It can happen to the best of us.
Having to deal with those skeletons in your closet ... or on Youtube, or Twitter.
A few months ago, we published a series of stories about a teacher who lost her fight to regain her job. School district officials had fired her in part because of her interactions with others in comments on a Youtube channel, and also because of a video she posted on her personal Facebook page.
She claimed a right to privacy for a video which had nothing to do with her work and included some rough language. Her employers saw it differently and said her words on the video reflected badly on her job working with young people, and her employer.
So, now, we hear and see that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, supported outrageous conspiracy theories and promoted them on a variety of platforms in recent years.
Her defenders, such as U.S. Rep. Jody Hice who represents eastern Newton County, says she made her remarks and “liked” Facebook posts before she ran for office and shouldn’t have been booted from her assigned committees “for things she said years ago (and) has now apologized for,” Hice wrote on Twitter.
There is also criticism of the Democratic majority in the U.S. House for not doing the same thing against some of their members for past actions and words.
In fact, it seems the more outspoken or outrageous you get on social media or the traditional media, the better chance you have of getting elected to the U.S. House. Look at freshman Congresswoman Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat who appeared to support a recent riot at a jail in her district.
Hice, by the way, is facing his own criticism for his words on Twitter and elsewhere leading up to the January riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Videos have shown, since 2015, Greene said she agreed with those who believed a body double had been working on the Supreme Court in place of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
She said she had doubts 9/11 happened, and that a shooting that killed scores of people at a Las Vegas concert was intended to demonize gun owners.
Her Education and Labor Committee seat became a major focus for opponents who saw it as seemingly rewarding her despite being shown on a 2019 video berating the survivors of a mass shooting at a Florida high school in 2018. She has said in the past that she believed the 2018 shooting and another in 2012 were hoaxes.
The House voted to remove Greene from her seat on the Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee, with 11 Republicans joining with Democrats to do so.
Before the vote, Greene delivered what appeared to be a heartfelt denunciation of past conspiracy theories she supported that had been promoted by groups like QAnon and InfoWars.
However, after the Feb. 5 vote she lashed out at “morons” in both parties who voted to kick her off her committees, the Associated Press reported. She also has said “teams of people” managed her social media, attempting to deflect blame.
Afterward, she also bragged that the attention her actions brought her was prompting her supporters to send money to her reelection campaign.
Should we not hold people accountable for their actions before we hire them for a job as important and influential as the U.S. House of Representatives? It will be up to future voters to decide.
Tom Spigolon is news editor of The Covington News. He may be reached at tspigolon@covnews.com.
