Teenager Refuses Orders to Apologize to Conservative Governor
Emma Sullivan, 18, says she will not write an apology to Sam Brownback after telling her roughly 65 followers on Twitter that the Kansas governor sucks. Sullivan has gained thousands of additional followers since her high school principal ordered her to apologize to Brownback.
Emma Sullivan, 18, says she will not write an apology to Sam Brownback after telling her roughly 65 followers on Twitter that the Kansas governor sucks. Sullivan has gained thousands of additional followers since her high school principal ordered her to apologize to Brownback.
Sunday night, she tweeted the following: “I’ve decided not to write the letter but I hope this opens the door for average citizens to voice their opinion & to be heard! #goingstrong.”
Sullivan’s mother, Julie, is quoted by the AP as saying, “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.”
The young woman erroneously claimed in her tweet that she had confronted the governor while attending a school function. — PZS
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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.
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