Tweeted, deleted and fired by Rep. Larsen
Dec 8, 2011, 3:47 PM | Updated: 6:41 pm
Three staffers in Congressman Rick Larsen’s office set out make this a “December to remember.” They succeeded. They’ve been fired and have deleted their Twitter accounts after writing about drinking binges in the office.
Representative Larsen’s office issued this statement after firing legislative assistants Seth Burroughs, Elizabeth Robbee and legislative correspondent Ben Byers – ironically, his Twitter name was @Byers_remorse.
“Neither Congressman Larsen nor his other staff were aware of the actions by these three staff members before today. Congressman Larsen is disappointed by their actions and takes this very seriously. He has made it clear that he will not tolerate this kind of behavior,” the statement read.
What did the trio tweet about that was so bad? Their accounts have been deleted.
Unfortunately for them, the NW Daily Marker took screenshots of some of the tweets before breaking the story. The staffers tweeted from their personal accounts, so some might think, what’s the problem? They admitted tweeting while they were supposed to be working. Most of these tweets are from November and the first day in December.
Of the three twits, Burroughs, aka @TheRocketship1, has the most self-incriminating tweets. Taxpayers, here’s what you get from him:
“Obviously you can tell I’ve been drinking by my stellar spelling skillz.”
“I really like DC, but I could have used another day away. The silver lining is that I don’t have to see my idiot boss #smallvictgory.”
“We’re only drinking to cope with the fact that we work for such a selfish asshole. Trust me, you want no part of this.”
“My coworker just took a shot of Jack crouching behind my desk. We have unabashedly given up on just about all things work related.”
“My D2R team showed up this morning at 9:00am with shots of Jack. What a glorious and frightening way to kick off the month.”
D2R meaning December to remember. Mission accomplished three musketweeters.
The editor of the Bothell-based NW Daily Marker, Bryan Myrick, tells me why they investigated these tweets.
“As people in Washington State and Washington, D.C. consider the sloppy environment that was allowed to exist in Congressman Larsen’s office, alarm bells should be going off in the offices of every elected official,” Myrick says. “At a time when so many hard-working Americans are still earnestly seeking jobs and Congress is still wrestling with an enormous budget deficit, people may not be as willing to look the other way and tolerate this sort of behavior as a byproduct of youthful exuberance.”