L.A. Times reporter fired for (insulting, liberal) emailing to Republican congressman

L.A. Weekly ^ | August 8, 2002 | Johnny Angel

[dead]

ask him why he or his staff are so thin-skinned and ask them why they did this to my career

Dude, you were writing about high school sports.

I’m not even really sure that is “a career.”

[skeeter]

Brainfart is an understatement.

This guy is even too dense for the sportspage.

[Ann Archy]

The letter is a "walking cliche"...he only left out that we throw granny out of her house with not even a can of cat food for herself.

The guy is immature and STUPID....THAT'S why EVEN the LA Times had to fire him.

[Oschisms]

And he obviously isn't much of a writer, to judge by his letter.

[JimSEA]

Total agreement with you here. The ideas expressed in the e-mail are secondary to the use of the Times server. In fact, the content of the letter doesn't sound much different than LA Times editorials. However, as an employer, you have to control the use of your assets. If he had been fired for the content only, then there would be a problem (conservative or liberal ideas unless there is an employment contract restricting how you can express yourselves).

[Sweet Hour of Prayer]

"For now, the father of two young children is worried about his future. "I would love to be able to confront Bill Thomas and ask him why he or his staff are so thin-skinned and ask them why "they did this" to my career and my family."

Be a man. YOU did it to your family and your career. Everyone has the right to free speech... but not on the company's e-mail system.

[Ben Bolt]

Read's to me like he got a wild hair , took a liberty with private property ; and now can not seem to take the heat . Oh yes .. he also mentioned his family . Now the traditional liberal spew is forthcoming .

Mr. Robin ? Turn of CNN and try this site for a week or 2 instead of that swill site you like so much . Goodness man , you write about people who wear jock straps and grown men who burp and fart in public .

Gosh .. 'Ya think you were so damn difficult to replace ?

[RoseofTexas]

So the LA SLIME had to report it WORD BY WORD...hmmmm how sweet of them....MEDIA WHORES!!! May they go down in flames straight to HELL!!

[Billthedrill]

He may have a point about career - from the sound of his letter he's too stupid to do anything but journalism.

[aculeus]

The LA Weekly calls it a 'critical' letter instead of the lying smear job that it was. (Incidentally did they publish the letter? If not, how did you get it?)

Congrats to The Times for firing this loutish boob.

[Ben Bolt]

Quitting smoking BUMP ! Congradulations ..

[Revolting cat!]

The letter is a "walking cliche"...

You bet. That's why I think the guy should have been promoted to Editor-in-Chief of LA Times instead!

[cynicom]

Call a man stupid and then cant figure out why he was fired. Typical liberal. Duh, hold muh beer.

[ArcLight]

Fired? For this? Absurd. He shouldn't have done it on the company's computer, but he should have been given a good yelling-at, nothing more.

[Texagirl4W]

I'm not sure where I read this, but it's a good one to remember. "Wrong is wrong even if everyone does it. Right is right even if no one does it."

'Everyone does it' doesn't work anymore.

[cake_crumb]

Yep. I've read bartcop too. "Irreverant" is a totally improper description. "PURILE" is better.

[Ben Bolt]

The best part of the whole deal here is " So he sent his critical message on his companies email system " . Critical message ? Of course it was ;) .. What a dork , lol !

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

lessee now, Bush received the Electoral College vote.  If he is complaining that Bush didn't receive the popular vote, well then, neither did Clinton.  In fact, Clinton never did as well in the popular vote as did Bush.

I seem to recall (amongst other things) Clinton, big business and the Chinese connection.

The fact that Clinton perjured himself indicates that you can't take his word on anything.

The lowered teen pregnancy rates were due more to the policies enacted during the Reagan-Bush era ("just say no") than they were due to anything Clinton did.  In fact, oral sex skyrocketed during his tenure.  I wonder why.

It has been shown that convicted felons are responsible for 80% of all crimes.  With this in view, many states instituted policies of keeping convicted felons off of the street well before Clinton became president.  Thus the lowered crime rate had little to do with him.  In fact, anecdotal evidence suggests that if Clinton wasn't president, the crime rate would have been significantly lower.

Clinton fought against welfare reform, and only supported it reluctantly when it was forced on him by a Republican congress.

It certainly may have not been Clinton who cooked the books at Enron, Worldcom, and others, but it certainly happened on his watch while he gladly took money from them.

Sure Bush jr. did insider trading.  The SEC has cleared him on this one.  The stock of Harkin actually went up shortly after he sold.  Now, let's talk about Hillary and her 10,000% profit in a few months on the commodities exchange when she was a mere novice.  Talk about unbelievable.

I never heard of Bush or even Nixon starting a war for mere selfish reasons.

Yes, I don't see the comparision between Clinton and Bush.  For every dubious assertion you can make against Bush, I can throw literally hundreds of firm allegations against Clinton.  Thank heavens we are through with the 8 almost continously scandal-scarred years that passed for the Clinton presidency.

[Orual]

Maybe a slap on the wrist or a reprimand, but I have a pristine employment record over the two years I worked there.

Wow, two whole years. Took a long time to find out what kind of reporter he was.

[VRWC_minion]

I'd love to contact the LA Times and ask them why they hire so many liberal idiots.