Senator Fires Staffer for Gay Slur; Apologizes to Blogger

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., personally apologized to the author of "Joe.My.Blog" Thursday for an offensive anti-gay slur one of his staffer's posted to the site during the Senate's debate over a repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

The posting, by a staffer going by the name of "Jimmy", read: "All faggots must die."

In a statement released Thursday, Chambliss made clear, "The office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms has concluded its investigation, and I responded to that report immediately with the removal of a member of my staff. I commend the Sergeant at Arms, Terrance Gainer, and his staff for their very thorough and professional work."

The senator said he called Joe Jervis, the blog's author, to "personally" apologize.

"I am sorry for the hurt this incident has caused. Regardless of one's position on issues and policies, such comments are simply unacceptable, are not befitting those who work in the U.S. Senate, and I will not tolerate them from my staff," the statement from Chambliss read.

Jervis just posted the following statement on his blog about the phone call:

"I just got off the phone with Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who said he was calling to personally apologize for the 'All faggots must die' comment left here on JMG last Tuesday. I'll paraphrase what (the senator said). CHAMBLISS: 'Joe, I don't know if your Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, but none of that should matter. Because what was said on your blog by someone from my office is just not acceptable, no matter who is saying it and who it's being said to. I just want to offer my sincerest apologies. There has been some talk about how long it's taking to find the person behind this, but we just wanted to be very careful and handed this off to the Senate Sergeant at Arms, because this is going to seriously impact somebody's life and we wanted to make sure we got this right. So again, I just wanted to call you and personally apologize."

Jervis recalls his statement back to Chambliss as follows: "Thank you, Senator. I do appreciate the call and I do accept your apology on the condition that your office issues a public statement repeating what you've just said to me. I'd also like the disposition of your staffer's job status to be made public."

Jervis found out the menacing statement came from Chambliss' office by tracing the post back to an IP address.

Jervis said his readers then traced the address to the local office of either Chambliss or Sen. Johnny Isakson, both Georgia Republicans. The offices are located next to one another.

"My army of geeks was unable to penetrate it directly to the specific computer," Jervis said at the time.

The senator's office refused to release the staffer's identity, though the staffer is a federal government employee. When Fox inquired, a senior Chambliss aide said said, "We're not going to comment on the individual involved. Our office has taken appropriate action and the matter is concluded. "