Of all the things found on Chuck Rosenthal's county e-mail account, the pornography is the most salacious and a photograph that shows an African-American man, surrounded by fried chicken and half-eaten watermelon, is perhaps the most offensive.

However, neither that racially insensitive photo nor the porn are as potentially damaging as something like barbecue campaign fundraiser e-mails, legal and political experts said.

The reason?

“Campaign laws in this state are very clear. Elected officials are not to use their office, their personnel or its equipment for purposes of promoting their candidacy,” said 11 News political analyst Bob Stein.

Nevertheless, despite dozens of e-mails in which Rosenthal appears to do just that, he says something different under oath, in a deposition taken as part of a federal civil rights trial.

Question:  I will ask you generally; do you sit down at your desk and communicate with your staff about campaign events from your office computer?

Rosenthal:  No

Question: Where do you do that from?

Rosenthal: I've never done it. I'm sure somebody else has done it.

And in the same sworn testimony, Rosenthal contradicts what some experts say about state campaign law.

Question: You know that it is not legal for you to use county facilities to do your campaigning or fundraising, right?

Rosenthal: It is not illegal.

Question: It is not illegal?

Rosenthal: No.

Question: You are permitted to use your, for instance, Harris County computers to do your fundraising?

Rosenthal: We don't use the Harris County computers to do my fundraising.

Question: You just told me that it is not illegal, so you could do it if you wanted to?

Rosenthal: Yes.

Question: You could use county facilities to conduct your campaign, is that what you're telling me?

Rosenthal: Yes.

Question: That’s perfectly legal?

Rosenthal: Yes.

But in the end, it's not Rosenthal's take on the law that matters. But rather what the Texas Attorney General says is legal or not.

And while that investigation gets under way, in an agency full of lawyers: "Why didn't somebody in his office (ask) Mr. Rosenthal, this is not an appropriate use of our time, our equipment and our personnel?” questioned Stein.

It is unclear who sent Rosenthal some of the pornographic or racist e-mails that have surfaced in this scandal.

In addition, according to a statement from County Judge Ed Emmett, Rosenthal claimed he did not forward those e-mails to anyone.

In an e-mail to 11 News late Wednesday, Rosenthal refused an interview request and said he'd rather talk to any other member of the media than us.