On Thursday, May 11, Dianne Feinstein’s already-controversial week grew even more contentious after an excerpt from writer Ben Terris’ upcoming book, The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind made the rounds online, detailing how ex-legislative Correspondent Jamarcus Purely dissented against his ex-boss by lighting up in her office.


After a half-decade of allegedly facing mistreatment while working for the West-Coast lawmaker – one notably resembling that one SpongeBob SquarePants character with vivid memories of chocolate’s invention, Purely finally “let loose” in early 2022, getting candid about his frustrations with his employer. 



“He talked about the coworkers who had touched his hair while he sat at his desk, how the senator hadn’t ever learned his name or spoken to him despite five years of service to her, how the chief of staff seemed to be operating as a shadow senator since the actual one was, in his opinion, no longer mentally there,” Terris wrote.


At one point during his remarks, Purely even accused his employer of valuing her pup more than people of color.




“Perhaps most memorable to those on the call was his belief that the senator cared ‘more about her dog, Kirby, than she does about Black people,’” the reporter elaborated of that fateful conversation.


His comments were met with silence – one broken with a termination letter two weeks later.


The note, penned by Feinstein’s chief of staff, alleged that Purely got the axe as he had allegedly “stopped showing up to work” and “repeatedly corresponded with constituents on behalf of the senator without first getting approval from his manager.” Purely was less-than-convinced by this rationale, under the impression that “he was being punished for telling ‘hard truths’ about Feinstein.



“It was obvious to him that her mental faculties were dimming and she might be going senile,” Terris explained, noting that Purely also took issue with his former boss's priorities.


Equipped with his still-functional badge, some psychedelic mushrooms, and a joint, Purely protested these injustices in a manner most Washington D.C. staffers have only dreamed of – getting blazed in his former boss's office.