Anti-Brownback tweet lands SM East senior in principal’s office — and at center of media firestorm

Emma Sullivan

Sullivan is no fan of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. And her decision to tweet as much while attending a Youth in Government seminar in Topeka Monday landed her in trouble with Principal Karl Krawitz — and set off a firestorm of anti-Brownback criticism on Twitter and blogs.

While Brownback was welcoming students to the event, Sullivan tweeted:

Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot

She hadn’t, actually, said anything directly to Brownback. But the governor’s communications operatives didn’t find the humor in her meant-to-be-funny fabrication. They alerted the Youth in Government organizers about the tweet, and Sullivan soon found herself called to see Krawitz where she was instructed to write an apology to the governor’s office.

(Except, as Sullivan tells the Kansas City Star, she’s not sorry: “I don’t regret sending the tweet. It was harmless. It’s not like I was really fired up about anything he said.”)

Predictably, the hashtag #heblowsalot has exploded on Twitter, and become a rallying cry for anti-Brownback and pro-free speech tweeters.

Here’s a smattering of the reaction to the incident on Twitter:

ChloDubs: As a Kansas voter and taxpayer, not happy that @govsambrownback’s office wasted time& $$ on a teen’s joke. http://is.gd/YRz1zN #heblowsalot

adambonin: Sam Brownback getting more attention today than his presidential campaign did four years ago. #heblowsalot

reboot: Well, I guess the prospective Democratic challenger to Brownback in 3 yrs now knows the platform for the campaign: #heblowsalot

Chances are this isn’t the last thing we’ll be writing about this…