McCaskill defends her staff on Twitter

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) took to Twitter, as well as her blog, to defend the actions of her district office staffers’ treatment of conservative protesters.

One of McCakill’s Missouri offices was targeted by conservative “TEA party” demonstrators earlier this week. McCaskill’s office called the police on the protesters, raising the ire of some grassroots conservatives.

McCaskill addressed the minor controversy on her Twitter page and blog late Saturday evening, saying her office “welcomes” protesters, and adding that her office has now scheduled a meeting with the conservatives.

The Democratic senator explained that her office had been short-staffed and that, when the protesters started banging on the windows and doors of the office, the staff called in police for assistance.

“My apologies if anyone was offended,” she wrote. “We have protesters often (both from the left and right!) and we try to be welcoming.”

She explained more later, tweeting:

We welcome protesters. Our policy is to meet with representatives of any protesting group, at whatever office… http://tumblr.com/xbx2dxvl4

I moved my office from fed bldg to street front when I got elected to make it more user friendly, approachable.