Plates of aide to right wing conaway gives finger to pres.

[efhmc]

WASHINGTON — A congressional staff member for San Angelo Rep. Mike Conaway is getting a new license plate for his Lincoln Navigator to replace a personalized Texas plate: WTF 44.

The plate, spotted on Capitol Hill, has drawn fire from some who see it as an insult to President Barack Obama, the nation's 44th president and a Democrat.

"When I realized the meaning could be misconstrued, I ordered new plates," said Scott Graves of Bronte, legislative director for the Republican from Midland, in a statement Monday.

Graves declined to elaborate further, said Conaway spokesman Sam Ray, who read the statement over the telephone.

In an email addressing Ray but also sent to the Standard-Times' Washington correspondent and Graves, Chief of Staff Richard Hudson referred to "KMC" — Kenneth Michael Conaway, saying: "Give KMC a 'heads-up.' When she talks to KMC next and she asks him about it, he just needs to decline to discuss his employees' personal vehicles. Or say something like, I didn't know about the plates, but I understand he's changed them."

Graves began work for Conaway in 2005 as a legislative assistant and earned more than $100,000 in 2010, according to the database LegiStorm.

He bought the 2007 Navigator for $28,999, according to commercial database publicdata.com. The SUV — license plate number WTF 44 — has a Texas registration effective since March 1, 2010.

WTF is an informal acronym for "what the (expletive)." It's commonly used in texting and speech.

Monday, an article on the website for Mother Jones, a left-leaning magazine, deemed the GOP staffer's license plate a "mobile middle finger to the commander-in-chief."

The article also raised questions about how Graves obtained a plate including the acronym WTF, quoting an unnamed worker at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles who said it was banned from plates.

Graves said he "obtained the plates through normal channels."

This is the same conaway who last week said in Brady Texas that the federal government was more of a threat to Americans than Al Quaeda. This subhuman is my Representative. Wish my part of the universe was somewhere else.

[Raine1967]

1. Link please? Thanks. EOM

[efhmc]

2. Here it is.

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/may/16/plate-a145middlefinger-toobama/?partner=RSS

[GSLevel9]

3. I think it's hilarious... if an aide to Schumer had WTF 43 I'd think it was funny, too. nt

[efhmc]

4. There is certainly a rat in that woodpile somewhere since

WTF is not allowed on license plates. Yet that particular person managed to get that specific plate. BTW, I think it is disgusting.

[efhmc]

5. I also find this disgusting.

"Graves began work for Conaway in 2005 as a legislative assistant and earned more than $100,000 in 2010, according to the database LegiStorm."
People in this part of Texas are really struggling. Guess he's a man of the people, just like his boss.

[Ikonoklast]

6. Of course you would.

Bless your heart.

[dionysus]

7. you certainly would, wouldn't you. n/t