A mass email from “Block the Toll Group” was sent to media outlets and state Republican leadership last week.
The email sent from “notollbridge@gmail.com” claims that naked photos of alleged state employees are linked to why the state can’t fully fund the I-10 bridge connecting Mobile and Baldwin.
The group surmises that if only state workers weren’t “spending state time and resources sending and receiving nude photos and seeking sex” the state could pay for the bridge.
This is the second email making such accusations against state employees.
The first came from a group using the name Ziggy Army who alleged a state worker was posting on a gay dating site. Ziggy Army may be an attempt to tie the salacious information to State Auditor Jim Ziegler, who is the most vocal opponent of tolling the I-10 bridge.
Ziegler was asked if he knew of the group or had any association with it, but he has so far refused to answer requests for comment.
The latest email says, “Our [the group’s] IT professionals in the Block the Toll Group … has discovered” sexual solicitation during working hours.
Both emails imply that if the state’s workforce was not trolling sex websites, the I-10 bridge could be built without a toll.
The sender of the email appears to try and tie the posts to “Block the Mobile Bayway Toll,” a Facebook group that has nearly 50,000 followers.
No evidence points to members of the Block the Mobile Bayway Toll, which has been engaged in a direct democracy campaign to voice its opposition to the I-10 toll bridge.
The new email claims, “Gov. Kay Ivey stated on Wednesday to the media that the reality is there will be a toll, well the reality is we could have no tolls if state employees were productive and not spending state time and resources sending and receiving nude photos and seeking sex.”
Ziggy Army, in its email, said it received its information from data stolen from a state agency’s computers.
The accused agency, after a forensic sweep of its servers, confirmed to APR that its computers were not compromised and that allegations made by Ziggy Army were false.
The Block the Toll Group, in its email, asks, “How can the state charge a toll if they cannot control state employees surfing dating and sex sites?”
It is unclear if the Block the Toll Group is related to Ziggy Army even through their aims seem to be the same.
