Update Feb. 21, 10:08 a.m.: Here's the full text of McConnell's apology, which was sent to the ALGOP executive committee this morning:

Dear member of the ALGOP Executive Committee,



I want to set the record straight.



It has come to my attention that an email was sent out Friday afternoon from multiple sources with no direct tie to my campaign. The letter was distributed without my knowledge, or expressed approval and consent. Despite the appearance and appeal of the letter's content, my campaign had no role in writing the letter, nor sending the letter, nor choosing the recipients.



The email included an attachment with a letter of recommendation for me by ALGOP National Committeeman Paul Reynolds. The letter in question is over four years old and was a recommendation for a contract for my business. The inclusion of this attachment in the email incorrectly gave the impression that Mr. Reynolds was endorsing my race for U.S. Senate.



I want to make it clear that Mr. Reynolds has not endorsed my candidacy for U.S. Senate, and has no intention of endorsing me.



I want to apologize for any confusion this may have caused, and I will endeavor to find out how this transpired.



While I am grateful for the enthusiasm and support I am receiving across this state, only my official campaign is authorized to communicate on my behalf. If anyone wishes to communicate in support of my candidacy for the U.S. Senate, I implore them to seek and receive proper approval from my campaign first.

Sincerely,

Jonathan McConnell

Update 9:56 p.m.: Jonathan McConnell is sending a personal apology to the ALGOP executive committee for the effect the letter had on Reynolds, according to campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth BeShears. The apology isn't on behalf of the campaign because the campaign was not involved in the incident, she said. BeShears also clarified that an apology agreement had been hashed out with Reynolds and McConnell and that her previous statement about there not being one was due to a miscommunication.

Original story: A five-year-old letter of recommendation from a National Republican Party committeeman from Alabama on behalf of then-recent law school graduate and current U.S. Senate candidate Jonathan McConnell was widely emailed on Friday by at least two former employees of McConnell's Senate campaign, ruffling the feathers of the committeeman, who said sending the letter gives off the impression that he endorsed the former Marine in the GOP primary. No such endorsement had been made, he said.

Paul Reynolds, the committeeman and the owner of Reynolds Technical Associates in Vestavia Hills, cited party rules barring committee members from taking sides in a disputed primary. He also said he never gave permission for the letter of recommendation, which was given on Republican National Committee letterhead, to be distributed, and that the McConnell campaign promised to apologize but has so far not followed through.

"I do remember that letter, but it wasn't about this campaign. It was about five years ago when I wrote it for job opportunities," Reynolds, who said he has been a personal friend of McConnell's family for years, told AL.com. "I called immediately and got the campaign on the phone and said, 'Hey, y'all got to do something here because what you've done, you've made me have the appearance of being in violation of the state party rules because, you know, that was not the intent of this letter."

Meanwhile, McConnell's campaign disputed Reynolds' account, saying McConnell personally apologized to Reynolds over the phone "because something with his name attached to it negatively impacted his friend." They added there was never an offer from the campaign to apologize, and that the campaign was not involved in the email blast.

The emails, titled "The U.S. Senate Race is Heating Up" and "The U.S. Senate Race is Heating up in Alabama - Don't Forget to Vote March 1!" hit the inboxes of Alabama elected officials, lawyers in the state and others on Friday afternoon. They were sent by Michelle Sampson and Kim Whidden, who were both paid by the McConnell campaign for "direct mail labor," according to Federal Election Commission records. Whidden signed off on her email with the phrase "Friend & Supporter of Jonathan McConnell."

Along with the letter of recommendation, both emails included profiles of McConnell in Business Alabama and a Mobile Chamber of Commerce publication and a report from a Washington watchdog group titled "Richard Shelby's Pork Parade."

Neither Sampson nor Whidden responded to emails from AL.com asking why they sent the messages, how they gained access to the recommendation letter, or whether the emails were sent on orders from the campaign or on their own volition. The McConnell campaign said they are not currently employed with the campaign.

Sampson and Whidden are "in no way shape or form authorized to make communications on behalf of the campaign," McConnell spokeswoman Elizabeth BeShears said in an email.

Reynolds, whose wife is the chairwoman of the Shelby County Republican Party, said he believed that he didn't think there was any "evil intent" toward him and the position the email put him in toward his official impartiality in the Senate election, in which McConnell and three other challengers are opposing incumbent U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. But he said it was clear to him that the emails were intended to purport he was backing McConnell.

"Somebody got creative. They didn't say I endorsed him, but it came across as a recommendation," he said.

Reynolds declined to say whether he would give McConnell a glowing recommendation letter for job opportunities today.

"I don't want to answer that, sorry," he said. "Anything that would damage Shelby's campaign or damage the McConnell campaign, either one, I don't want to do that."