The email shows a picture of a black widow spider. It reads "She's very easy to spot. The female has a very wide backside, is Black, and has a red hour glass shaped marking on her body."
Then it goes on to say "You can find this spider in closets, wood piles, under beds, and soon...the White House!!!!!!"
Following the comments is a picture of Michelle Obama from election night, wearing a black and red dress. Rule, a Republican, forwarded the email to about 25 friends using his official government account. Karaitis says he sent it to several county email addresses.
We asked the commissioner to speak with us on camera, but he refused. Instead he sent out this statement: "I found the red markings on the dress shown in the email very similar to that of a black widow spider, and that made it humorous to me. If I offended anyone, I sincerely apologize and all concerned parties can be assured I will not use a county computer to forward emails that are not directly related to county business." -- Steve Rule.