Kansas City, Mo. ? Frances Semler, who was the focus of months of controversy because of her affiliation with an anti-illegal immigration organization, has resigned from the city parks board.

Semler, 74, said Tuesday she resigned because her involvement with the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Board had become too contentious and she did not feel Mayor Mark Funkhouser supported her.

“I feel betrayed,” she said. “From time to time they would say good things, but from time to time there would be something hurtful. … But it all piles up.”

Semler, a member since December 2006 of the Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said she spoke with Funkhouser on Tuesday after he received her resignation letter, which she faxed to his office late Monday night. Funkhouser did not know Semler planned to resign, according to his spokesman, Kendrick Blackwood.

Funkhouser said he was disappointed with Semler’s resignation.

“She says she didn’t feel supported,” Funkhouser said. “I think the record shows differently.”

Funkhouser named Semler to the five-member park board last summer. Her appointment triggered protests from minority groups, including the National Council of La Raza, which voted in October to cancel plans to hold its national convention in Kansas City because of Semler’s Minuteman membership.

Last week the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said it also decided to move its convention from Kansas City to New Orleans.

Charles Steele Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, advised other civil rights organizations to boycott the city because of Semler.

Janet Murguia, president of La Raza, said Tuesday it was “regrettable that the mayor did not act sooner.”

“I place responsibility for this whole mess straight at the feet of the mayor,” Murguia said. “He has to be accountable for this, and he should move forward hopefully having learned from the experience and becoming more sensitive to the interests of the Hispanic community and to the broader economic interests of the city.”

Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said Funkhouser “has chosen to play racial politics and cater to the bigotry of the open borders lobby, rather than support his own appointee Frances Semler.”

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Semler defended her involvement in the anti-illegal immigration group, which advocates patrolling the Mexican border and reports illegal immigrants to authorities.