A small-town Missouri mayor who said he "kind of agreed" with the views of accused Kansas City Jewish center shooter Frazier Glenn Cross has resigned amid controversy over those comments.
Marionville Mayor Dan Clevenger resigned Monday evening, shortly after Marionville aldermen voted 4-1 to begin impeaching the recently elected mayor, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
Clevenger came under fire from locals and the national media after he spoke out about Cross, an avowed white supremacist. Prosecutors charged Cross with one count of capital murder and one count of premeditated murder in connection with the shooting rampage at two Jewish centers in Overland Park, a Kansas City suburb about a three-hour drive north of Marionville.
“He was always nice and friendly and respectful of elder people. He respected his elders greatly, as long as they were the same color as him,” Clevenger said of Cross, also known as Frazier Glenn Miller, in an interview last Tuesday with KSPR. “Very fair and honest and never had a bit of problems out of him.”
“Kind of agreed with him on some things, but I don’t like to express that too much,” Clevenger added. The mayor condemned the violent acts allegedly committed by Cross and said he no longer considered him a friend.
Clevenger had already faced heat for controversial comments about the Jewish community, and after his comments about Cross came to light, at least one resident told local station KOLR that she and other concerned citizens planned to call for his impeachment "because we feel he has failed to do what is in the best interest of the citizens of Marionville.”
Sallee and many other like-minded residents attended Monday evening's meeting, a tense event that included many critics and only a handful of Clevenger supporters, according to the News-Leader.
"We must show our neighbors, state, our nation and a global community our true, kind, caring, loving and accepting community," resident John Horner said, reading a prepared statement. "We simply cannot tolerate a public official who makes anti-Semitic comments."