Dan Remely has had better weeks.

First, his arm was in a sling after surgery on his left shoulder for a torn rotator cuff.

Then, the calls and e-mails started.

Someone sent out an e-mail advising business owners that Mr. Remely had resigned himself to having to lay off employees because of tax increases expected when Barack Obama becomes president.

According to the letter, he walked through his company's parking lot and found which cars had bumper stickers supporting Mr. Obama for president. Then he decided to lay off those workers.

The e-mail finishes with: "These folks wanted change; I gave it to them."

The message was sent out with Mr. Remely's electronic signature.

"We didn't lay anybody off. We didn't fire anybody," said the 57-year-old Republican member of the Mt. Lebanon school board and president of H-Squared Properties Inc., which manages real estate holdings.

In fact, similar versions of the same letter have been passed around the virtual world and been posted on various bulletin boards, usually to the typewritten gasps of people around the country.

In some versions, the note is signed by Ward of JOOA Corp., a company that does not seem to exist. Some versions claim the author's company has 120 employees, some 140. Mr. Remely's company employs two dozen people.

While it's true that Mr. Remely put a McCain sign in his yard before the election, it shared the lawn with the Obama sign his wife posted: Politically, he has a mixed marriage.

"I have no idea who did this or how it was done," he said about the e-mail that appeared to have been sent out from his America Online account. "This is just disturbing."

He also believes that the election was decided fair and square, and that while he supported Sen. John McCain, President-elect Obama is extremely bright and capable of doing the job.

"It doesn't matter who you supported in the election; it's over," Mr. Remely said. "Now we have to help [Mr. Obama] do the best job. There's too many problems to solve."