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Heard on the Hill: What a Brownback!

It’s not every day someone turns your name into a noun. But welcome to the big leagues, Kansas Gov. (and former Sen.) Sam Brownback, and all because you trained the state’s resources on an 18-year-old senior at Shawnee Mission East High School who tweeted something mean about you.

Recall the ancient history of last week, when Emma Sullivan boasted on Twitter that she said a “mean comment” to the governor during a Youth in Government event in Topeka where Brownback was speaking. She ended the tweet with the hashtag “heblowsalot.” Team Brownback declared war on the teen and told on her to Shawnee Mission East High School principal Karl Krawitz. Krawitz called Sullivan into the office and demanded she apologize. She refused. Brownback apologized Monday.

Now Brownback faces the wrath of the Twitterverse, including this tweet from @MildlyRelevant: “Gov. Brownback’s office tattled on a high school girl who tweeted ‘#heblowsalot.’ I’m tattling on them for being a colossal Brownback.” There you have it: a proper noun.

And there’s also this, from Mark Logan, vice president of Digital Innovation for Barkley, who tweeted that the governor birthed “The Brownback Rule of Social Media,” which states “If you’re a politician, don’t pick a fight with a teenager on Twitter. #heblowsalot.”

The tweeting public is also calling on Krawitz to apologize to Sullivan and is reporting him to the high school for bullying. The principal’s telephone number has been tweeted (and retweeted and retweeted) for people to call and push him into saying he’s sorry.

Emma Sullivan just became the new Ferris Bueller.

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