VALLEY CITY (AP) - The city administrator has been suspended for two weeks without pay after complaints about a Web site spoof that linked one city candidate to the Ku Klux Klan and made another appear like Adolf Hitler.

Administrator Dave Johnson was suspended after a closed meeting Monday night in which city commissioners decided his conduct was "unbecoming to a municipal employee," City Attorney Nicholas Simonson said.

Johnson has not admitted creating the Web site, Simonson said.

Johnson declined comment on his suspension, which runs from Feb. 1 to Feb. 14.

Three failed candidates for city office say the punishment was not harsh enough.

"That's basically saying that the Valley City Commission supports the Ku Klux Klan by not firing that guy," said Bob Drake, who run unsuccessfully for city commissioner.

"They (commissioners) totally lost all credibility with the city."

Simonson said an internal investigation found the site was not operated during city work time or created using city resources.

The investigation also found Mayor Mary Lee Nielson was not involved with the site's creation or maintenance, he said.

Drake, along with candidates Lloyd Nelson and LeRoy Neubauer, alleged Nielsen and City Commissioner Jon Wager also were involved with the Web site. Wager denied that and said the allegations stem from a property value reassessment from 2004.

"I think there's an element of sour grapes there," Wagner said.

The mayor issued statements to the Valley City Times-Record signed by her and by Avis Richter, the city auditor, and Dave Ramstad, the city assessor, saying they had nothing to do with the Web site.

Nelson said the experience will keep him from running for office again and that the punishment will make Johnson "think he can do a lot more."

"It's terribly disturbing that a city official would stoop to that level, down in the slime, to degrade someone," he said.

Drake's attorney, Russ Myhre, gave the Valley City Police Department a statement Tuesday asking for a criminal investigation into potential election fraud, saying the Web site was intended to "corrupt the election practices" in the city.