ST. FRANCIS ? An incoming member of the Kansas State Board of Education has apologized for calling the mayor of a city in her district “an admitted past illegal immigrant.”

Connie Morris made the claim about Garden City Mayor Tim Cruz last week in an e-mail to an anti-immigration group based in Henderson, Nev.

Thursday, Morris said she had misunderstood a telephone conversation with Cruz last summer.

Morris, a St. Francis Republican, infuriated Hispanics during her election campaign with her contention that taxpayers should not have to pay for educating undocumented immigrants.

She defeated board chairman Sonny Rundell, a Syracuse Republican, in the August primary and again in the November election, when Rundell ran as a write-in candidate. Morris will be sworn in next month.

“I find it appalling that a person can break the law and enter the country illegally and end up as mayor,” Morris said last week in an interview.

Cruz was born in Garden City to parents who also were born in the United States.

Thursday, Morris said she “evidently misunderstood” some of the statements Cruz made to her last summer. She said she came to that conclusion after talking Wednesday with Cruz to clarify their earlier conversation.

“It was unintentional, but regretfully it appears I passed along inaccurate information,” Morris said. “I apologized to him directly for the misunderstanding … he graciously accepted my apology.”

Cruz said Friday that he didn’t know how Morris interpreted anything he said last summer to mean he had been an illegal immigrant.

“Her first comment to me when she called Wednesday was, ‘Do I owe you an apology?'” Cruz said. “I told her that was up to her.”

He said he hoped Morris learned not to jump to conclusions when people give her information she hasn’t researched for herself.

“Part of the problem that caused this misunderstanding is she doesn’t understand the concept of bilingual education,” he said. “I don’t think she’s ever talked to anybody about these issues.”

Morris said the two agreed to work together for the good of western Kansas.

“She is in a position to do a lot of good for a lot of schools,” Cruz said. “She’s also in a position to do a lot of bad for a lot of people. But she’s only one vote. Hopefully the rest of the board will mentor her and teach her the correct process.”

Finney County, which includes Garden City, has the state’s largest percentage of Hispanic residents, according to 2000 Census figures.