CLINTON COUNTY — A township tax assessor in Clinton County is facing a backlash after calling a woman an expletive on Twitter while arguing over the GOP tax plan.

Chris Wellen, elected tax assessor for Lookingglass Township in April, was under fire Friday morning after the tweet, in which he called Bess Kalb, an Emmy-nominated writer for “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the “c-word,” a crude slang term referring to female genitalia.

The tweet, posted at 5:01 p.m. Thursday, racked up hundreds of comments by Friday morning.

“The @GOP prefers you say “Merry CHRISTMAS” instead of “Happy HOLIDAYS” and if you’re addressing a middle-class family, please say it SARCASTICALLY and then extinguish your cigar on the smallest child’s head.”

Wellen responded to the tweet, saying “You are one dumb (expletive)!!!”

In an interview with the Belleville News-Democrat Friday morning, Wellen said he called Kalb the c-word because she was talking about putting cigars out on children’s heads, not over her views on tax reform.

The lawyer for the village of Albers, Terry Bruckert, said while Wellen is an employee of the township and not of the village, the mayor and clerk alerted the township supervisor of the incident and encouraged him to take action.

According to Illinois law, elected officials cannot be terminated unless they are convicted of a felony that relates to the office they hold.