The Salt Lake County Republican Party sent out an e-mail that it acknowledges was illegal on behalf of U.S. Senate candidate Tim Bridgewater.

County GOP Chairman Thomas Wright said it was an accident — caused in part because the party is in transition between political directors who know the rules better than other staff — and he accepts responsibility for the mistake.

Wright said the county party is not allowed to forward e-mails on behalf of federal candidates who seek to publicize campaign events, because the county party accepts money from sources and in amounts that are not allowed in federal campaigns by law.

However, he said the county routinely forwards e-mails from county and state candidates who wish to publicize their events.

So he said when the Bridgewater campaign requested that the county party send along an e-mail about some of its upcoming events, the county party "sent it out inadvertently. It was strictly an oversight," Wright said.

"It just didn't register that it was a federal race for whatever reason, and we're really sorry it happened," Wright said.

He added, "I owned up to it. We sent a correction e-mail out. … We tried to correct it immediately and be fair with the other candidates."

The follow-up e-mail that was sent to party faithful said, in part, that the county party "made a mistake in sending out the (original) e-mail since we are not allowed to get involved in federal elections."

It added, "On behalf of the officers I would like to apologize for the mistake and to Sen. Bob Bennett, Cherilyn Eager and James Williams, who are also running for the same seat." It was signed by Wright and by Richard Votaw, the county GOP vice chairman.

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