Three congressional staffers are attracting some serious attention, but not the kind their employer, a Democratic congressman from the state of Washington, would hope for.

Legislative assistants and one legislative correspondent for Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), were fired Thursday following a string of tweets initially reported by the NW Daily Marker.

In the tweets, the staffers insult their boss and refer to drinking alcohol on the job. “We’re only drinking to cope with the fact that we work for such a selfish a—hole,” read part of one tweet. All three accounts have since been deleted.

Another tweet said: “Dear taxpayers – I hope you don’t mind that I’m watching YouTube clips of Nirvana at my government job. Thanks, you’re the best.”

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the congressman’s office stated that workers actually became aware of the incident on Twitter.

“Congressman Larsen and his staff became aware of the issue concerning the three staff members at noon EST. We became aware of the issue through a tweet referencing an article about the incident. Congressman Larsen immediately decided to fire the three staff members involved in the incident. The staff members were dismissed at 1:10 p.m. EST,” the statement read.

The provocative tweets began in July.

Andrew Cross is a Chicago-based public relations professional with Walker Sands Communications and a contributing writer for PR Daily. Follow him on Twitter at @Andrew_R_Cross.

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