Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican congresswoman, often tells her staff that she’s a self-taught coder—just one aspect of how Mace presents her tech expertise, as befits her role in shaping the GOP’s policies on technology and work as chair of the House subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation.

“I would say [it was] at least a weekly comment, if not daily,” says one of several former Mace staffers who spoke with WIRED. Another found her high regard for her skills somewhat at odds with her demonstrated ability. (Like all the staffers WIRED spoke with, they requested anonymity because they fear reprisal from their former boss.)

A principal—and unusual—use to which Mace put her skills, according to former staffers, was setting up burner accounts on a variety of social media platforms to monitor what people were saying about her and bolster her image. They also claim she requested that staffers make their own burner accounts to defend her online.

“We had to make multiple accounts, burner accounts, and go and reply to comments, saying things that weren’t true—even Reddit forums,” a former staffer says. “We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents.”