A Portsmouth, Ohio, blogger recently asked the mayor for some documents under the state's public records law. The mayor said, "Sure." And also: "You're a worthless piece of s**t and I wouldn't p**s on you if you were on fire."

What is it with mayors and bloggers, anyway? They're always fighting! Robert Forrey is a retired English professor who writes a blog about local issues like parks and the Kiwanis Club and such. He filed a perfectly reasonable request for town records relating to the building of a local park with Mayor Jim Kalb last week, and got the following response at 1:47 a.m. on Sunday:

From: City of Portsmouth
To: rforr1@roadrunner.com
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information
Priority: Normal. Date: Sunday, September 27, 2009 1:47 AM
To: Robert Forrey

Per your public records request;

You are correct in stating that at the meeting in the park the fact was "acknowledged that such a written agreement existed". What I don't understand is why you feel that a confirmation of this fact would necessitate a publication or distribution of the mentioned document.

As you requested, a copy of the document has been prepared for you to pick up at my office. Our regular office hours are from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.

If there is anything else that I can do for you, which is required by law, don't hesitate to call my office. If it isn't required by law then don't bother asking, because I think that you're a worthless piece of s**t and I wouldn't p**s on you if you were on fire (my opinion). You're a poor, lonely, jealous, old man with aspirations of being a writer. You write your lies and uneducated opinions on people and issues from behind the safety of your slobber stained keyboard with the hope that somebody will read them that doesn't know you and believe that you're more than the pitiful, broke-down, lizard-looking thing that you are, in my opinion. Get a life old man. On second thought, don't bother..............

I do have a question for you. Do you have family and if so do they even like you?

Looking forward to your next Internet issue of "FORREY'S FOLLIES".....NOOOTTTTTT

With little respect for you,
Mayor James D. Kalb

Now that's freedom of speech at its best, in my opinion.

"NOOOTTTTT"! Burn, Robert Forrey. Burn. (The redacted expletives appear to have been written into the original e-mail; the "freedom of speech" line after the sign-off was in Kalb's e-mail as well.)

The Columbus Dispatch asked Kalb if he regretted sending the e-mail, and he replied: "I regret that he made it public." Come, on mayor—he's a blogger. Sheesh.

[Via State Sunshine and Open Records.]