Dan Clevenger resigned as the mayor of Marionville, Missouri when past anti-Semitic remarks caused an uproar in the wake of last week's deadly shootings outside two Jewish centers near Kansas City. Clevenger, 59, is an acquaintance of Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., 73, an avowed hater of Jews who has been charged with killing three people in Overland Park in what officials have deemed a "hate crime."
About ten years ago, Clevenger had written a letter to the editor of the 'Aurora Advertiser' that said: "I am a friend of [Cross] helping to spread his warnings. The Jew-run medical industry has succeeded in destroying the United States' workforce." Questioned about those views by reporters after the recent shootings, Clevenger told the 'Springfield News-Leader' that he had once been heavily influenced by Cross but no longer considered him a friend after the shootings.
The mayor has also made some cringe-inducing comments about the number of Jews holding powerful positions in the United States, such as: "I don't think the government is run by Jews. We are still a democracy. Sure there are Jews in government. I mean, Nancy Pelosi, she is a Jew. And she brags about it." Pelosi isn't Jewish.
The controversy culminated Monday evening with a town meeting in which several residents condemned Clevenger for his statements, prompting the mayor to resign. "You are a representative of us," one man told Clevenger during public comments at the meeting, according to local news coverage of the event. "We're not a representative of you. What you say, what comes out of your mouth, is what we say."
"We must show our neighbors, state, our nation and a global community our true, kind, caring, loving and accepting community," resident John Horner said at Monday night's meeting, according to the 'News-Leader'. "We simply cannot tolerate a public official who makes anti-Semitic comments."
Marionville, like the nearby town of Aurora, where the shooting suspect lived, is in rural southern Missouri.
