Colyer: Official who said ‘master race’ should resign

photo by: Leavenworth County video screenshot

Leavenworth County Commissioner Louis Klemp, seated second from right in back, speaks to consulting firm representative Triveece Penelton, standing at far left, during a meeting Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018.

Leavenworth — Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer has called on a white county official to resign after the official said at a public meeting that he belongs to “the master race.”

Leavenworth County Commissioner Louis Klemp cited the master race — the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy — at a board meeting Tuesday while responding to a presentation by a black consulting firm employee, Triveece Penelton, on road development options in Tonganoxie, just west of Kansas City.

Colyer, a Republican, said in a statement Saturday that the remark was unacceptable.

“Racial and discriminative language have no place in our society and most especially when spoken by someone holding public office,” Colyer said.

Some members of the county commission also have called on Klemp to resign.

Klemp, who was appointed to fill a Republican vacancy, told KSHB-TV off camera that his comment was a joke.

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