State Sen. Jeff Smith sent out a nice press release last week, talking about how Sen. Matt Bartle’s filibuster was a good example of democracy in action and such things. Jeff was right when he wrote, “If all members of the General Assembly had a similar respect for legislative decorum and the rights of those with whom they disagree, the body would function more efficiently.”
Ironically, Jeff’s staff produced its own bodily function earlier in the week when it dropped this doozy.
For those who don’t know, Katie Favazza is a St. Louis girl and a senior at Catholic University. She does a lot of national blogger stuff and occasionally gets her Larry Blackmon on in Town Hall’s videos. Now, thanks to one Stacy Morse, Katie’s name will be known among the political crowd in Missouri, too.
A few questions about the e-mail that was sent on your dime:
1.) Hey Stacy — why undermine your other points with the, “We are sorry you were waitlisted at Washington University” jab? Seriously.
2.) Did Miss Morse actually think that Katie wasn’t going to end up writing about the e-mail on her blog?
3.) You know how you can tell that Stacy Morse didn’t go to Wash U? Because her heavy-handed punchline lacked the subtle arrogance and condescension that real Wash U kids demonstrate (for examples, continue reading).
4.) After incidents like this, shouldn’t Jeff’s operation be more concerned with St. Louis Democrats and less concerned with Catholic University College Republicans?
5.) How long will it take the average (non-Wash U) elected official or staffer to finally realize that if you really want to hurt a blogger’s feelings, just ignore them?
In Jeff’s defense, I doubt he had any idea that his secretary sent out the e-mail. And truth be told, some of the most intelligent, reasonable tit-for-tats I’ve had over e-mail have been with people who have volunteered for Jeff. But as Katie noted, Jeff became indirectly involved when Stacy chose to use the word “we” (unless Stacy really did go to Wash U, in which case she’s allowed to use the royal “we” like the rest of us.)
If this were a typical bullshit state party press release, this is where I would call for Jeff to apologize for the Wash U-Catholic remark and blah blah blah. But that’s really not necessary.
Jeff is a nice guy, and seems like he’d be the type of boss to punch his staffer in the arm and tell her to keep fighting for him. He should also, however, remind his staff that the things they send out — from state computers, on state time, with Jeff’s name in the signature line — directly reflect upon him.
As they say at Hazelwood East — far from Jeff’s hometown of Ladue Olivette (see Stacy, you can teach!) and even further from his alma mater — that’s not a good look.
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