A Nebraska State Patrol trooper who joined a white supremacist group linked to the Ku Klux Klan should not be allowed to keep his job, Attorney General Jon Bruning said Friday.

Bruning’s office and the patrol administration are contesting a New York arbitrator’s decision that Robert Henderson should be reinstated.

Henderson, an Omaha-area trooper, was fired last spring after the patrol discovered he had joined a white supremacist group called the Knights Party or Christian Concepts and had posted messages on the group’s Web site identifying himself as the White Knight of Nebraska.

Nebraska doesn’t give badges to anyone tied to the KKK, Bruning said.

“Maybe a New York lawyer doesn’t have a grasp of the need for integrity in law enforcement, but Superintendent (Bryan) Tuma does, the governor does and I do,” he said.

A trooper who is a member of a group like the KKK impairs the operations and effectiveness of the the patrol, Bruning said during a Friday news conference.

“The First Amendment of the constitution allows you to join disgusting groups … to have disgusting ideas, ideas that are repugnant to most of us. But it doesn’t allow you to be appointed by the state of Nebraska as a state trooper,” Bruning said.

Bruning’s office Friday filed an appeal with the Lancaster County District Court contending the trooper’s reinstatement by the New York arbitrator should not be allowed to stand.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha also plans to formally ask the Nebraska Crime Commission to revoke Henderson’s law enforcement certification.

The arbitrator hired to look at the issue concluded the state could not fire someone for simply joining an organization.

The arbitrator concluded Henderson had broken no laws; that the patrol did not show he had exhibited any bias in his duties as an officer; and that his dealing with this group and his interaction with the  Web site took place during off-duty hours.

Henderson was not fired because of his actions on the job, the arbitrator wrote.

“The department was not able to point to a single instance on the job — or for that matter at any time, including his off-duty hours — where the grievant’s actions exhibited any hatred, anger, disgust or discrimination towards any minority group,” the arbitrator wrote.

The patrol discharged Henderson “because of his beliefs and because he sought out others who shared his beliefs” and thus violated his First Amendment rights, the arbitrator said.