SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Mitch McConnell is one of the most powerful men in Washington. Mitchell McConnell is an insurance brokerage in New Brunswick. Both are on Twitter, and regular users know what comes next.
"We'll get tweets with just blathering profanity without even a coherent thought in there," Chris Bourque, president of Mitchell McConnell Insurance in Saint John, N.B., said Thursday. "They assume we're the real Mitch McConnell."
McConnell is a Kentucky Republican who is majority leader in the U.S. Senate. He tweets as "@SenateMajLdr."
The Saint John McConnell is one of North America's leading insurance brokers for fish farmers. The firm tweets as @MitchellMcConne, with its name displayed as Mitchell McConnell.
"It's the surnames of the two founding brokers in 1927," Bourque explained.
Unlike the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, which this week good-naturedly complained about the blast of tweets that comes with sharing an acronym with the Republican National Convention, Mitchell McConnell Insurance has had a relatively easy ride.
"Depending on what's going on in the Senate, we might get two or three a day, or one a week," said Bourque.
Bourque said he tries to handle the tweets with humour — promising one Kentucky woman his firm won't take her guns away, or suggesting to one apparent GOP critic that the Republican presidential race could be a reality show.
"We make it clear up front: We're not the real Mitch McConnell."
Bourque said he had a chance to meet the senator in 2002 while in Kentucky for a conference. The senator was very cordial and amused by the firm's name, Bourque said.
