U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie expected some criticism after being one of three votes against an aid package for Hurricane Harvey victims.

But he certainly didn't expect his local Chamber of Commerce to call him a 'piece of sh*t.'

The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce tweeted out the explicit opinion of the Garrison Republican Wednesday afternoon; it was deleted shortly after.

"Wow, what a piece of sh*t," the Northern Kentucky Chamber tweeted with a link to a story about Massie's vote.

It didn't take long to find out how a chamber of commerce ended up comparing a member of Congress to excrement.

Within hours, a marketing firm contracted by the Northern Kentucky Chamber took responsibility and apologized.

An employee for Covington-based Scooter Media intended to tweet the sharp critique of Massie through a personal account and accidentally tweeted it via the chamber's account, according to a statement from the company.

"The personal comment in no way reflects the views of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce or that of Scooter Media broadly," Shannan Boyer, president of Scooter Media, said in a statement.

The employee, who was not named, has been suspended pending further inquiry.

The incident created an uncomfortable situation for newly-elected Northern Kentucky Chamber President Brent Cooper. Once he became aware of the errant tweet, Cooper told The Enquirer he launched an investigation. Cooper called Massie to apologize.

"It doesn't reflect the feeling of the chamber of commerce," Cooper said. "I apologize to Thomas Massie or anyone else who saw it."

NKY's Rep. Thomas Massie one of three 'no' votes on Harvey relief

Massie maintained a sense of humor about it with a tweet pretending it referred to the hurricane aid bill and not him.

"Well, I'm not crazy about the bill either, but I don't know if I would call it that," Massie tweeted.

Massie was one of three members of the U.S. House to vote against $7.85 billion in aid for hurricane victims. The bill passed 419-3. In a statement he sent to The Enquirer, Massie said he voted against the measure because there weren't any budget cuts to offset the spending.

"With $20 trillion dollars of debt, and in the absence of a budget to guide spending, I believe that the unscheduled spending should be offset by equal cuts elsewhere," Massie said in the statement. "This bill recklessly increases the national debt because it contains no spending offsets."

The Northern Kentucky Chamber tapped Cooper as its new president in late August..

Cooper is the founder of Covington-based C-Forward Information Technologies. He will retain ownership of the company but turn day-to-day operations over to his management team. He has twice served as interim president of the chamber, including since former president Trey Grayson resigned earlier this year.