A manager with the Indiana Department of Transportation has been suspended without pay over an email he sent to a columnist from his work account, according to INDOT.
New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow posted a screenshot of the email from David Brewer to his Facebook page Thursday.
"Did your surname come from you being a cocaine addict or just from the fact that your opinion BLOWS? You have no basis in reality! And perhaps you should take a few classes in the English language before writing again. Your poor grasp of the language makes your written opinion less trusted and perceived as coming from an ignorant person," wrote Brewer, who identified himself as a manager of external audit at INDOT in his email signature.
"So Indiana Department of Transportation, I received this from one of your officials, during office hours, USING HIS .GOV email address," Blow wrote. "Shouldn't David be working instead of shooting off nasty emails? Is this how you use tax dollars?" he asked. [[394685391, C]]
Just a few hours later, INDOT shared Blow's post to its own Facebook page and announced that Brewer was suspended without pay effective immediately.
"An email of this nature is an inappropriate use of INDOT resources. Further, the language used is unacceptable and does not reflect the values of INDOT," the post reads, adding that the matter remained under review.
