There is a new scandal breaking involving an elected official , a young woman and Twitter . And , nope , it 's not what you think . This one involves 18-year-old Kansas high school senior Emma Sullivan , who was on a school trip last week to the Kansas state Capitol as part of the Youth in Government program . On her way back from the event , she jokingly tweeted to her then-65 followers on Twitter the following about Kansas Gov . Sam Brownback : `` Just made mean comments at gov . brownback and told him he sucked , in person # heblowsalot . '' When you tweet to 65 people on Twitter , it usually just ends there , quickly evaporating into the cybersphere -- tweets are truly the epitome of ephemeral . That is unless you happen to tweet about the governor of Kansas . In a move that would have undoubtedly impressed Richard Nixon , the Kansas governor 's director of communication , Sherriene Jones-Sontag , is charged with the daily monitoring of any negative comments about Brownback on social-media websites . Jones-Sontag , finding this 73-character tweet by a high school student a threat to the good name of the governor , bolted into action . She contacted the Youth in Government organizers and expressed her outrage over the tweet . In turn , the event administrators , no doubt concerned that the governor 's director of communication had taken the time to contact them , informed Sullivan 's high school principal . Sullivan soon found herself in her principal 's office being scolded for nearly an hour . Bottom line : The principal has mandated the student write a letter of apology to the governor that is due Monday . Sullivan , who says she was making a political comment on Brownback 's conservative policies that she disagrees with , announced her refusal to apologize for criticizing the governor . See an interview with Emma Sullivan . To me , there are a few issues that quickly jump out : . • Who else has the governor confronted for making negative remarks about him ? Recent polls indicate that Brownback has a 52 % disapproval rating -- with a majority of Kansas residents unhappy with his work . Responding to these type of tweets could become a full-time job . • Is the governor spending taxpayer dollars to monitor his critics on social media ? • Which websites does his office monitor ? Obviously Twitter , but what about Facebook and Foursquare ? What about MySpace or Friendster ? You never know -- someone stuck in 2007 could still be using those websites and making disparaging remarks about Brownback . • Why is it that a conservative such as Brownback -- who generally opposes government regulations -- wants to regulate free speech ? Is there an exception to his philosophy of less government when it is a regulation he likes ? • Can Brownback demand an apology from me because I tweeted this : `` Rep Governor Brownback of Kansas demands that teen apologize for tweeting he sucks . # Brownbacksucks '' -- and because I 'm one of the people who boosted Sullivan 's Twitter follower count to more than 7,000 since this story broke ? But the biggest question to me : Does the First Amendment apply in Kansas ? The message of Brownback 's office and of the high school principal is alarmingly clear : If you criticize the governor , you could suffer consequences . That is something you hear about in a Third World nation that does not guarantee freedom of speech , not the United States of America . We need to be especially vigilant in protecting freedom of speech when it involves commenting on the actions of our elected officials . That is one of the cornerstones of our democracy . Having to apologize to an elected official for criticizing him or her , however , undermines our nation by creating a chilling effect on free speech . Brownback did announce this afternoon : `` My staff over-reacted to this tweet , and for that I apologize . '' Governor apologizes for 'overreaction ' He should be applauded for that . It sends an unequivocal message that criticism of our elected officials must not be limited in any way , and in fact , should be encouraged -- especially by the younger generation of Americans learning about our government . However , it is still troubling that state funds are used to monitor social media websites to determine if anyone is mocking the governor . It has an eerie Big Brother feel , not to mention that it 's a waste of tax payer dollars . Brownback should end that practice today , making his focus solely the issues facing all the residents of Kansas -- not whether he 's popular on Facebook and Twitter .
Kansas student tweeted her disapproval of Gov . Sam Brownback . Governor 's office objected , and the student 's principal told her to apologize . The school district said it was a violation of their policy for students to post on social media about politics or religion without permission from parents. Governor 's office impinged on free speech . He says governor apologized , now he needs to stop monitoring social sites .