The following e-mail was sent to Sen. Ron Gould on Monday, June 22, 2009 from a state agency e-mail address. The e-mail was time stamped at 11:41am. It was signed using the employee’s title as well as the agency logo.

Sen. Gould read the e-mail on the Senate floor yesterday to highlight the inappropriateness of state employees lobbying on the taxpayer dime.

Original e-mail:

Dear Mr. Gould,

The time has come for you to do your job and send the 2010 Arizona budget to the Governor. Waiting until the eleventh hour will not force the Governor to sign your budget but will, instead, cause many of Arizona’s citizens and State employees tremendous hardships. If you persist in this childish stunt, the public will be made aware that you do not care about the welfare of our state. I implore you to put politics aside and do the right thing.

The e-mail was later recalled and the agency is dealing with the employee.