BY ANDY TAYLOR

Fallout from State Rep. Virgil Peck’s joking comment comparing the killing of wild hogs with the killing of illegal immigrants continued Thursday with one of Peck’s fellow conservative lawmakers expressing criticism against him.

Peck, a Tyro resident, is a conservative Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives whose district includes the towns of Caney, Coffeyville, Liberty, Tyro, Havana and Cherryvale.

Although everyone from Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, another conservative Republican, to the Kansas Democrat Party have denounced Peck’s comments, which were made Monday in a House Appropriations Committee hearing, the sharpest words from within the Kansas Legislature came Thursday from State Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, a Thayer Republican whose senatorial district includes a portion of Peck’s house district.

Umbarger said in a press statement that he was insulted when Peck said he was “speaking like a southeast Kansas person” after the joke was made.

“As someone who was born and raised in southeast Kansas, I can tell you this is NOT how a ’southeast Kansas person’ speaks,” Umbarger said. “I am shocked to hear Representative Peck state that the answer to illegal immigrants is to shoot them from helicopters like feral hogs.”

Peck’s joking comment came in a committee hearing to discuss state spending for eliminating feral hogs. Peck said, “It looks like to me that if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works, maybe we have found a (solution) to our illegal
immigration problem.”

Peck later issued an apology when news of his comments spread over the internet and was picked up on news sites and blogs around the globe.

Umbarger further said, “[I] have zero tolerance for advocating violence with weaponry.”

He also said Peck’s comments came just days after Senator Umbarger had issued an open letter to the Kansas Legislature calling for more civil discourse in the political arena.

Umbarger also went as far to suggest that voters in Peck’s district should think about Peck’s comments should he seek re-election in 2012.

“Representation of the people in southeast Kansas is in their own hands. Perhaps they will consider this history next time they go to the polls,” said Umbarger.