The council of a small Pennsylvania town voted unanimously Monday to accept the resignation of the mayor after he posted racist images depicting the first family.
The West York council called Charles Wasko’s social media posts “divisive and deplorable” in an official press release. Wasko had posted a picture of a monkey and likened it to First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as a wagon of orangutans, captioned “moving day at the White House.”
After accepting Wasko’s resignation, the council voted for Shawn Mauck to succeed him through the end of 2017.
Mauck declined to provide Wasko’s resignation letter due to what he said was personal information it contained. Wasko did not respond Tuesday to a CNN request for comment.
The calls for Wasko’s resignation began in late September after various posts of his came to light. One called Obama and Hillary Clinton the leaders of ISIS and another depicted Clinton behind bars. Another image showed a picture of Clint Eastwood holding a noose with the text “Barry, this rope is for you. Wanna bring that empty chair over here?” a reference to the actor’s 2012 Republican convention stunt.
But last month, Wasko was defiant in an interview when asked about the Facebook posts.
“I’m not going to deny I did that, and, in fact, I’m proud of that,” he told CNN. “I’m an anti-Obama and I’m an anti-Hillary fan. And I’m proud of that.”
“Colin Kaepernick has the right to say what he wants to say and so do I,” Wasko added, referring to the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who has drawn controversy by not standing for the national anthem.
At the time, Wasko vowed that he would not resign and and would seek re-election.