Tyler Drum (above) was fired from his job as a Democratic aide to Sen. Aguilar for having Republican friends.
Ever since we broke the story about how an aide to Democratic state Senator Irene Aguilar had been fired for the horrific flaw of having friends on both sides of the aisle, we’ve been waiting for the local media to admonish the Senator for her damaging partisanship. We’re still waiting.
Even national media have picked up on this story with the Daily Caller, Campus Reform, and Opposing Views picking up where our local media have failed. Even middle of the road (although, leans a little to the left) political commentator Eric Sondermann criticized Sen. Aguilar’s actions on Facebook:
“…I have been bothered by the story of my State Senator firing her legislative aide for the great offense of having a friend who works on the other side of the aisle. The story is now receiving national attention. As it should.
Another shameful tale of the polarization and hyper-partisanship of our time.
Sen. Irene Aguilar, you may represent my neighborhood, but you do not represent me on this one.”
This is the real question that we’d like answered about this entire ordeal – who in leadership put a gag order on aides being friends with Republicans? Is anyone from local media (besides us) going to ask? [Crickets chirping]
This is just another black eye for the Democratic leadership at the Capitol as they kick off the 2014 session. They are desperately trying to paint themselves as bipartisan after last session burned them so badly. We have a feeling 2014 will be another rancorous session.
There is this thing called back channel communications. It's where the assistants to the powerful will get together and make clear where their various employers stand on certain policies and agenda items. A good aid will have many contacts on both sides of the aisle. A good legislator will fully appreciate what an asset such an aid is. The only reason to not want to have such an aid is because you assume you will not have to take into consideration the other side. I think this story shows that the Democratic declarations of a more bi-partisan session this year is so much BS.