Eddie Bernice Johnson's Chief of Staff is on Leave After Accidentally Sending an Email About a Gay Colleague to a Gay Colleague

By Eric Nicholson Tue., May 15 2012 at 4:11 PM

The Washington Blade, D.C.'s main LGBT news outlet, is reporting that Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has placed Chief of Staff Murat Gokcigdem on leave following questions about a 2010 e-mail.

According to the piece, staffer Chris Crowe was seeking a letter of recommendation from Johnson for a position in Obama's Treasury Department. Gokcigdem wrote Johnson an email about Crowe, who is gay. But he accidentally sent the message to Crowe instead.

"It is my personal belief that he has contacts there," Gokcigdem wrote. "And they, as a group watching and supporting each other if you know what I mean."

Crowe died of a staph infection in 2011 following an open-heart surgery to treat complications from meningitis.

The dust up comes as Johnson is in the midst of her toughest reelection fight in years. It also serves as yet another reminder to double-check that "to" field before you hit send.

We Recommend

Scruffygeist

In 2010 wasn't EBJ still giving public scholarship money to her unqualified friends and family? This is nothing!

But seriously, what took so damn long?

Perry Moore

E,The hit piece on Mr. Schutze is falling together beautifully. The NRA contributions should really raise some eyebrows among his libtard readers. The poor old sap will never know what hit him.

Cya

-So EBJ is shocked, SHOCKED to find out this happened?

If the email warrants a suspension now - why was no action taken when it was sent - IN 2010?

Hard for her to say she just now found out about this - since the email went TO HER.

GLBT community should demand she release all internal emails concerning this - including her response to her Chief of Staff in 2010 to see where she really stands.

Finally, is the "suspension" with or without pay?

Don't hold your breath waiting for answers.

Omar Jimenez

Ohhhh they don't care. I can't believe the only reason why many of them would want to vote for her is just because of Gay Rights, that it. They don't care about the ecomony or anything, hell she can be a crook and they would still vote for her. It will never take anything until they can open there eyes and look at real life.

RTGolden

That Ecomony is real political thorn, ranks right up there with the economy.

JonothanS

Read the article the email did not go to her it went to the staffer...

That is the gist of it.

punnyman8it

staff infection ......ummm hu......

Jay

No one posting seems to acknowledge that the endorsement recommendation by Gokcigdem to Johnson was apparently based solely on Crowe's sexual orientation and the opportunity to curry favor in the GLBT community rather than based on Crowe's qualifications for the position. Somewhat akin to a DISD supervisor hiring (temporary-permanent) employees who were also members of his cult-like church but lacking any particular qualifications for the jobs. EBJ got it right this time, which is the most surprising aspect of the entire episode.

Paul

Or how about the IT director for the City of Dallas hiring his fellow church members and completely bypassing the HR department?

Guest

I'm not sure I see a reason to suspend anyone. The worst he said was "And they, as a group watching and supporting each other if you know what I mean." In some contexts, I would view that as potentially offensive, but here maybe not.

I understand the person who was the subject of the email (and its unintended recipient) wasn't just gay, but happened to be a part of some group of GLBT congressional aids (I don't know how formal). Presumably some of the group's participants landed jobs with the Obama administration and were promoting other members of the group from within (what politically savvy person doesn't promote people in their various networks). This is just how things are done and isn't suspect. It also is something that other politically savvy people would want to consider when making recommendations.

Obviously there could be more to it. This guy might have a history I don't know about.

KatherineShores

Seems like not much of a story. All demographics stand together to advance each other or our common beleifs. Thanks EBJ for standing up for us, unlike other reps in Congress especially those that hail from Texas, you give a shit!

pak152

Dang Republicans, what despicable behavior. never catch a Democrat doing that

Replay

Suspension? EBJ should give him one of those scholarships. Maybe he could get some sensitivity training.

Paul

Please vote for the dead possum this fall.

I guarantee that you will not be disappointed or surprised by its performance.

Jon

The only thing EJB has done wrong here is to over-react and suspend this guy. Guess what - gays and every other group (racial, ethnic, gender) support each other. Doesn't make it an anti-gay accusation.