Here's an election note that an underinformed voter might want to become educated about. (Just kidding, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway.) Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican, represents Nebraska's first congressional district in the US House. As you might guess, the district is overwhelmingly Republican: according to the 538 website, it's 20 percentage points more Republican than the country as a whole, and the chance of Fortenberry losing his seat on Tuesday is currently pegged at one-fifth of one percent, or 1-in-500. It's not a "hot race." Nevertheless, Fortenberry has some billboards up in the district, and one of them was redrawn, some would say "vandalized," by pranksters. The finished product is shown above. As you can see, the distinguished member of the House was given googly eyes, a new name, and a new motto. Ho ho ho, hilarious.
What is actually sort of hilarious is the reaction of Rep. Fortenberry, who has represented the district for seven terms without, apparently, developing a thick skin. On October 24, he tweeted an image of the altered billboard and suggested it was an instance of "political violence" of the kind represented by the pipe bombs addressed to prominent Democrats that were then being discovered by postal inspectors. I want to get the congressman's words right, because this is important:
Political violence, including the vandalism we see right here in Lincoln, is a threat to good citizenry and free expression in our republic. It is not funny. It is never acceptable.
I wish I could report that was the end of the Fartenberry scandal, but an image of the billboard, post-violence, circulated on Facebook, where it was "liked" by, among others, Ari Kohen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, which is in the district. Professor Kohen soon received a phone call from Rep. Fortenberry's chief of staff. Speaking to a local newspaper, Kohen described their conversation:
It wasn't clear at all what he wanted from me, if he wanted me to unlike it or retract it. He told me that they could put this out publicly, that I liked vandalism, and essentially that that would be bad for me.
The chief of staff--his name is William "Reyn" Archer III, which sounds appropriately uptight and authoritarian--was alarmed enough to go up the chain of command, e-mailing Kohen's department chair, the dean of his college, and the chancellor of the University to inquire whether they knowingly employed a supporter of political vandalism. For more details, including an audio of the phone conversation between Archer and Kohen, go here. I think the upshot is, to avoid unwanted interactions with members of the United States Congress, be careful what you like on Facebook. Also, do not be so quick to condemn the jejune disputes and hijinks of middle-schoolers as they may just be preparing themselves for a career in service to the People of America.
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