Thurston County Commissioner Carolina Mejia abruptly left Tuesday afternoon’s meeting after saying fellow Commissioner Emily Clouse should be held “to the same standards of what I would expect from any elected official in this community if confronted with a complaint like this.”
The statements by Mejia came after a public comment period where several attendees defended Clouse and said the board acted prematurely in removing her from her appointments.
“First of all, I’m so disappointed and incredibly frustrated,” Mejia said at the beginning of her remarks. “These past three weeks have been a waste of government resources, taxpayer money and a huge emotional burden. I’m disappointed because I’m seeing what I myself have experienced and what other people of color experience over and over in these systems. I’ve seen this situation play out a million times.”
Following her roughly three-minute-long remarks, Mejia said she would excuse herself “from the rest of the meeting” and left the commissioner’s chamber. Mejia did not return to the dais with her fellow commissioners following an approximately 20-minute-long recess.
On Wednesday, a representative for Mejia said the commissioner would “not be providing any additional comments at this time.”
In a statement, Maia Robbins, an attorney representing Clouse, wrote that “the citizens of Thurston County expect their elected officials to do the work they were elected to do, as opposed to engaging in the performative theatrics and name-calling (which is what we saw yesterday) that are sadly typical of the national political scene.”
Clouse was temporarily removed from all appointed boards and commissions through a vote of her fellow commissioners last week as the county investigates what Robbins described as a “brief dating relationship” with a colleague.
The decision to temporarily remove Clouse from boards and commissions has divided the Board of Commissioners, with Commissioner Tye Menser telling The Chronicle last week the move was “a premature step at this point.”
The results of the investigation — which is being conducted by a third party — will be made public, Commissioner Gary Edwards told The Chronicle last week.
A Democrat, Clouse was elected to the Thurston County Board of Commissioners with 59.9% of the vote during the 2023 election.
Robbins told The Chronicle last week that the county has opted to conduct the investigation “out of an abundance of caution” and it would “reveal nothing more interesting than someone dating their coworker: something that happens every day in America’s workplaces.”
On Tuesday, Mejia seemed to take exception with Robbins’ remarks.
“None of you have cared to think about how the person who stepped forward is doing,” Mejia said. “How they also deserve accountability, how their mental or emotional health is doing.”
During the public comment period, one attendee who said he volunteered for Clouse during the 2023 election said commissioners should “respect the voters of Thurston County and the results of the last election, where Ms. Clouse received more than 60% of the vote, and reinstate her full powers and authority so that she can do the job that we elected her to do.”
Another attendee said he felt the board’s actions were an “overreaction.”
“I feel like it’s premature, and you should wait until the investigation is completed,” the attendee said. “And I feel like it’s punitive. And it’s not just punitive to Commissioner Clouse, but it’s punitive to all of the people who voted for her, all of the people who support her.”
Robbins said that Clouse has not and would not ask anyone to speak on her behalf during public comment.
Immediately following the public comment period, Mejia told Menser that she “had a statement to make” before appearing to read from prepared remarks.
“I, myself, have been scared to speak out because it is easier to believe the white women’s tears and easier to paint the narrative of the angry brown women,” Mejia said Tuesday. “It’s easy for her to say that I don’t like her and for people to believe her, than for people to know why I’m keeping my distance and the way she has made me feel.”
“Commissioner Clouse has used her position of power and system and made it work for her,” Mejia said.
In a statement provided to The Chronicle, Robbins said Mejia’s “over-the-top response to these concerned citizens was unnecessarily hostile and raised spurious claims of racism that are nowhere to be found in the complaint under investigation, which concerns the demise of a garden-variety workplace dating relationship.”
“That’s why at yesterday’s meeting, multiple citizens in the community came forward of their own accord to publicly implore the Board to end this sideshow and allow Commissioner Clouse to continue doing the job she was elected to do,” Robbins said.
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