Carl Paladino, a loyal New York ally of Donald Trump, waved off a resolution from the Buffalo School Board demanding his ouster for a racist New Year "wish" about President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.
Paladino has taken fire for his response last week to a local survey on New Year's wishes, telling a newspaper the wished Obama would die of mad cow disease and for his wife "to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla," reported NBC News.
Paladino said after Thursday's school board meeting that he would not resign, according the Buffalo News. He didn't attend the meeting.
WBKW-TV reported that Paladino had since apologized for his remarks, which appeared in the publication Artvoice.
"Words matter Mr. Paladino," said Buffalo school board president Barbara Nevergold at the meeting, per NBC News. "As a sitting board member you have amassed a record and established a pattern of behavior that is equally egregious and violates your oath of office and professional ethics as a board of education member."
Nevergold added that she had received hundreds of complaints after Paladino's comments were made public.
"They would like me to tell you, 'You're fired,'" said Nevergold. "But those are not my words. So I'm asking you to do the right thing and resign."
The school board voted 6-2 for the resolution, which gave Paladino 24 hours to resign his seat before leaving it to the Department of Education to make a decision, said NBC News.
Buffalo News reporter Tiffany Lankes posted Paladino's response on Twitter.
Trump's transition team issued a statement about the remarks last week, calling Paladino's words about the president and first lady "absolutely reprehensible, and they serve no place in our public discourse," reported USA Today.
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