A school board president in Northern California resigned from his position after his wife was caught making racist and misogynistic comments about Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Jon Venverloh announced his resignation from the Las Lomitas Elementary School District board on Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The former Google executive was elected in 2018.
“I stood for election to be a trustee because I care about doing the right thing for ALL of our kids in our District,” Venverloh said in a statement. “However, given my wife’s social media posts, which expressed reprehensible views that I do not agree with, I know that my continued service would be a distraction from the work that needs to be done in the District over the two years remaining in my term.”
The posts in question were tweeted by Trump supporter Mehridith Venverloh, who was discussing Harris’ qualifications with other users.
“All she needs to be qualified is a black p—y,” she wrote. “No brain needed!!!”
In another post, she implied Harris used her sexuality to become a politician.
“The possibilities are endless for little girls who whore their ways to the top!!!” Mehridith Venverloh tweeted.
In his resignation message, her husband said he disagreed with her tweets and insisted they were not a reflection of his family.
“I did not make the remarks that have so upset the community. I was not present when they were made,” Jon Venverloh wrote. “I have never encouraged such thinking or opinions, and I don’t agree with them in any way whatsoever. They do not represent who I am nor who my family is in any way.”
Mehridith Venverloh’s apology statement attributed the tweets to a “moment of disappointment” caused by the election and medical issues caused by “a debilitating neurological disease.”
“Over the past several days I have been weaning off of my meds to prepare for a hospitalization that is scheduled to start tomorrow,” the statement read. “I believe that the change in my medication reduced my judgment between right and wrong when I made the posts. There is no excuse for what I wrote, but I ask for your understanding that my state of mind was far from normal last night.”
A special election must be held to replace Jon Venverloh, District Superintendent Beth Polito told the Chronicle. In a statement released on Monday, the school board expressed contempt for “any and all racist statements made by anybody.”
“Every member of our community, regardless of who they are, is responsible to craft a culture of love and acceptance at Las Lomitas,” the statement continued. “Bigoted statements that question the integrity, accomplishment and character of people of color, of women, of LGBTQ+ people and of people who live at the intersections of these communities are intolerable and have no place in our Las Lomitas family or on either of our campuses.”
