Douglas chairman: I'm not quitting

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. - Embattled Douglas County Commission Chairman Tom Worthan repeatedly apologized for his racist comments reported last week, but told a packed work session he will not heed calls to quit.

Community and elected black leaders gathered on the courthouse steps and earlier in that work session, upset with what they saw in the FOX 5 I-Team report.

We obtained cell phone video recorded by Mark Dodd, a white supporter of black candidates running for sheriff and chairman.

Dodd walked up to Worthan at a county festival last month with his cell phone in his shirt pocket. Here's part of the exchange:

Dodd: What are we going to do if Pounds wins and that girl wins? What's going to happen? Be honest.
Worthan: Probably going to have to pack up and get out of here you know?
Dodd: I mean what's going to happen? Be honest. It's just me and the lamp post.
Worthan: Well, do you know of another government that's more black that's successful? They bankrupt you.

Worthan apologized numerous times during the work session, claiming he was baited or set up. He insisted to us last week he made the mistake of pandering for a vote and not speaking from his heart.

But several elected leaders, all but one of them African American, called for the three-term chairman to step down now, even though the general election is next month.

"Those comments, they hurt my heart," explained Douglas county commissioner Kelly Robinson.

"When you talked about black elected leaders, I thought you were talking about me," pointed out state senator Donzella James, who has worked with Worthan for years. She wants him to step down, too.

"We don't just want to oust him," she told the crowd gathered on the courthouse steps. "We want to cut out the cancer."

Douglas county's population is 45 percent black according to the last census.

The controversy spilled into Monday's work session, generally a calm time for commissioners to go over the mundane business of County government.

Instead, ten people signed up to speak, some standing only a few feet from the chairman as they repeatedly asked him to resign.