Newly elected House Representative Keith Ellison’s press secretary sent Capitol Hill police over to Tom Tancredo’s next door office to complain about Tancredo’s cigar smoke. Ellison did not know of this in advance, but he did approve the action afterwards. Smoking is permitted in Congressional offices, and Tancredo uses air filters, but apparently Ellison and his staff are still bothered by the smoke. As an ex-smoker, I can understand that the smell is offensive. As a rational person, I also understand that only an idiot would send the cops to complain about a perfectly legitimate activity. If I wanted my neighbors to stop doing something that they have the right to do, I would first introduce myself, take the time to get to know them a bit, then – after fully explaining my reasons – politely request that they stop. That Ellison’s staffer didn’t do this or something like it is evidence that yet another arrogant idiot is working in Congress.
Now that the story has been publicized, Ellison has compounded his error by offering a weaselly political apology. (h/t Hot Air)
Ellison “apologizes for the situation” because “it was so blown out of proportion,” Carlos Espinosa, Tancredo’s press secretary, told FOX News.
I can understand Ellison not wishing to apologize for the actions of his staffer – although he is, and should be held accountable for what his staff does – but even the staffer refuses to apologize, and is now playing the victim card.
“Good grief, we’re talking war and peace in a historic debate this week and people are talking about cigar smoke?” Jauert told FOX News.
Jauert said he wasn’t sure where the smoke was coming from and that the congressman didn’t know that he had made the complaint. [Again, he did approve of it afterwards, according to the first report - ed.]
Ellison suffers from asthma and people in his office are “highly sensitive” to second-hand smoke, Jauert said.
It was a “trivial little incident which resulted from the smoke permeating through the walls, which has happened a number of times,” Jauert said.
Apologizing “for the situation” without acknowledging that they created “the situation” and playing the victim card by complaining that it was “blown out of proportion” is not an apology. Here’s a couple of sentences from an apology that I emailed someone just last week:
I want to apologize for [...]. Whether or not I offended you – and I certainly hope I haven’t – I’m very sorry.
See the difference?
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