This image made from a Nov. 13, 2018 video of Leavenworth County Board of County Commissioners meeting shows a white county commissioner Louis Klemp of Leavenworth County in northeast Kansas, second from top right, saying he belongs to "the master race" as he critiqued a land-use proposal by a black city planner Triveece Penelton, left, at a board meeting in Leavenworth, Kan. Klemp cited the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy Tuesday in response to Triveece Penelton's presentation on road development in Tonganoxie, just west of Kansas City, and rejected her proposed development plan. Commissioners Robert Holland and Doug Smith called on Klemp to resign before his term ends Jan. 15. (Board of Leavenworth County Commissioners via AP)

County official in Kansas resigns over ‘master race’ remark

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – A white county official in Kansas has resigned under pressure after saying at a meeting that he belongs to “the master race.”

Louis Klemp said in the letter submitted Tuesday resigning his seat on the Leavenworth County Commission that the remark was “well-meaning” and “not racially motivated.”

Klemp cited the master race — the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy — last week while responding to a presentation by a black official, Triveece Penelton.

Klemp was appointed to fill a Republican vacancy in the county just west of Kansas City. He said he was identifying a similarity in their appearance, noting both have a space between their teeth. Penelton said in a statement that the comment was “unbelievably inappropriate.”

Kansas Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer was among those to demand Klemp’s resignation.

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