A blogger at Capitol Fax is calling out Republican Mark Kirk, a 2010 senate candidate, for two of his tweets on July 26 that may have breached military restrictions.
Kirk -- running for President Barack Obama's former seat -- is a Naval Reservist and he appeared to tweet while on duty, raising two potential issues.
First, he disclosed his location - a big no-no for servicemen and women. But in addition, by posting to his campaign Twitter account, he seems to have been engaged in political campaigning while doing military service, which is not allowed.
Of course, it is possible a staffer posted the tweets, but it is still in his name as an official Twitter account. The Navy has said it is looking into the matter, according to Capitol Fax.
The controversial tweets were posted just after a call for followers to join his Facebook page.
markkirk Don't forget to sign up as a supporter on Facebook! http://bit.ly/4clYm
The first tweets on the subject agree that Kirk - or at least his campaign - made a mistake.
ArjunJaikumar Note to Rep. Mark Kirk: no campaigning on active duty, and this includes Twitter. http://tinyurl.com/kvcv9e
jsb Rep. Kirk tweets, via a campaign account, from Pentagon while on Navy Reserve duty, then seems to lie about it. http://ginx.com/-C7tbX
jaymesiemer Mark Kirk tweets, Pentagon gets calls. http://bit.ly/CIQp8
SarahBurris RT @ArjunJaikumar The latest in GOP Twitter #fail: Rep. Mark Kirk. http://tinyurl.com/lxwkby
4 Comments
Dennis Byrne said:
Umh, something I've never understood: How can a congressman be a member of the armed forces at the same time. The Constitution suggests that he can't, but there must be a legal explanation for this. Here's the relevant part of the Constitution:
Article 1, Section 6 states:
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.
Craig Kanalley said:
I smell a blog post coming...
Good observation. If you do something on this, feel free to link back to here if you use Kirk as an example.
Sophia Madana said:
uhhh that's an ultimate OOPS!
Craig Kanalley said:
I'll say it is.
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