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Aman campaign worker fired after canvassing video surfaces

Aman said, "Clearly this is not consistent with how we want to run a campaign."

ATLANTA -- An Atlanta mayoral candidate said a campaign worker has been fired after a video of a campaign canvassing stop was distributed by a rival.

The video shows two men sporting Peter Aman campaign t-shirts knocking on the door of a home. A woman answers and asks the men if they noticed a Cathy Woolard sign posted outside her home.

"We did, but did you know that she's currently polling at sixth and considering putting her support behind Peter," one man says to the woman.

Woolard said that a supporter gave her the video. She denied any claims that she was going to drop out of the mayoral campaign.

"We've been working really hard to win this race," Woolard said. "We've raise over $1 million. We're out every single day knocking on doors -- not spreading rumors -- telling people the good news about me and why I should be mayor."

In an interview with 11Alive's Doug Richards on Monday. Aman said, "Clearly this is not consistent with how we want to run a campaign."

Aman said that one of the men seen in the video "made a misstatement" and said that individual "had been let go." The other man in the video was suspended for a week.

"This is consistent with what I've said about running organizations all along: whenever you find something that's going wrong, you need to hold people accountable," Aman said.

Aman said that the man in the video was a paid canvasser who had been with the campaign "for a couple of weeks."

Aman apologized to Woolard's team, saying "this is not the way we run our campaign."

The fired campaign worker was "very contrite," Aman said.

Woolard noted that it appeared as if the canvassers were rehearsing the message before knocking on the door, and Aman should take responsibility for their actions.

"They didn't pick up that message off the streets," she said. "He pays his canvassers, so I'm assuming they got trained on the message they're supposed to deliver, and that's just wrong."

Aman said the men in the video were trained, and that's why they were disciplined.

"No matter how many times you train people, you have to be able to hold people accountable who make mistakes," he said.

Woolard was tied with Aman in the latest 11Alive mayoral poll. Both will take part in an Atlanta Mayoral Forum Wednesday night hosted by 11Alive. It begins at 7 p.m.

RELATED | 11Alive's digital coverage of Atlanta Mayor's Race 2017

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