Emma Sullivan, Shawnee Mission East student, won't apologize for ripping Sam Brownback on Twitter
Posted by Ben Palosaari on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 8:24 AM
If you rip Gov. Sam Brownback on Twitter, his staff will find you.
Shawnee Mission East senior Emma Sullivan learned over the weekend that exercising her right to free speech isn't always the easiest thing to do. Sometimes, politicians throw hissy fits when you make fun them. Last week, Sullivan attended a Youth Government event in Topeka and Gov. Sam Brownback gave a talk. The teen whipped out her phone and tweeted "Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot." Kids today, I tell 'ya!
Somebody within Brownback's administration saw the unfriendly message and didn't like that a high school student didn't care for the governor. Brownback's office whined to the Youth In Government program, which contacted Shawnee Mission East principal Karl R. Krawitz. And, Krawitz apparently hoping to teach kids to keep their thoughts to themselves, was not thrilled that one of his students had the audacity to engage in political speech. The principal ordered Sullivan to write an apology to the governor for her rude tweet. The Washington Post reports that Sullivan said Krawitz even gave her talking points to hit in her letter.
On Sunday, Sullivan said she wouldn't apologize to Brownback. "I would do it again," the 18-year-old told the Post. She added that she hoped her tweet would spark a dialogue about free speech and even went as far as saying she would sit down and talk with the governor. But that doesn't appear to be in the works. Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag told the Star that constructive dialogue requires mutual respect.
As for how the governor's office feels about essentially tattling on a student for having an opinion, Jones-Sontag told the Star, "It was important for the organization to be aware of the comments their students were making." She added, "It’s also important for students to recognize the power of social media, how lasting it is. It is on the Internet."
We've also learned just how petty elected officials can be.
Teen tweeter won't apologize to Kan. gov.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri - A U.S. teenager who wrote a disparaging tweet about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said Sunday that she is rejecting her high school principal's demand for a written apology.
Emma Sullivan, 18, said she isn't sorry and doesn't think such a letter would be sincere.
The Shawnee Mission East senior was taking part in a Youth in Government program last week when she sent out a tweet from the back of a crowd of students listening to Brownback's greeting. From her cellphone, she thumbed: "Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person (hash)heblowsalot."
She actually made no such comment and said she was "just joking with friends." But Brownback's office, which monitors social media for postings containing the governor's name, saw Sullivan's post and contacted the Youth in Government program.
Sullivan received a scolding at school and was ordered to send Brownback an apology letter. She said Prinicipal Karl R. Krawitz even suggested talking points for the letter she was supposed to turn in Monday.
The situation exploded after Sullivan's older sister contacted the media. Since then, Sullivan's following on Twitter has grown to about 3,000 people, up from about 65 before the tweet. She said she thinks the tweet has helped "open up dialogue" about free speech in social media..
"I would do it again," she said.
Sullivan has received emails from attorneys but is waiting to see what happens when she refuses to hand in a letter. Krawitz, her principal, told The Kansas City Star previously that the situation is a "private issue, not a public matter" but didn't return a phone message from The Associated Press at his home Sunday.
She hasn't heard from Brownback or his staff. She said she wouldn't mind sitting down and talking to the governor.
Sullivan said she disagrees with Brownback politically, particularly his decision to veto the Kansas Arts Commission's entire budget, making Kansas the only state in the nation to eliminate arts funding. Brownback has argued arts programs can flourish with private dollars and that state funds should go to core government functions, such as education and social services.
"I think it would be interesting to have a dialogue with him," she said. "I don't know if he would do it or not though. And I don't know that he would listen to what I have to say."
Sherriene Jones-Sontag, the governor's spokeswoman, told The Star previously that Sullivan's message wasn't respectful and that it takes mutual respect to "really have a constructive dialogue." Brownback's office didn't return calls or emails Sunday from the AP.
Sullivan's mother, Julie, said she isn't angry with her daughter, even though she thinks she "could have chosen different words."
"She wasn't speaking to the 3,000 followers she has now," Julie Sullivan said. "She was talking to 65 friends. And also it's the speech they use today. It's more attention grabbing. I raised my kids to be independent, to be strong, to be free thinkers. If she wants to tweet her opinion about Gov. Brownback, I say for her to go for it and I stand totally behind her.
Teen tweeter rethinking apology to Gov. Sam Brownback
November 26, 2011
By Jim Grawe
KWCH 12 Eyewitness News
(WICHITA, Kan.) — Initially intended for her few dozen Twitter followers, Emma Sullivan's comment about Governor Sam Brownback has become the tweet heard 'round the world.
"I tweeted that I just made mean comments to Governor Brownback and told him he sucked in person," Sullivan says.
The 18-year-old Shawnee Mission East senior sent that tweet from her phone while she and her classmates were listening to the governor speak during their field trip to the Capitol. A Brownback aide discovered the tweet, contacted a school official, and then Sullivan's school principal asked her to write the governor and apology.
The story has a lot of people talking.
"She just basically got cornered because she's young and could be easily manipulated," Alan Speer tells us during an evening out in Old Town.
But now after seeing her number of Twitter followers skyrocket from 61 to more than 1,400 in just a few days, Sullivan says people across the country are taking her side. Now she says she may not aplogize afterall.
"I didn't say anything I couldn't say in school," Sullivan says. "I'm pretty sure I didn't cuss."
Not everybody thinks Sullivan's tweet was fair.
"Free speech goes so far," Speer says. "You have to have something to back up what you're saying."
But others say Sullivan has nothing to apologize for in a nation that prizes freedom of speech.
"This wasn't the opinion of a 13-year-old or something like that," Benjamin Spenser says. "This is someone who is of voting age and that's the way it should be. (You) should be allowed to formulate your own opinions."