GOP Governor Brownback Complains to School Principal Over Critical Tweets from Teenager
by PubliusFrom Daily Mail (UK):
An 18-year-old high school senior was scolded by her principal after she criticised her state governor in a tweet.
Emma Sullivan, of Fairway, Kansas, was reprimanded by the head of The Shawnee Mission East High School.
She was summoned to the principal’s office and was ordered to apologise to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.
Emma posted the tweet during a field trip to the state Capitol.
After meeting Mr Brownback, Emma tweeted: ‘Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.’
Mr Brownback’s office contacted the school and complained about the tweet.
The following day Emma wound up in the principal’s office, NBC Action News reports.
She said: ‘He laid into me about how this was unacceptable and an embarrassment.
‘He said I had created this huge controversy and everyone was up in arms about it … and now he had to do damage control.’
She said she was told to write a formal apology to the governor, which so far she hasn’t done.
Emma said: ‘I don’t agree with a majority of the things that he is trying to pass.
‘I believe that it is my right to state my opinion.’
The school’s principal said: ‘This is not about political views since none were given in the tweet – it’s about being respectful with a public official whether we agree or disagree with their viewpoints.’
Read more here. This is exactly wrong. We all have the absolute right to be totally disrespectful to any elected official. That a Governor, like Brownback, should miss this point is completely disheartening.
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78 Comments
This governor or his staff appear to have a little thin skin.
Correct.
By making a big deal out of it, Brownback has made a non-story into a scandal (notice the above is from a UK paper, for god's sake!), and made himself look like a big crybaby.
yeah, Sam, that was a sissy move. if you're eve gonna mention it, just laugh about it and move on. all you did was call attention to her and make yourself look like a weenie in the bargain. who do you think you are- 0bama?
Hmm.
This is one of these morning brain teasers that leave me scratching my head, and trying hard to think, about what I really think about this. I see idiocy on both sides.
Granted, I wholeheartedly support the girls First Amendment right, to express herself. That right goes on to extend that any fool can embarrass his, or herself in the public square, or cyberland. The young lady has done a god job of embarrassing herself, her peers, and her school. What the young lady fails to realize that even though it was a Field Trip to the State Capitol, she was a guest, and should behave accordingly.
As far as the Governor is concerned, my thoughts are that if a State's Chief Executive has too much free time on his hands, that he can worry about what a potential juvenile delinquent is opining in cyberspace, then he is evidently doing one helluva job.
Or he has a right thin skin.
All the whos in whoville cried boo hoo hoo. What a whiner. Were I the student, I'd tell the principal to mind his business and quit infringing upon MY FIRST AMENDMENT!!!
Rather than complain about the speech of another, or try in some way to intimidate them out of exercising that right, the proper thing to do is address it directly, honestly and straightforwardly.
Brownback should have simply tweeted right back to her with a couple statements and some questions. IOW, heckle the hecklers, take them on and embarrass them by exposing just how foolish, and generally hollow, their words really are.
Here is the ugly reality. We have in place a set of vain liars, called politicians, when we are supposed to have in place individuals with good and decent character called Statesmen.
Toss them out – every last one of them.
I guess the First Amendment only applies to HIM!
Words of wisdom for Gov Brownback:
Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
Remember the old childhood verse….
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Congratulations Ks. you've really picked a manly man for Governor.
By the way, what do you think is the origin of that surname? Brownback.
Huh?
This appears absurd at all levels.
What kind of lesson in the First Amendment must that be teaching to high schoolers?
Man up, Brownback!
Since when does a child exercising free speech merit a gubernatorial rebuke?
"…being disrespectful to a public official…???" The youngster's choice of words was unfortunate, but disrespect to a public official is precisely one of the levers today's totalitarian regimes — China is a prime example — use to suppress their citizens.
Uh, gov? Is it a death threat? If not then ignore her.
Students who speak out about not liking Obama, or those who speak out about not liking Union Members who work for the Government Run Schools are punished all the time.
This is all there is to this story? What adult reacts like this to a stupid kid? Her parents, if they choose.
Hey Gov, what you feed gets bigger. She might just be right about him.
Brownback sounds like Obama. If the guy needs to be liked this badly, he shouldn't have chosen a profession in which approximately 50% of the people at any given time think he's a jackass.
X.
