The House Education and the Workforce Committee Republicans have hired a junior aide who got some serious learning on the campaign trail after writing politically incorrect tweets.
Kathlyn Ehl, a University of Washington graduate who joined the committee last month as a staff assistant, left Washington Attorney General Robert McKenna's 2012 gubernatorial campaign as a policy assistant after two tweets attracted local media attention. The Stranger, a Seattle newspaper, reported that she tweeted "shut up and speak english #asians" and "If it takes you an entire green light to walk in front of my car GET A WHEELCHAIR #toooldtowalk."
McKenna's campaign, which came up three percentage points short to now-Gov. Jay Inslee (D), called the tweets "offensive and inappropriate." Ehl resigned her post. In an email to the Seattle Times, she wrote, "My actions were not just unfortunate, they were offensive. It is a lesson to others that social media comments made in frustration not only can hurt others, but they exist long after the moment has passed."
After the election, the Washingtonian stayed involved with state politics as a field project coordinator for the Washington State Republican Party. For the past six months, Ehl interned for the House Republican Study Committee and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).
