 As the Speaker of the House, (I believe) my first responsibility is to Missourians.And in my effort to defend them, I went on to say some pretty insensitive and inappropriate remarks about Cairo

When later interviewed by a Missouri television station, Tilley said the accusations that he was a racist are ridiculous and that when one does as many interviews as he does, one is bound to say something stupid.The Corps of Engineers destroyed the levee on May 3, 2011, flooding 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland but saving the town of Cairo from flooding.