To me, the girl has the right to disagree although she could have handled it a bit better than she did.
It sounds like it is the Director of Communications at the Governor's office that is having more of a problem with it than anyone else given the various stories I've read on this.
Dude, grow a backbone.
This is below my expectations for a conservative leader and I'm sure it's not the first time someone has given him a piece of their mind. By throwing his weight around he has just made matters worse.
Not being there… had the student yelled out or somehow embarrassed the school then the principle should of has a school assembly to scold the entire group on behavior and lord knows I have seen many of those back in the day. But taking it to a personal level with liberal media — no one is going to win this little bickering match.
A remember a day when politicians had to earn respect, not receive it as a right. Too bad Brownback doesn't.
Emma Sullivan shouldn't ever apologize for saying what she thinks is right.
Of course, the school will try to punish her until she does, making the Governor and principal look like bigger fools than they already are.
This comment has been deleted by the administrator.
Humm! Guess Brownback's peeps are in charge of Big Government this morning as well.
BITE ME!!!
.
The Gov was having a bad day………Missouri24
Kansas10
Final
We should all send the Gov some cheese to go with that whine
/ hahahaha
Give me a break. Brownback wasn't that good a senator and as a Governor – well tigers don't change their stripes. Oh BTW, I lived in Kansas for over 25 years and when I once asked for assistance from then Senator Brownback was given the party line via a form letter. I asked the same of Senator Pat Roberts and received a call from his office.
Should she apologize? Heck no. Get over it Brownback. Grow a thicker skin. If you have any aspirations of going higher, which I am betting you do, the hazing will be worse than a 18 year old high school girl saying you suck.
p.s. Until the current administration withdraws the first amendment, she is entitled to her opinion.
A despotically inclined governor who seeks to use the apparatus of state to silence political dialogue.
Somebody check Brownback's temperature, he may be coming down with a case of the cry babies.
Student-1, Brownback-0
Again, I must applaud Breitbart for pointing out the idiocies of the right without tying it to the same from the left (even if it did come via the UK)
Keep them ALL in the crosshairs!
Oops, I guess I shouldn't have used "crosshairs! Now Poop Morgan will have me on his show!
Whoever is leading on this one needs to be "reassigned" if this gets any bigger. Sounds like a PMS moment for the Govs people.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Too true!
Beer summit?
She should not have said Governor Brownback blows a lot. She should apologize ONLY for that crack because "blows" is usually considered sexual in nature.
"Dear Gov Brownback, I apologize for saying you blow a lot, I should have qualified that statement with what exactly you blow."
A little satire and sarcasm is a good thing.
GOV BROWNBACK YOU BLEW THAT ONE OUT OF PROPORTION. I think I'll tweet that he blows a lot of things out of proportion. And I don't live in Kansas and I don't attend high school. And HE just made a jerk of himself.
This just hit the wire – Rep Frank isn't going to seek reelection.
This story seems to highlight the increasing lack of respect children have for their elders. I have four teenagers, and I can tell you ABSOLUTELY, that society is pressuring kids into disrespect through the media depictions of interactions between children and adults. Unless you completely shield your children from ALL media, they are subject to it, and you have to deal with it at home. For lack of a better term, I'll call it the "Bart Simpson Effect". I grew up in the south, where we were taught to say "Yes Sir, No Sir, Yes Ma'am, No Ma'am", etc. I don't know if it's still that way in the south, but I know it has probably never been that way up north, so combining that general geographic factor, with the media affect, I'm losing the battle.
Well said young lady. That one will come back to bite Governor Brokeback.
This 17 year old identifies herself as a "liberal" who disagrees with much of what Brownback is doing. I doubt a 17 year old is politically astute enough to have well informed opinions on state level politics. The governor missed a good opportunity to expose the political brainwashing going on at her school by asking for specifics. What do you disagree with, honey? Why?
I bet this was done by someone on the Gov's staff. I seriously doubt Brownback himself even saw the tweet. Older generations remember when there were 'manners'. Social media has not encouraged 'manners'. I don't know what the solution might be.
Did Brownback change political parties? He sounds like a democrat. Here is a clue for you Sam, quit your whining and get to work.
After meeting Mr Brownback, Emma tweeted: ‘Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.’
