An open letter to Sen.-elect Konni Burton, who blocked me on Twitter

Jan. 7, 2015
Dear Sen.-elect Konni Burton:
Next Tuesday, Jan. 13, you will be sworn into the Texas Senate. After more than a year of campaigning, you will become Senator Konni Burton, the conservative Republican representing Senate District 10 in the Lone Star State.
You declared your candidacy in a video by slamming your predecessor, Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, for her filibuster against anti-abortion legislation. By running in Texas’ only competitive Senate district, you knew you’d be in the national spotlight. Judging by your campaign finance records after declaring your candidacy, you certainly became a national sensation.
Over the next year, you clobbered your GOP opponents — deemed “Republicans in Name Only” by your supporters — in the primary and run-off elections. Finally, you bested your Democratic opponent in the general election. As expected in tight elections, both you and your opponents were critical of your each other in nasty television commercials, advertisements and mailers.
That was clear enough when mailers appeared in the mailboxes of voters across SD-10, slamming your Democratic opponent for everything from being anti-gun to advancing your own anti-LGBT issues. While your spokesman denied the connection to the anti-LGBT mailer sent by the NFC, my research revealed the all-too-cozy connections between your campaign network and the mailers.
Clearly you are willing to give criticism. But I’m concerned you may not be receptive to it, even if it’s rooted in fact.
That’s why I’m writing you. It may seem small, but I couldn’t help but wonder why you blocked me on Twitter. Because I’m a reporter who critically wrote about your campaign? (A sentiment not exclusive to you, I might add.) Because I culled through campaign finance and other records, leading to a story about the dark money and shady mailers surrounding your campaign operation? I knew journalism rankles feathers, but facts are facts.
I didn’t realize doing my job was such an ongoing threat. Of course, neither did Bethany Rodgers, a reporter with the Frederick, Md.’s News-Post, who was threatened with a lawsuit by Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter for using his name without his permission. #kirbydelauter
As of Jan. 13, you will be an elected official, #StateSenKonniBurton. That is exactly what you campaigned on. You got what you wanted. Hopefully you’ll also act like an elected official, too.
Sincerely,
James Russell
Dallas Voice
P.S.: You can follow me on Twitter @james4texas