But "Cowboy Ted" Hallisey doesn't think commissioners will stop there.

"They plan on firing me," Hallisey said Wednesday. "If they do that, I'll file a lawsuit claiming there was no due process and wrongful termination."

Commissioners put Hallisey on leave for defying an directive that he attend a closed-door meeting with them earlier this week.

"Refusal to comply with a reasonable direction of the [commission]," commissioners wrote to Hallisey, "constitutes insubordination, an offense which could lead to disciplinary action, to and including termination."

The latest spat between the embattled tourism boss and commissioners comes after a closed-door May 19 meeting during which Hallisey said insubordination issues were raised concerning e-mails critical of Commission Chairman Dan Hulet that he acknowledges sending to another county employee.

Hallisey describes the e-mails as "tongue-in-cheek."

No action was taken May 19 after the meeting got mired in differences with Hallisey's attorney, Adam D. Ford, who attended by telephone.

Another meeting was set for Monday. Hallisey said he knew about the meeting, but wondered if it would go forward because his attorney had yet to receive material he requested from the county.

Commissioner Duke Cox said Wednesday that Hallisey knew about Monday's session because it was referenced during a June 5 Travel Council meeting.

Hallisey - executive director of Kane County's tourism office since 2003 and, as "Cowboy Ted," a popular anti-drug lecturer - suspects that commissioners are targeting him partly because he is running this year against Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab.

"That's entirely not true," Cox said. "All the issues concerning Ted happened long before he decided to run."

Commissioners, citing the closed nature of the earlier meeting, have not detailed their complaints about Hallisey. They have scheduled another session with him today at 5 p.m. Hallisey plans to attend and may ask commissioners to open it to the public.

For now, commissioners have ordered Hallisey not to incorporate his "Cowboy Ted" image into his job - a move he said his bosses encouraged when he was hired in October 2003.

Hallisey travels the country teaching youngsters to make healthy life choices.

"They said in the May 19 meeting that I had trouble separating my personal and political life from my professional life," he said.

So Hallisey has swapped his signature cowboy hat for a ball cap and his cowboy boots for sneakers.

mhavnes@sltrib.com