"Don't Call Me Liz!" Jim McDermott Aide Freaks Out.

By Josh Feit, Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 10:59 AM
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Politico has a funny story about U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott’s (D-7, WA) office manager/scheduler Elizabeth Becton.

Evidently, you are not to call Becton “Liz” if you aren’t friends with her. 

Here’s part of an email exchange where Becton sets someone straight on the topic: 

From: Becton, Elizabeth 
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:20 PM 
To: XXX 
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request 
Importance: High 

XXX: 

If I wanted you to call me by any other name, I would have offered that to you. I think it’s rude when people don’t even ask permission and take all sorts of liberties with your name. This is a real sore spot with me. My name has a lot of “nicknames” which I don’t use. I use either my first name or my last name because I row with a lot of other women who share the same first name. Now, please do not ever call me by a nickname again. 

As for your meeting request, who is the point of contact for this meeting? If it’s not you, then I need to know who because it’s very time-consuming to deal with a lot of people for one meeting. 

Thanks, 

Thanks for the tip  D. And good one Politico.

0 Responses to "Don't Call Me Liz!" Jim McDermott Aide Freaks Out.

  1. Mikos says:
    June 17, 2009 at 11:08 AM

    That’s simply awesome: “…take all sorts of liberties with your name”. Do I sense a harassment suit coming for violating someone’s name? I once made a similar mistake with a person named Peg who I took the liberty of referring to as Peggy — just once. Names are important but a little grace and forgiveness is also important.

  2. Trevor says:
    June 17, 2009 at 11:10 AM

    “The back-and-forth went on for 19 e-mails, with the assistant apologizing six times if she had ‘offended’ Becton, while Becton lectured about name-calling.”

    Wow. Not just unprofessional, but a little disturbed.

  3. Hobgoblin says:
    June 17, 2009 at 11:59 AM

    It’s bad enough when a Congressman gets all uppity, but a scheduler…? For McDermott?

  4. kirk91 says:
    June 17, 2009 at 1:08 PM

    Time to vote out McDermott and with a bit of luck put Becton out of work also.

  5. Ryan says:
    June 17, 2009 at 1:18 PM

    Liz Becton has been very sensitive to the issue since Liz Lemon hit it big on 30 Rock.

  6. Mikos says:
    June 17, 2009 at 3:23 PM

    I wonder how she does with Lizzie?

  7. me says:
    June 17, 2009 at 11:40 PM

    I think if your name was John and someone stranger who was asking you to do something for them called you Johnny, you might have the same reaction. Especially if you were the 20th person who had done it.

  8. Good Grief says:
    June 18, 2009 at 11:05 AM

    @4: Absolutely! Will someone please please find a decent Dem. to run against him?

  9. Judy says:
    June 20, 2009 at 12:16 AM

    Lizzie Becton took and axe and gave her emailer 40 whacks

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