Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) asked the state’s director of Health and Human Services to resign last month, but her office insists it definitely wasn’t because of his obsession with ’90s rapper Tupac.
“As the governor has said, a lot of factors contributed to the resignation of Jerry Foxhoven,” Reynolds’ spokesman told the Des Moines Register on Thursday. “Of course, Tupac was not one of them.”
“Gov. Reynolds is looking forward to taking DHS in a new direction,” he continued.
Reynolds’ office was not immediately available for comment.
Considering the fact that Reynolds asked Foxhoven to resign the Monday after he sent an email announcing Tupac’s birthday to the entire agency of 4,300 employees on Friday the 14th, the timing seemed suspicious.
However, the Register found that Reynolds’ chief of staff had indeed sent Foxhoven an email on June 13 requesting a meeting. After they scheduled it for June 17th, Foxhoven sent the birthday email.
After meeting on that Monday, Reynolds announced that Foxhoven had resigned.
Foxhoven loved the late rapper, and he made sure the rest of the agency knew it: “Tupac Fridays,” Tupac-themed cookies, and emails to employees filled with Tupac lyrics that the 66-year-old official found inspiring were a regular occurrence during Foxhoven’s 2-year tenure.
Just thought I’d mention that the emails I read in Tim Mak’s twitter feed and in his NPR article didn’t contain any vulgar language. Definitely G-rated inspirational lyric quotes, in line with the content of the emails they were part of.
I’m disappointed that TPM bought into the AP-delivered GOP spin on this one yesterday.
@cristina_cabrera
That kind of makes sense. His obsession with Tupac is a bit over-the-top and kind of weird, but not a reason to get someone fired. On the other hand, someone with a weird, over-the-top obsession that he wishes to constantly share with coworkers (who probably weren’t interested) might vary well have a lot of other personality quirks that could lead to him getting fired.
Really eccentric, self-absorbed and obsessive people don’t always work well with others.
Well, I believe it.
Of course “Tupac” was not one of the factors.
But, Foxhoven’s obsession with Tupac? Now that’s another story.
Strange story that has probably reached the end of it’s news cycle. You will be missed Foxhoven.
Maybe. Still no word on why he was actually fired, and with one exception, he seemed to be very well liked as head of Health and Human Services. Of course, that may have been the issue.