The Best of the Best of the Best - with an Icky Mouth

So in my line of work, and quite frankly, just because of who I am, there are times when I piss people off. Granted, the people I want to love me typically do, and those other people... well, they usually don't. Which is 100% fine by me.

This is beautifully highlighted in the October 2016 issue of Phoenix Magazine.

In the Editor's Picks, I was amused to see my name listed under the category Best Twitter War. 

Here's what was written:

"Unless you’re a celebrity, athlete or politician, Twitter is more or less obsolete, but the micro-publishing trailblazer can still offer up an entertaining social-media slap-fight from time to time. In the red corner: Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump. In the blue corner: liberal PR consultant Stacey Champion, she of the icky-mouthed “Doug DoucheBAG” recycling campaign. After Champion called him a “#utility... teet [sic] sucker,” Stump retweeted the insult to her client list, asking “Are the clients of this PR person aware of how poorly this reflects on them?” Champion called it a “low blow” and defended the tweet as her “own personal opinion.” Uh, touché?"

What didn't amuse me, was the attempt at a back-handed slam, factual inaccuracy, and also the use of the term icky-mouthed which makes me think of that character Nellie Oleson from Little House on the Prairie. Remember her? I'm dating myself, but she was the first person I thought of.

Seriously. Icky-mouthed?!

So first, to delve into the backstory over the Twitter war with Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump, an Arizona elected official. I was at my office, with a client actually, watching the Arizona Corporation Commission on a live feed trying yet again to dismantle net metering and kill solar in one of the sunniest states in the country. This pisses me off. And it should piss you off too. The Arizona Corporation Commission and APS (the largest utility monopoly in the state who the commissioners are supposed to regulate with the best interests of the people in mind) are currently being investigated by the FBI.

And with headlines such as this 4 of 5 Republican candidates for ACC doubt human role in climate

change, should we be surprised to hear they're doing the bidding for dirty energy? Probably not.

So at some point while listening, watching and tweeting, I tweeted the following: If you'd like to see what a #utility & #ALEC teet sucker looks like, just listen to AZ Corp Commissioner @BobStump. #corruption #energy

(Ack! I know I spelled the word teat wrong as I was typing fast and rather than delete and do over, I just let it go. It happens to the best of us. Flawed humans we are.)

So shortly after this tweet, elected official Stump made it a point to visit my company website and pull my current/former client list. He then quoted my tweet and started tagging current and former clients, with the obvious intent of harming my business and hoping to make me lose clients. I've never seen an elected official cross the line like this before, but bad boy Stump seems to cross many lines, so I guess it's not too surprising.

Thankfully, all of my clients had my back and I did apologize for my spelling error. 

Okay, so back to the Phoenix mag comments...

First of all, your "Uh, touché?" was just mean-spirited. I'm not an elected official - he is. I'm a single mom and small business owner who works my ass off and gives a ton of my time back to my community volunteering for various causes. I didn't call his boss (or the FBI) to tattle on him. What he did was wrong, and had I lost any clients from his little game, you better bet I would've been livid and speaking to an attorney.

Second, I'd really like to discuss the "icky-mouthed “Doug DoucheBAG” recycling campaign." Had you taken the time to do five minutes worth of research, you'd understand this love project was launched after our Governor passed a law which bans cities and towns from enacting any kind of plastic bag ordinance or ban. It's basically a ban on bans. It's also basically the opposite of California's bag ban law. Why is this? Because our Governor is in the pocket of the Koch brothers and the petroleum industry. You can read about it here, or could have just Googled "Arizona bans plastic bag bans" as it made national news - and not in a good way. Which I think was a very ICKY thing for him to do, especially as the city of Phoenix alone spends $1 million per year just pulling plastic bags out of the recycling stream (as they're not allowed in your blue bin, FYI). 

So is it just that they're called Doug DoucheBAGS that you think is icky then? I thought it was pretty clever and funny. Other people do too. They're reusable bags. Not only that, but they're organic cotton and made in the U.S. And all of the money after cost is donated to the Sierra Club Grand Canyon chapter because God knows they need all the help they can get in this batshit crazy state. People called him that icky D word before me. It just seemed to fit, you know? I Hate the Environment was the first of three actually. There's also I Hate Education and We Hate Reproductive Rights (featuring his pal the evil church lady). Speaking of douching, the douchebag was invented by a man. Here's a great article you can read titled Lysol-Scented Vaginas: The Strange History of Douching. Also, douching is really not good for vaginas at all as it upsets the delicate PH... Oh my gosh, I bet you think that V word is icky too though so I should probably stop.

So are you ready for the happy ending? Because we all LOVE a happy ending! 

If you click over to the Readers Picks for People & Media, what do you see? You see this. Readers Pick for Best PR Pro. Hey! That's me!

Moral of the story: Haters gonna hate. Lovers gonna love. Winner winner turkey dinner! So thank you, Phoenix Magazine. I'm happy to make you a list of things you should really feel icky about any day of the week. Plus, the AZ legislative session will be starting again shortly, so there will no doubt be plenty of icky things to get our panties bunched up over. 

Until then...

Love + laughter,

-Msss. Champion