E-mails might not see light of day

By Kyle Daly

Published Sept. 18, 2007

Gov. Matt Blunt said he believes that e-mails should be left in the dark when it comes to the Missouri Sunshine Law.

In a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch story, Gov. Blunt's spokeswoman, Jessica Robinson, said the governor's staff routinely deletes e-mails from their computers.

Robinson did not return calls from The Maneater.

Blunt supported this statement and told a Post-Dispatch reporter that he doesn't think anyone saves e-mails for three years.

The Missouri Sunshine Law requires that all government records be open to the public and media.

A summary of the law on the Secretary of State's Web site states that if a member of a public body sends a business related e-mail to at least two other members of the body, the e-mail must be sent to the custodian of records or the member's public office computer for preservation.

Charles Davis, the executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, disagrees with the governor and said he thinks e-mails are subject to the Sunshine Law.

"Unquestionably," he said. "The law is really clear on that subject."

Davis said the law specifies which e-mails are subject to the Sunshine Law.

"Any e-mail that is sent by a public official in furtherance of their job should be made public except e-mails that fall under current exemptions to the law," he said.

Exemptions are outlined in the Sunshine Law.

For example, it is forbidden to release records disclosing examination materials or the medical treatment of individuals to the public.

Missouri Republican Party spokesman Paul Sloca would not say if the state party agrees with Blunt.

"I cannot speak for the governor's office," Sloca said. "I can only speak for our interpretation of the law, and we believe that if those records are indeed available, they should be turned over."

Sloca said the party has requested electronic copies of information from several statewide officials.

"We do believe that they are public record," Sloca said.

According to Sloca, the state GOP has recently used the Sunshine Law to obtain e-mails sent by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and Attorney General Jay Nixon on different issues.

"We have no guarantees that those e-mails that we received from Jay Nixon or Robin Carnahan were a complete record," he said. "We just hope that they would be."

According to the Missouri State and Local Records Law, a record is a "document, book, paper, photograph, map, sound recording or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursua nt to law or in connection with the transaction of official business."

It also stipulates that non-record materials are "materials that do not contribute to an understanding of the agency's operations or decision-making process."

The Secretary of State's Web site states "all records of an agency must be listed on either a General Records Schedule issued by the Secretary of State's Records Management Division or on an agency-specified records schedule developed jointly by the agency and RMD."

On Aug. 2, the Missouri State Records Commission approved the newest General Records Schedule.

According to the GRS, all records must be preserved until they have met the state audit requirements.

After these requirements have been met, the records can be destroyed after 90 days.

But if a state audit is never completed, the record must be preserved for at least three years.