Thinking he was sending an e-mail to an aide, Assemblyman Willis Stephens instead sent a note to nearly 300 constituents, making the following comment on their listserv: "Just watching the idiots pontificate."

In the message, meant for aide Beth Coursen, Stephens wrote that he subscribes to the Brewster-based online discussion group to monitor area happenings, but he doesn't post messages.

I believe the long standing conventional wisdom, at least on Wall Street: don't type it if you wouldn't want to see it on the cover of the NY Times. This snafu only made the Washington Post...