It's spelled "B-R-O-D-K-O-R-B" but it's pronounced "Asshole"

In a move that should come as a surprise to nobody, Michael Brodkorb secretly recorded a phone conversation he had with Senator Michelle Fischbach, former President of the Minnesota Senate. The recording is being submitted as evidence in the wrongful termination suit Brodkorb is currently waging against the Senate. Senator Fischbach has no one but herself to blame for her words being used as evidence, in this era it’s foolish to believe any conversation is truly private. However, this incident does help cast a little more light on the reason Brodkorb was let go so quickly following the scandal: it was because he’s an asshole. If you’re liked, and if you do your job well, then there is a chance that you can survive the fallout of any scandal short of murder. But if you aren’t doing your job well, or if people can’t stand to be around you, then any scandal or incident will merely serve as the excuse people need to kick you to the curb. By all accounts Brodkorb was good, but not irreplaceable at his job, and now we know that people would have had no reason to like him.

While the legality of the firing is still being determined, it is thanks to Brodkorb's decision to record his phone conversation with a friend, that we can understand why the party wasn’t broken up about losing him. There have been reports of Brodkorb creating a hostile work environment, of his demeaning attitude towards other staffers and senators alike. However, these murmurings have been somewhat muddled by the legal battle going on over his termination. Claims of a hostile work environment could very easily be made to support his termination after the fact, and they are hard to take as evidence from anonymous sources and tipsters. Thankfully we don’t have to rely on these rumors anymore to figure out what type of person Brodkorb is because he has submitted evidence proving his guilt. If Brodkorb is willing to sell a friend out to further his legal case, what would he have been willing to do to someone he didn’t like? It has become painfully clear that, regardless of what the courts decide, the senate had a very good reason to fire him. He was an asshole, plain and simple. Why would anybody want to keep someone like that employed?

Michael Brodkorb is the type of person that believes wholly in his own narrative as hero. He is willing to do whatever is needed to further his own cause because he sees himself as the protagonist of this adventure. Brodkorb is either incapable of understanding that Senator Fischbach said many things she wouldn't normally say in order to console him, or he knew that she would say these things just to console a friend and used that to generate evidence for a lawsuit he was in the process of filing. Either he is incapable of understanding the motivations that drive people, or he views those motivations as something to be used in the pursuit of his desires. I’m not sure which it is, but both options show how horrifyingly close your run-of-the-mill asshole is to Ted Bundy. It has become painfully clear that, regardless of what the courts decide, the senate had a very good reason to fire him. He was an asshole, who would do anything to further his agenda. Why would anybody want to keep someone like that employed?