E-mail

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is claiming exemption from the Texas Public Information Act after deleting hundreds of thousands of e-mail messages from employees’ computers. 

The mass deletion began two days after KTRK (Channel 13) aired an interview regarding Sheriff Tommy Thomas’s payment to a contractor for redesigning of the sheriff’s weekend home.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt's demands that the state pay $540,000 to access his office's e-mail records -- government records covered under the state's Sunshine Law -- show his complete disregard for public access to information and clearly attempts to derail the state's investigation into whether his office illegally deleted e-mails messages.

The New Hampshire House sent the state Senate a bill on Wednesday aimed at balancing the public’s right to government access while still giving officials freedom as well.

Efforts to pass versions of the bill have been going back and forth for years. Two previous attempts have failed due to the discrepancy over what type of communication officials can have outside authorized meetings.

A non-profit organization filed a motion in federal court Thursday, stating that the Bush administration made false and contradictory statements in court about the White House e-mail controversy.

The White House e-mail system is “primitive” and creates a “high” risk that data would be lost, according to a computer expert’s statements presented today at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.

In a hearing today, U. S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt will determine whether to hold Chuck Rosenthal, one of Texas’ leading prosecutors, in contempt of court for the deletion of over 2,500 subpoenaed e-mail messages.

Blackmail e-mail messages sent to an aide to the Hawaiian governor may not be publicly released, a federal judge has ruled. Bob Awana, the former chief of staff to Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, has a right to privacy regarding e-mail messages blackmailing him for $35,000 over a romantic relationship, Judge Michael Seabright said. Seabright reasoned that as a crime victim, Awana should be treated with "fairness and respect to privacy."

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 15 to investigate allegedly contradictory statements made by White House officials about missing e-mail records.

In a statement released Thursday evening, Waxman said:

In response to harsh criticism over his administration's e-mail retention policies, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt is instituting a new e-mail archive system that is expected to cost about $2 million in its first year, the Associated Press reports.

The Washington Post has a great rundown in Sunday's paper about the extensive efforts at secrecy pushed by the White House over the past seven years and the resulting backlash this near-total information blackout has caused.