GOP Congresswoman Excoriates Lowly House Staffer for Daring to Step Foot in 'Members Only' Elevator
An unnamed House staffer recently found herself on the receiving end of an anachronistic verbal beatdown at the mouth of Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) for daring to ride alongside her in an elevator reserved for House members only.
According to a source who spoke with The Hill's In The Know blog, Foxx, a member of the House Committee on Rules who was just elected Secretary of the House Republican Conference, exploded after running into the staffer inside the Longworth House Office Building's "members only" elevator.
According to the source, the regular elevator was being occupied by furniture movers, so the staffer decided to hitch a short ride in the restricted elevator, expecting the one-time occurrence to go unnoticed.
But as soon as Foxx stepped into the elevator, she allegedly demanded to know for whom the staffer worked, before summarily ordering her to "get out." Foxx reportedly directed the staffer's attention to a sign that read "Members of Congress only," and said "I'm just making sure we are hiring people who know how to read."
It was noted by the tipster that the staffer attempted to point out to Foxx that the sign also read "during votes," but was rebuffed.
Foxx's spokeswoman Ericka Perryman told The Hill their interest in the incident is "silly."
She continued: "But it is interesting to see what great lengths of exaggeration some disrespectful junior staffers will go to just to read about themselves in the paper."