IMO: To me, this shows a few things. In all likelyhood, the student was showing blatant disrespect to gain some sort of admiration from her peers. I would have questioned the little tyke about exactly which policies she didnt agree with and what her solutions would be. What Im really getting here is that the individual in question probably heard some adults talking about Governor Brownback and was echoing their sentiments. She is probably too infantile to form comprehensive opinions of her own (regarding politics) and has to resort to peurile outbursts to justify her positions. Or to make along story short—She isnt familiar with anything Brownback has done and her lack of manners just shows poor upbringing!
I couldn't care less how this teen feels about Brownback, but this kid is (1) a liar–she was bragging about how she told him to his face that he "sucked" when she clearly did not do that, (2) out of line tweeting during a school-sponsorsed leadership lecture. It is not a matter of First Amendment rights when kids are prevented from texting or being on the phone during class lectures. She can say whatever she wants about him AFTER the school-sponsored activity, and she can certainly express her disagreement with his policies to his face in a respectful manner during the lecture (since she IS representing her school). His office may have overreacted in pointing out that someone in the Leadership program is not fit to be in that program, but what she did was in no way courageous. This is equivalent to telling someone how brave they are for gossiping about someone behind their back. She isn't being brave by "standing up" either, since it doesn't exactly take guts to argue that you didn't do anything wrong when you've got your friends and everyone around you on your side. It would have been gutsy if the public disagreed with her. She SHOULD apologize. Not for disagreeing with Brownback, but for being a liar and choosing the wrong time and place to lie in her tweet.
I can't see a governor – any governor – stooping to this nonsense. My guess is that one of his staffers took it on him/herself to raise a fuss, and the backlash is (of course) slapping the governor.
For the school principal to admonish the student is a different breed of cat: That's part of the teachers' and principal's role in educating their students — although a 17 or 18 year old with no sense of propriety is probably pretty much stuck with the consequence of ill-breeding. It could serve her well if she seeks a career in a cat house, but not so much if she wants to interact with civilized people.
What the hell is the Governor doing contacting a school principle? It's none of the schools business. Then for a jerk principle to reprimand a student for exercising her right of free speach is astounding.
Tell the principle to go to the devil and tell the governor to take it up in court if he dosn't like it.
Bastards!
What significance does the 1 or 2 sentence opinion/rant/diatribe of an 18yr old have to the office of the governor which requires immediate and direct action? Apparently allot. If this is the reaction from professional officers of the state of Kansas to one 18yr old, what can we expect if 1000 18yr olds started flaming the governor? Activation of the National Guard? ICBM launches? Scorched earth?
What really bothers me about this; is that the governor’s office seems to think they can dictate the will of a citizen through the chain of government. Maybe this behavior is habitual and in this instance they got more attention than they thought they would.
At issue here is not freedom of speech or whether or not the girl should apologize, at issue is the type of response from the office of the governor and whether or not it is ethical.
What Rep. Frank?
Bwarney Fwank?
yup, ol' Mushmouth is officially retiring.
Halleluah
bet if the Gov. was a Republican the principal would have given her a reward.
"By the way, what do you think is the origin of that surname? Brownback. "
that ain't right! funny, but not right!
Something is up.
Something big, is up.
He just won re-election last year.
Maybe he has the queer flu.
I hope Brownback never tries to run for National office again. We primitive troglodytes remember something called the First Amendment, and anyone trying to destroy it.
I read where the student has said she will not apologize. GOOD, she is an American, and has nothing to apologize about.
She didn't embarrass anyone, the Governors staff, the Governor and the principal did a fine job of embarrassing themselves without her help.
Ron Reale
realetybytes.com
Honey?
The loons on the left would have eaten him for that
Not that I give a cr*p what they say…just sayin..
Other reports say that she didn't really have any opportunity to actually say that to the governor.
wait, this asshat is a Republican? I would expect this sort of thing from a Dem. the Party is going straight to hell!
Good stuff!
If you're asked to be on PM's little show…..go for it and make the most of it!
More like he is out due to redistricting:
"The biggest change for Frank’s 4th District is the loss of New Bedford, a key Democratic stronghold, and the addition of a bunch of conservative-leaning communities in my old stomping grounds along the Rhode Island border, including Attleboro, North Attleboro, Plainville, and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s hometown of Wrentham. That was going to be tough territory for Frank.
