BY ANDY TAYLOR

chronicle@taylornews.org

State Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, apologized Tuesday for making a joking comment in a legislative committee in which he compared the killing of wild swine with the shooting and killing of illegal immigrants.

Peck’s comment was made in the House Appropriations Committee, which was taking up consideration of a proposal to control the growing number of feral hogs in Kansas.The issue of illegal immigration was not discussed during the committee’s consideration of the feral hog issue. Peck made the comment openly and in front of the committee, which was captured on audio and placed on news internet sites moments after it was said.

“Looks like to me that if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works maybe we have found a (solution) to our illegal immigration problem,” he said.

Peck’s comment was picked up on the committee’s audio system and posted on news internet sites moments after it was said.

After everyone from the Kansas governor to fellow lawmakers denounced the comment, Peck issued a two-sentence apology on Tuesday morning.
“My statements yesterday were regrettable. Please accept my apology,” the statement read.

Peck also personally contacted the Montgomery County Chronicle on Tuesday afternoon to explain the comment. He said the comment was made in a “tongue and cheek manner” at the spur of the moment in a committee setting. He said he regretted making the comment.

“It’s been a learning experience for me,” he said. “Now I just wish it would go away.”

Peck further angered southeast Kansas lawmakers when he was confronted by the media after making Monday’s comment. Asked why he made such a comment, Peck said he was “just speaking like a southeast Kansas person.”

Peck told the reporter that the comment was meant to only be a joke but hat it did represent frustration from constituents about the flow of illegal immigration into the United States.

The Lawrence Journal-World asked State Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, who serves as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, about Peck’s comment. Rhoades said he believed Peck was only joking but added, “Hopefully he won’t do it again.”

On Tuesday, Gov. Sam Brownback also suggested that Peck should apologize for his comment.

“I do not believe that is an appropriate statement to make,” the governor said when questioned by the Topeka Capital-Journal at the state capitol. “I think it’s completely inappropriate.”

The governor also said Peck’s characterization of people from southeast Kansas were supportive of violence against immigrants was misplaced.

“I’m from southeast Kansas,” said Brownback, who was raised near Parker, Kan., in Linn County. “I disagree with that statement.”

A delegation of southeast Kansas lawmakers also issued a resolution denouncing Peck’s comments. Signing the resolution were State Rep. Jim Kelly, R-Independence; State Rep. Bill Otto, R-LeRoy; State Rep. Jerry Williams, D-Chanute; and State Rep. Bob Grant, D-Cherokee; and State Rep. Doug Gatewood, D-Columbus.

The lawmakers’ resolution scolded Peck for stereotyping southeast Kansans.

“As a lifelong ‘southeast Kansas person,’ I was completely offended by Rep. Peck’s inappropriate comments,” said State Rep. Bob Grant, D-Cherokee “With our rich coal mining history, Southeast Kansas is the melting pot of our state. I have no intention of letting Rep. Peck brand me with his own extremist views just because I live in the same region.”

“We want to make it absolutely clear to the people of Southeast Kansas that we absolutely do not share Rep. Peck’s point of view,” said State Rep. Doug Gatewood, D-Columbus.

“We are sick and tired of the bigotry from state legislators who would rather advocate for violence and shooting people than to focus on reasonable solutions,” said DeeDee Garcia Blase, founder of Somos Republicans.

Peck’s comments also angered Latino organizations.

The League of United Latin American Citizens called upon Peck to resign from his position in the state house.

“Representative Peck’s comments about shooting immigrants and likening them to hogs are an outrageous dehumanization of hardworking Kansas residents,” stated Margaret Moran, LULAC national president. “His despicable comments set a new low in the hostile and xenophobic political attacks against America’s immigrant communities.”