ICYMI: Commissioner's Racial Comments Heat Things Up at Douglas Political Forum

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — Fallout from a recording of the sitting county commission chairman's racially-loaded remarks heated things up at a candidates' forum in Douglas County on Tuesday night.

Commission Chairman Tom Worthan, a Republican, was asked directly how he would repair damaged caused by his comments, CBS-46 reported.

Worthan responded that he has reached out and asked for forgiveness for his comments, the report says. But he also called out the man who recorded his comments and who was present at the forum.

Worthan said Mark Dodd "baited" him into making the comments, which were recorded on a hidden device.

"You are a racist," CBS-46 says Dodd yelled from the crowd.

In the tape recording, Worthan says:

• That governments run by black people "bankrupt you."
• That if Tim Pounds, a black candidate for sheriff, is elected "he would put a bunch of blacks in leadership positions."
• That he's afraid Pounds would "put his black brothers in positions that maybe they’re not qualified to be in."

Worthan's opponent in his bid for re-election, Romona Jackson-Jones, is a black woman.

At the forum, Jackson-Jones did not address Worthan's comments directly. But she pointed to her years managing budgets at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

To read the CBS-46 report, click here.