd Vaughn’s election fraud lawsuit against county clerk Dan Loomis, stemming from the May 20, 2025 Douglas County election.
In response to this lawsuit, the Douglas County Commissioners installed bullet-proof glass in the courthouse election office and confiscated ballots.
Prior to bringing this lawsuit, a community election integrity group filed six separate requests to circulate a petition to find out if Douglas County voters wanted to hand-count ballots in Douglas County elections.
But Dan Loomis refused all six.
The lawsuit apparently has teeth because, at a January 30, 2026 hearing, the defendants’ attorney Stephen Joncus told the court that 286 ballots that had been cast and received but were never counted—apparently enough to possibly change the election outcome.
Joncus also explained that approximately 100 ballots from the same election were mailed to addresses that do not exist but they were somehow received and counted.
Although the county commissioners have lawyers on staff, for some reason they hired John A. DiLorenzo, Jr., a $1,500 an hour Portland, Oregon, attorney who specializes in government relations and elections, to represent County Clerk Loomis.
“My son-in-law,” Johnson explained, “Steve Hammerson is running against County Commissioner Chris Boice. He, and my daughter, and I were removed from Republican Central Committee executive board by a group led by county commissioners Chris Boice and Tim Freeman.”
According to Vaughn’s election fraud lawsuit, the Douglas County Commissioners orchestrated a recall vote against Vaughn, and fellow Republican Central Committee executive board members Loretta Johnson, and Steve and Michaela Hammerson. These individuals were investigating reports of alleged county election fraud.
But Douglas County Commissioner Chris Boice went so far as to draft an April 10, 2024 letter supporting the recall of the executive board members because he didn’t want anyone examine the ballots. Boice had County Clerk Dan Loomis—the plaintiff in the election fraud lawsuit—as well as, county District Attorney Rick Wesenberg, Sheriff John Hanlin, State Reps. Virgle Osborne, Christine Goodwin, and Court Boice, and State Senator David “Beijing” Brock Smith, sign the letter.
This is a textbook example of the glaring lack of impartiality and transparency on the part of elected officials serving Douglas County.
Johnson explained, “I believe I am being discriminated against because I was the plaintiff in 2022 lawsuit that challenged vote-by-mail and electronic tabulation. We made a freedom of information request to see the images of ballots from the disputed election, because they refused to do the recount we requested.’
“But County Clerk Dan Loomis was going to charge us $52,000 to see them!”
According to Rob Davis, an investigative reporter with ProPublica and The Oregonian newspaper, Douglas County regularly stonewalls news organizations and individuals by charging the most exorbitant and unprecedented fees in the nation for a simple public records request. Therese Bottomly, an editor at The Oregonian, wrote “Citizens have already paid once to create these records, through their tax dollars. They shouldn’t have to pay a second time.”
“I was part of the lawsuit” Johnson explained, “because people have lost faith in the electoral process. We were not asking for any money. All we were asking for was discovery, that’s all we wanted, just to be able to read those ballots.
“In Multnomah County, they charged us, I believe, $3,700 for ballot images. And I believe Lane County did too, and several of the counties gave them to us. But Douglas County was the first county to hire attorneys and to tell us no.”
Todd Vaughn’s 2025 election fraud lawsuit apparently has the Douglas County Commissioners scared. But if the county elections are fair and free, they have nothing to worry about, right?
One thing is clear: the Douglas County Commissioners are in the revenge business.
Who will be their next target? Can we abide four more years of living in a rural, broke, clearcut county run by a cabal of self-enriching mafiosos?
Vote early and often.
