Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) said in a statement this afternoon that he has fired the staffer who wrote an offensive comment on a gay rights blog last week. His office declined to identify the staffer.
The unidentified staffer wrote, “All faggots must die,” on a post at Joe.My.God, just after the Senate’s failed attempt to start debate on a bill that would repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Joe Jervis, who runs the blog, traced the commenter — who called himself “Jimmy” — to an IP address in Atlanta, Ga., that had been registered by the U.S. Senate.
Chambliss’ office said he was investigating the matter. A day later, the senator admitted the comment had come from his office and announced that he had asked the Sergeant at Arms, who runs the Senate’s IT system, to investigate.
“The office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms has concluded its investigation, and I responded to that report immediately with the removal of a member of my staff,” Chambliss said in his statement today.
“I have called Mr. Jervis, the blog’s author, and apologized to him personally, and I am sorry for the hurt this incident has caused,” he said. “Regardless of one’s position on issues and policies, such comments are simply unacceptable, are not befitting those who work in the U.S. Senate, and I will not tolerate them from my staff.”
Jervis posted on his blog that Chambliss had called him to offer his apologies.
Jervis tells TPM he considers the matter closed.
“I felt it was sincere,” he said. “Just that fact that we got an extremely right-wing, homophobic senator to come to us with his hat in his hand … is good enough for me.”
