Washington Congressional Staffers in Twitter Scandal

Twitter abuse has claimed more victims among our nation's political professionals. Three members of Second District Representative Rick Larsen's staff were fired today after seemingly mistaking Twitter for a private forum to trash your boss and brag about blowing off your job, rather than a microblogging service on which literally anyone on Earth with a computer can read your every comment.

The conservative political blog The NW Daily Marker discovered the personal Twitter accounts of legislative assistants Seth Burroughs and Elizabeth Robbee and legislative correspondent Ben Byers filled with jokey commentary on boozy shenanigans at the Congressman's DC office. Burroughs's account was the most damning, among other things, calling Rep. Larsen an "idiot" and a "selfish asshole," sarcastically thanking taxpayers for paying him to watch Youtube videos, and bragging about "destroying" his government-issued Blackberry. The trio dubbed this month "December to Remember," which entailed the friends trying to outdo each other in shirking their duties and drinking on the job. As recently as yesterday, Burroughs bragged "I'm pretty sure I'd fail a field sobriety test right now."

Hill staffers are notorious for fratty behavior. Most low-level employees are in their 20s or early 30s. Many are fresh out of school and at their first real job, and their behavior sometimes remains more campus than Capitol- dumb jokes, hookups and overindulgence are the rule at many Hill hangouts. Still, choosing to put that kind of debauchery out in public is a first, and it's no surprise that the three were summarily fired.

You can read the piece that broke the story, including screengrabs of some of the group's greatest hits here. Sadly (but maybe not surprisingly), you can no longer follow the hapless young politicos on twitter, as all three accounts have been closed.