Print edition: 
TOPEKA — House Speaker Mike O’Neal apologized Thursday for an e-mail about President Obama that he forwarded to fellow Republicans, but he won’t step down despite roughly 30,000 signatures on an online petition calling for his resignation.
The forwarded e-mail applies a verse from Psalm 109:8 to Obama: “Let his days be few and brief; and let others step forward to replace him.”
The Hutchinson Republican leader has said he thought that to mean Obama’s days in office — not death.
The Bible quote has been used on bumper stickers and widely circulated on the Internet. But the context from the King James Version of the Bible has been pointed out by critics. The next verse, which was not in the e-mail, reads: “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.”
Two Topeka pastors delivered the petitions to O’Neal’s office Thursday afternoon.
Speaking at the steps of the Statehouse, the Rev. Tobias Schlingensiepen said O’Neal’s forwarded message represents a “misrepresentation of the Christian faith in the public square” and is an embarrassment to the state.
The forwarded e-mail doesn’t include the context in Psalms. But the pastors said O’Neal still should not have passed the message along.
“If the Scripture is going to be used in this way, it ought to be used competently,” said Schlingensiepen, of First Congregational United Church of Christ.
The petition surfaced on the Internet activism website Faithful America. It says: “As people of faith, we believe that Scripture should never be used to justify praying for the death of anyone. Speaker O’Neal’s hateful abuse of Scripture is unacceptable and a disgrace to his office, and he should immediately resign.”
The petition is preceded with a note that says O’Neal “is praying for the President’s death,” and it quotes the e-mail as “Let his days be few; and let another take his office. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.”
The forwarded e-mail does not include the second sentence.
The petition has more than 30,000 signatures. Organizers said 3,000 to 7,000 are from Kansans.
After the pastors gave their box of petitions to staff members in O’Neal’s office, O’Neal’s staff handed reporters a brief statement.
“I respect both the President and the Office,” the statement reads. “The forward contained a single verse and was only intended as election commentary regarding the President’s days in office. I have apologized, and I am sincerely sorry.”
A staff member said O’Neal apologized to the House Republican Caucus and individually to House members, in addition to comments in news stories.
The petition is the latest flashpoint for O’Neal.
He also faced criticism for forwarding an e-mail that compared a photograph of first lady Michelle Obama with windswept hair to the Grinch and referred to Mrs. Obama as “Mrs. YoMama.”
The Lawrence Journal-World first reported on that in January and quoted the e-mail: “I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Mrs. YoMama a wonderful, long Hawaii Christmas vacation — at our expense, of course.”
Rep. Melody McCray-Miller, D-Wichita, said the Kansas African American Legislative Caucus is working on a letter related to the e-mails O’Neal forwarded. She acknowledged O’Neal has apologized.
“Apologies are necessary, needed; however, there hasn’t been anything in the public, from a public perspective, and we think this warrants that,” she said.
Earlier this month, Rep. Owen Donohoe, R-Shawnee, e-mailed House Republicans questioning O’Neal’s leadership. The e-mail contained references to O’Neal’s role in a lawsuit against the state and the hiring of his wife as a liaison to the Republican caucus, though O’Neal said he had nothing to do with the hiring.
An investigative committee dismissed a misconduct complaint Democrats filed in 2010 in connection with O’Neal’s representation of some businesses in a lawsuit against the state.
Donohoe said Thursday that he thinks the forwarded e-mails have largely been dealt with.
“I don’t think that he should have to resign over the cartoons or anything like that,” he said. “It was inappropriate. He apologized. OK, let’s move on.”
But paired with the issues Donohoe raised in his e-mail, he said he thinks O’Neal’s actions create a perception problem.
He said many people he has spoken to acknowledge the perception issue, but say that this is just the way it is.
“It doesn’t have to be just the way it is,” he said. “Is it important enough to do something about or is it not? It’s your party, it’s the perception of us and what do we want it to be?”
