The congressman: Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.).
Dumb move #1: Not living in his Florida congressional district.
Dumb move #2: Blocking a Twitter follower who pointed out that he doesn’t live in the district he represents.
According to Miami New Times, Curbelo does not live in the “swath stretching form South Miami-Dade to the Florida Keys.” Which means the lawmaker doesn’t live in his district. As the piece explains, in 2015, the Supreme Court redrew his district, leaving his home outside it.
Curbelo, who did not vote for Donald Trump for President for “moral reasons,” came to Congress in 2015.
To make matters worse, Curbelo got cranky with a Twitter follower — a local activist — who mentioned his living sitch and blocked him. The account appears to be the congressman’s personal account. But it’s not locked up or reserved for people who ask to follow him. It also plainly states he’s a “US REP for #FL26.”
The offender is Tomas Kennedy, deputy political director of FLIC Votes in Miami.
The Mirror sought comment from him and asked if he’d pursue a lawsuit against the lawmaker for blocking him.
“Yes im still blocked and not for now,” Kennedy said.
Asked what he thought about being blocked by the congressman, Kennedy replied, “If he uses his Twitter for political purposes he should not block people who raise legitimate concerns against him.”
He added, “Especially in light of this,” directing me to a report in Slate that a federal court has determined that the First Amendment prevents lawmakers from blocking people on social media “on the basis of their views.”
In this case, Kennedy was being irksome, but he wasn’t being threatening.
The Miami New Times story points out a “growing consensus” that lawmakers shouldn’t be able to block followers on Social Media since they are public servants who obviously use their accounts for political reasons.
.@RepCurbelo blocked me and possibly deleted his tweet when called out about not living in CD26, the district he claims to represent. pic.twitter.com/Lg2oai4Qnr
— Tomas Kennedy (@Tomaskenn) August 2, 2017
He blocked me on his personal account, not @RepCurbelo. He still uses his personal account for political purposes though.
— Tomas Kennedy (@Tomaskenn) August 2, 2017
Here’s how Curbelo responded. While Tomas the activist claims Curbelo “possibly” deleted the tweet from his “private” account, that isn’t true. The tweet is still there for anyone to see.
I’ve never pretended to live here, but I sure love the #FLKeys. pic.twitter.com/Fz0312PV4x
— Carlos Curbelo (@carloslcurbelo) August 2, 2017
The Mirror reached out to Curbelo’s Washington office for comment.
The press secretary wasn’t in, but a friendly upbeat press assistant took the call and didn’t get upset by my questions — such as whether the congressman still doesn’t live in his district and why he blocked the activist.
“Have a great day!” she said, assuring me she’d pass along the request to the press secretary.
I did not hear back from Curbelo’s official spokeswoman by Mirror press time.
