Don’t Call Me Liz and Other Political Staff FAIL

by Zach Knowling

categories: Campaign Jobs, HowTo, Nonprofit Jobs, Political & Advocacy Jobs

Published November 13, 2009 @ 02:13PM PT

When you work in politics and on campaigns you have to realize that you are ALWAYS “on the clock” and always being watched. If you slip up, all it takes is one email forward to make you, your candidate, or your organization look really foolish.

Don’t let this happen to you!

To help prove my point, here are my favorite all-time political staffer FAILs.

Elizabeth “Don’t call me Liz” Becton

I know, I know: old news. But you have to admit this has got to be among the best. For those of you who don’t know the story, my Congressman, Jim McDermott, has a craaaazy office manager named Elizabeth Becton. How do I know she is crazy, you ask? In the first in a series of emails with a secretary at a lobby firm, Elizabeth was referred to once by the secretary as “Liz”. What ensued was a good five emails explaining how she is never to be called “Liz” and hinted that there is a conspiracy among some on the Hill to mono-syllabize her name. Politico has the story.

Hillary Clinton Cardboard Boob Grope

OK I will be the first to admit it: I like groping cardboard as much as the next red-blooded 26-year-old American male. But when that card board is shaped like a person and that person-shape is a lady-shape and that cardboard-lady-shape has a photo of Hillary Clinton printed on it – well, sir, I respectfully draw the line.

Unfortunately, this Obama staffer does not draw that same line.

Peer-to-Peer-to-job loss

The most recent of my favorites are brought to you by a junior staffer working for the Ethics Committee. While working from home, a document containing the records of 30 ethics investigations found its way on to a peer-to-peer network where anyone could download and view it. Oops. Needless to say this young staffer promptly lost his job.