Last night KSTP-TV (Channel 5) breathlessly reported that St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune sent a profane email to a constituent. Mike Costello, owner of Costello’s Bar & Grill, had fired off a note to Thune expressing disgust that the elected official had dared to participate in protests during last week’s Republican National Convention and calling for his resignation. Thune responded thusly: “F*** you you little p.”

Costello, a longtime Thune critic, was shocked — shocked! — at the language. “It was vulgar. It was crude and it was sent from his city desk,” Costello told KSTP.

The incomplete sentiment was apparently sent by accident. But when confronted with his scandalous actions by investigative reporter Bob McNaney, Thune expressed no regrets. “It is a respectful way to deal with someone of the low class that he is,” he said of Costello. The bar owner, who surely has never heard such sentiments expressed previously, has filed a formal complaint with the city.