Senate candidate Mark Kirk is being called out by a blogger for sending tweets while on active duty as a reservist.
Kirk, a Republican, serves in the Naval Reserves. On July 25, he (or someone working for him) posted a tweet that read, "On duty @ the Pentagon's National Military Command Center. All is currently (relatively) quiet. Honor 2 be back w/ my fellow Navy colleagues."
The next day, another post:
"Back on duty in the National Military Command Center - lets hope for a calm day for our troops."
Seems innocent enough, but as we all know, loose lips sink ships. CapitolFax's Rich Miller, who grew up a military kid, was startled by the posts for two reasons: One, Kirk may have violated military rules by disclosing his location while on duty. And two, members of the military are not allowed to work on a political campaign while on active duty.
Miller cites military regulations that say a member on active duty cannot participate in political campaigning, either publicly or behind the scenes. Those regulations seems pretty clear:
"Web sites created before entry on active duty may not be updated or revised and may be ordered shut down as the Secretary concerned may direct."
Politics
Miller even followed up with the Pentagon, which said the Navy would issue a statement about Kirk's tweets by next week. In the meantime, the Kirk campaign is claiming that he didn't post the tweets himself, but a staff member did it for him. Whether that makes everything OK with the DoD remains to be seen.
Now, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has also chimed in, saying this raises questions about Kirk's judgment.
"We look forward to him offering a thorough explanation," DSCC Communications Director Eric Schultz said.
Kirk's campaign has been trying to use Twitter to stay in touch with his supporters in a hip, Web 2.0 sort of way. Kudos to him. But will it all backfire? Stay tuned.
