Bush Tech Chief Quits Over Insensitive Remarks On Twitter
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/AP) — Jeb Bush's presidential campaign-in-waiting has a 'help wanted' sign out for new technology chief.
Ethan Czahor, hired in January to serve as Bush's Right to Rise political action committee's tech chief, has apologized and resigned after it was discovered that the made some insensitive remarks on Twitter.
Czahor, who posted the messages on his personal account before he was hired, referred to women as "sluts" and made remarks about gay men.
Bush spokesman Kristy Campbell noted that Czahor had apologized for "regrettable and insensitive comments" that did not reflect the views of Bush or his organization. But she added that it was "appropriate for him to step aside."
Czahor said in Twitter messages posted late Tuesday that he hoped his "recent news won't dissuade future techies from entering politics, regardless of political affiliations/backgrounds." He said he had resigned, wished good luck to those at Right to Rise and apologized "in advance to whoever fills my position."
In one tweet posted in 2009 and since deleted, Czahor wrote, "new study confirms old belief: college female art majors are sluts, science majors are also sluts but uglier."
The additional comments discovered Tuesday and first reported by The Huffington Post were made in January 2008 on a website for a radio show that Czahor hosted while he was a college student in Pennsylvania. He praised Martin Luther King Jr., saying that the civil rights leader "didn't have his pants sagged to his ankles, and he wasn't delivering his speech in 'jibberish' or 'slang.'"
After the initial comments were found on Twitter, Bush's team had said the former governor found them to be "inappropriate," but that Czahor could remain with Right to Rise.
Czahor's resignation is the second tech-related hiccup for Bush this week. He posted hundreds of thousands of emails from his time as Florida governor to a new website on Tuesday, but drew some criticism because the emails include some personal information of those with whom Bush corresponded.
The emails were part of the public domain, thanks to Florida's strong open records laws, and Bush said he released what his team got from the state's archive. He pledged to block any information that shouldn't be public.
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