You’ll recall that Del. Ward Armstrong (D-Henry County) wrote a letter to Gov. Tim Kaine demanding the resignation of blogger Will Vehrs after Vehrs dared joke about Martinsville. The Cavalier Daily reported in June of 2002 about Del. Armstrong’s own history of making inappropriate jokes:
Del. Jeannemarie Devolites, R-Vienna, the majority whip, said she had negative experiences with three delegates when first elected to the House.
In particular, Devolites said Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry, publicly embarrassed her on several occasions, including doing an impression of Bill Clinton and comparing her to Monica Lewinsky. Later, Armstrong apologized for his comments on the floor of the House.
Del. Armstrong made an offensive joke and he apologized. That was the right thing to do, and it was sufficient. Will made a joke that offended and he, too, apologized. I wonder why Del. Armstrong no longer thinks that’s sufficient?
(Hat tip to an anonymous commenter.)
I posted this on NLS but I wanted to comment here as well. I’m surprised Waldo, that you haven’t commented more on Will’s political blogging while using state time and equipment….
I just want to go on record here and say that I have no problem with what Will said. I think it’s hilarious. I definitely agree with someone else who said that who should really be ashamed is the M’ville/Henry County folks who thought that having a jingle contest would be a good use of funds instead of investing in the local economy…..
Anyway, what really bothers me is the amount of posting that Will does while on the job. Not only the amount of posting but that it is so partisan. Here is a civil servant that people expect to be non-partisan yet he is obviously pushing a partisan agenda while at work. Will may be the most efficient person in his office but using that as an excuse for his blogging is unacceptable. Will is a smart and well reasoned person- he should know better than to use an argument like that to justify his actions. Maybe his colleagues should step it up but if he doesn’t have enough to do between the hours of 8 and 5 then we know where to find some room in the budget don’t we?
That’s not to say that workers are not entitled to take breaks throughout the day and rest their minds by perusing some websites or talking to colleagues or whatever. However two things stand out in this case: a) Will used his state time and his state equipment to push a political agenda—DEFINITELY a no-no b) if you look at the times of his posts it looks as if all he did for over three hours was post responses. Whatever the specifics of his job at that point it is unacceptable to be spending that much time posting.
Like I said, I have no problem with what he said. M’ville and Henry Co. officials need to take a breath- however, the blogosphere needs to look a little more carefully at the appropriateness of state employees using state time and state hardware to post political opinion.
Were officials from Martinsville or Henry County upset about that, then I suspect I’d be writing about that. But what they’re angry about is his sense of humor.