The NW Daily Marker broke a story this week that has made national attention. The story recounted the drinking exploits of congressional staffers of Congressman Rick Larsen (D WA) and their unsavory work ethic at his office, in the efforts to create a December to Remember (#D2R twitter hashtag).

On one hand, it is funny that they thought their private Twitter conversations wouldn’t become public. Either they don’t understand partisan politics, or that social networks are open for anyone and everyone to see your ugly exploits, or they’re too immature for those realities to register.

But on the other, the fact that congressional staffers, in highly desirable positions, would waste taxpayers money by treating their jobs like a college party on a Saturday night was galling.

While partisan politics will fuel the discussions around this ugliness, it’s worthwhile to remind ourselves that A) this wasn’t the elected official, B) this may be more of the norm for young 20-something congressional staffers in DC (just that these were dumb to publicize their exploits), C) there are still problems with adults drinking at lunch or medicated on prescription drugs all day while they work. But in the end, this was a reprehensible act, and I’m glad that Congressman Larsen fired these 3 staffers within an hour of being informed of their stupidity.

Since we work in social media, we understand that anything we do might enter the public domain. But this is a good reminder for everyone, that we can’t tweet or post about malicious or nefarious actions with impunity. It’s also a painful reminder that young employees, despite their college educations, may need oversight and are at times immature.

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the Pinnion below.