MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — The Monroe County Commission says they censured one of their members this week for inappropriate comments, which included asking a county employee about renting a gazebo for a “lynching” and suggesting Henry County had “turned black.” 

The commission says they voted Tuesday to censure Commissioner John Ambrose. The commission’s other four members voted unanimously for the censure — an official statement from a government body condemning certain conduct.

After an outside investigation, the commission said Commissioner John Ambrose made two comments that were “patently offensive” and demeaning toward Black people. They said the comments were made to county employees. 

According to the resolution, the law firm Jarrad & Davis investigated the complaints against Ambrose.

In Fall 2025, the investigation found “credible evidence” that Ambrose called the Monroe County Conference center asking to rent out a conference room and a gazebo in front of the building. 

According to the resolution, he asked the employee to allow him “to carry out a public hanging or ‘lynching’ at the Gazebo…. [and] the first person to be hanged would be former Commissioner Larry Evans, an African American.”

The resolution described the statements as “patently offensive and demeaning to African Americans, are contrary to good public service, and serve no legitimate purpose in the workplace.” 

Then, in Jan. 6, the investigation says Ambrose visited the office of county manager Lorri Robinson, who was introducing him to the new finance director Angie Sorrow. 

When the county manager told Ambrose that Sorrow used to work in Henry County, they say Ambrose said, “‘Henry County has turned,” pointing to Ms. Robinson black jacket sleeve.

They say this suggested that Henry County had “tuned black,” a reference to its increase in Black population in recent years.

Ambrose then reportedly told the city manager and finance director, “I don’t have anything against them, we should all own one or two.” 

“Both Ms. Robinson and Ms. Sorrow reasonably believed that Commissioner Ambrose was advocating for slavery and suggesting, perhaps in jest, that everyone should own one or two African Americans,” the resolution said.

The resolution comes after the commission moved unanimously to withdraw an ethics complaint filed by the four commissioners last month. Chairman Alan Gibbs says that an ethics hearing would have cost additional legal fees while not likely leading to any further punishment.

“I don’t appreciate those comments going out to people,” Gibbs said. “We have to respect people’s values and who they are in the world. So that’s why I agreed to this censure.”

According to a county statement about this week’s meeting, Ambrose argued his comments were “taken out of context” and he never got to “face his accusers.” He called the censure “political assassination” ahead of this year’s county election.