Among the Republicans who’ll be eyeing the now open 4th District seat are State Rep. Dan Winslow, who is close to Brown and served in the Romney administration, and Brookline’s Sean Bielat, who gave Frank a stronger-than-expected challenge in 2010. Elizabeth Childs, another Brookline resident and former Romney aide, has already thrown her hat into the ring. It will be interesting to see how Cook and Rothenberg rate the open seat." from: http://blogs.wpri.com/2011/11/28/new-look-4th-dis...
CRYBABY
Thanks. Not an original. I "stole" it from an email that is going around. Don't know who originated the statement.
If a player on a basketball team tweeted that he told a ref that he sucked during a game, the coach would have every right to make the player apologize.
This was a school sponsored event. The principal has every reason to make this idiot apologize for her complete lack of class, and for damaging the schools reputation while acting as one of it's representatives. Of course since she is a democrat, there is nothing else you can do about her trashiness, I fear it's genetic.
I hope she holds firm. She should in no way apologize.
No bagger on this list has ever apologized for lying, so don't hold your breath.
She provided Mr. Brokeback all of the respect he has earned.
That's our right wing for you. Talk freedom with a concentration camp mentality. F#$k Gov Brokeback.
This is typical bagger mentality. They're scum.
He wins reelection every other year you moron. He's 71 years old and has decided to retire.
This is why Brokeback will never be president.
She's already won.
Not really … so far she's just a punk and apparently not the only one.
You stupid sumbitch.
Those people rarely retire.
The only times they retire, is when something is blowing in the wind.
Only problem I see is that she tweeted during school time. So, a reprimand for that might be in order along with admonishment that her behavior, at that specific time, reflects on the school itself. I don't see it as any different than the difference between engaging in social media when you're supposed to be at work and when you're at home. When you're at work, you're a representative of the company and should behave accordingly. When you're at home, that's your time, say whatever you want.
Gov Brokeback has apologized to Miss Emma but refused to take any personal responsibility… blamed the overreaction on "my staff"…. coward.
what right does a school have to tell this girl to apologize? What she tweets is none of their business
It's a sad day in America when a "Governor" has nothing better to do than tattle to the principle about what a teenager called him. What a p_ussy…
He was the same kid that was always picked on in school because his name was Brown bu_tt…
Maybe he should have worked at a Walmart instead of going into politics….
the girl is not a "guest" of her own government…she's a citizen who has every right to tell her representatives what she thinks of them. how pitiful is it that a state governor is reading the tweets of a schoolgirl and reporting her to her principal ?! shame on him for being so petty and for not understanding his oath of office to defend and protect the constitution.
Proving yet again it's better to be lucky than good.
Another politician who thinks he is above the citizens he is supposed to serve.
The real Newt Gingrich http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWPz1Qdq1uI
This "Simpson Effect," that you speak of is quite prevalent in ol' Kansas. Particularly anywhere in Johnson, Douglas, Wyandotte, and Sedgewick counties. To put it simply: Johnson & Wyandotte are inclusive or suburbs of KCK, Douglas is mainly comprised of Lawrence, and Sedgewick is Wichita. These are the largest population centers in the State, and you can imagine the liberal bias in these areas. Further for the record, Kansas uses a USD school structure (Unified School Districting), essentially keeping all of the kids in one county in one single school district. Shawnee East is in JoCO, and is a typical haven for liberality and the downfall of common courtesy that was once the measure of a community and family value.
While the student is another symptom of the discouraging times, it is more importance that Brownback should have ignored the little brat and gone on about being the governor. In Kansas, Brownback is a shoe-in for whatever political job he desires, at least for now, and rocking the boat makes him look no better than any other politician. The 1st Amendment, absent immediate threat of physical injury or death due to its use, is utterly immutable.
+1.
"The young lady has done a god job of embarrassing herself, her peers, and her school. What the young lady fails to realize that even though it was a Field Trip to the State Capitol, she was a guest, and should behave accordingly."
You have got to be kidding me.
Where???? these kids need to start speaking up…turn the tables on them …turn them in to the news outlets and youtube it…because punishing kid for this is unacceptible.
OH wah!! he's a fool.
Seriously pathetic governor. Apparently the governor and his staff don't have bigger issues to deal with since everything is going so well. As a conservative/libertarian this just pisses me off – we are dangerously close to an oligarchy with elites in both parties thinking they are above all the rest of us little people.
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