President Donald Trump appointed a massage therapist from New Hampshire with no apparent relevant experience to work at the Energy Department, but parted company with the employee Friday after a series of anti-Muslim social media posts came to light, current and former DOE employees tell POLITICO.
Sid Bowdidge had received a nameplate and taken up residence this week in the director’s office of the agency’s Office of Technology Transitions, a career DOE employee said, but it was not clear precisely when he started or what his job would be. OTT specializes in shepherding research developed at the national labs into the private sector, an area in which Bowdidge didn’t seem to have any experience.
Before joining DOE, Bowdidge worked for the Trump campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. An August 2015 NBC News report quoted Bowdidge attending a debate watch party in Trump’s New Hampshire campaign office, describing him as a “massage therapist from Bedford.”
DOE employees were unsettled by Bowdidge’s caustic Twitter account, on which he accused then-President Barack Obama of having terrorist “relatives” and spouted anti-Muslim views.
POLITICO took several screenshots of Bowdidge’s Twitter account Thursday night before it was made private sometime Friday.
In a tweet on Dec. 6, 2015, Bowdidge wrote that “Obama won’t use the term radical Islam because they’re his relatives!!!!” A day later, replying to a CNN tweet that included a picture of the suspected San Bernardino shooters, Bowdidge wrote, “Scum sucking maggots of the world. Exterminate them all.”
And during a dispute with someone on Twitter a week later, Bowdidge replied to the person “wouldn’t say that if it was your wife, sister or family member that was murdered by some Muslim piece of shit.”
DOE said Friday that Bowdidge is not with the agency anymore. Greentech Media reported earlier in the day on his social media history and apparent lack of qualifications.
“Normally, we do not comment on personnel matters. In this case, we can confirm that Sid Bowdidge is no longer employed at the Department of Energy,” said Bob Haus, a DOE spokesperson.
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Rick Perry's Energy Department experiences its first staffing controversy: https://t.co/nJ12EIQbf7
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) March 11, 2017
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