Kansas State Rep. Advocates Shooting Immigrants like Feral Hogs

"Looks like to me, if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works, maybe we have found a (solution) to our illegal immigration problem." - Kansas State Representative Virgil Peck, in a House Appropriations Committee Meeting Monday

Well, looks like another (Republican) elected official has decided to make a blatantly bigoted statement in a public forum and then try to claim it was 'a joke'. Last week, it was a New Hampshire legislator calling for disabled people to be shipped off to Siberia. This time, the target was so called "illegal" immigrants.

TOPEKA, Kan. – Five days after Kansas state Rep. Virgil Peck made what he said was a joke about shooting illegal immigrants from helicopters like the state does to control wild hogs, state Democratic leaders and national groups are calling on him to resign.

Peck, a Republican from Tyro, made the comment in a House Appropriations meeting on Monday. The remark garnered national attention from news outlets and Hispanic organizations condemning his statement.

Peck issued a short written statement Tuesday, saying, “My statements yesterday were regrettable. Please accept my apology.”



He later appeared on CNN, with fellow Republican state Reps. Mario Goico of Wichita, Reynaldo Mesa of Garden City and Ramon Gonzalez of Perry by his side, and apologized again.

Kansas Democrats said Friday he should have gone further.

“Rep. Peck’s remarks and the intent of this remarks have been condemned to the point of asking him to resign from his positions and be censured, which would require him to be stripped of his leadership positions in the House,” said Rep. Louis Ruiz, from Kansas City and the lone Hispanic Democrat in the House during a gathering with reporters in the statehouse Friday morning.

Democratic members said he should have apologized to the committee where he made the comments, the whole chamber, and to the Latino community. Despite that, they’re not yet issuing a call for censure.

“When Rep. Peck was asked about this and given some opportunities to apologize, he didn’t. He fell back on an incredibly distasteful comment that he was just talking like people from southeast Kansas,” said Rep. Paul Davis, a Democrat from Lawrence, referring to when Peck was approached about his comments by a reporter after the committee meeting.

House Republican leaders said they’ve counseled Peck and accept his apology.. SOURCE

Apparently, it is OK to be a racist jerk, as long as you offer a fake apology afterword. I mean, after all, those 'Republican leaders' forgave Peck, so all is well now, right? Really, he even got a few Latino legislators to go on TV with him to prove his apology was genuine, so he MUST be sincerely sorry for his remarks, don't you think? Seriously, it was JUST A JOKE, right?

Ummm, yeah, except for the fact that, according to an organization of Hispanic Republicans, Peck has a history of 'insensitivity':

For instance, there were two Kansas Representatives who are Italian Americans that Peck offended — Todd Novascone, and Lee Tafanelli.  Apparently Virgil was discussing to other members that his daughter was going to Italy, and he said he hoped his daughter did not bring back an Italian boyfriend.

His behavior doesn’t stop there, we are finding out that a lot of women have heard him make comments that are derogatory towards women.  So not only are we finding out that he thinks a solution to the immigration problem is to shoot illegals like pigs…..it turns out he can be a misogynist, too!  He sat with them in committees and made offensive statements that were demeaning to females — just ask Kansas Representative Annie Tietze. SOURCE

 Ok, so this guy does not like 'illegals'.... or Italians.... or women.... but he is a good guy right? I guess he believes that he can say and do whatever he wants as long as he is 'sorry' after the fact.

Not good enough.

Presente.org is calling for the resignation of Virgil Peck. I wholeheartedly agree. It is not like he made a comment that he THOUGHT was innocuous, and did not realize it was offensive until it was brought to his attention. This was a blatantly bigoted remark, and he needs to be taken to task for it. There is no way in hell you can advocate shooting human beings like feral pigs and expect that all will be forgiven if you just say 'My bad...'

And, once again, this all begs the question.... What the hell were they THINKING when they elected this man???