Rude letter day

Nobody expects to receive a letter from a member of Congress that ends with an expletive.

But that’s what happened when U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson, a Missouri Republican, recently corresponded with a resident of her southeastern Missouri district.

The letter ended with: “I think you’re an asshole.”

Emerson said she can’t explain how the offensive language made it into the letter, which otherwise reads like a typical response to a citizen’s question about last year’s testimony of oil executives before the U.S. Senate commerce committee.

“There is no excuse for this inappropriate letter having been sent and every apology has been made to the individual who received it,” Emerson said in a statement.

“We cannot determine whether the addition to the letter was made by someone within the office or by someone with access to the office but it is on my letterhead and the responsibility for it lies with me. A valuable lesson has been learned and new procedures will be adopted as a result.”

Spokesman Jeff Connor said the measures include locking down all computer workstations when they are not being used, increasing the editing of outgoing mail and reviewing policies on who has access to the office.

“No one has been disciplined at this time because we are not yet able to identify the person responsible,” Connor said.

The man who received the letter, Bill Jones, of Centerville, Mo., declined comment when reached by phone at his home Wednesday.

A copy of the letter had made its way to the Missouri Democratic party