Congressional Staffer Goes Off the E-mail Deep End

Do not -- repeat DO NOT -- call Elizabeth Becton "Liz," she hates that

By CARISSA DIMARGO

Updated 4:49 PM EST, Thu, Jun 18, 2009

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Politico has pretty much made our day with this one. It's like the DC Summer Interns blog finished college, got a Masters in political science from GW and ended up at the desk of Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.). An exec assistant at a lobbying firm e-mailed the congressman's scheduler/office manager Elizabeth Becton, addressing her as Liz.

And here, all hell breaks loose.

Becton seems to have gone off on a mad tangent, as 19 (yes, 19!) e-mails unravel before our delighted eyes, with the assistant apologizing, oh, in about 17.5 of them. Becton refuses to let it drop, falling into a paranoid hysteria that someone "tricked" the assistant into calling her Liz because THEY KNEW IT WAS SO SO WRONG.

"I REALLY want to know who told you to call me that."

The snippy one-line e-mails go on for awhile, with our dear buddy Liz repeatedly demanding to know who told this person that Liz is a common nickname for Elizabeth, or something. Brace yourself for the big finish....

"Let me put it this way, they don't know me and perhaps they were PRETENDING to know me better than they do and pretended that I go by Liz. They did YOU a disservice.

In the future, you should be VERY careful about such things. People like to brag about their connections in DC. It's a past time for some. It's also dangerous to eaves drop, as you have just found out.

Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this? Like I said, it's a hot button for me.

And please don't call the office and not leave a message. My colleague told me you called while I was away at the Ladies' room. I do sometimes leave my desk."

OK OK OK just stop e-mailing about this and schedule the poor kid's damn meeting!

Politico reports, "McDermott spokesman Mike DeCesare told us Tuesday, 'An apology is being issued as we speak,' adding, 'This isn’t reflective of the way we do business in this office.'" Sure, sure. If that's not normally the way you do business, what funny thing are we going to have to read NEXT week?

Please read this hilarious e-mail chain if you have the emotional fortitude.

Oh, by the way -- LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ LIZ! OK?