Forward thinking again, that Iowa

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said he will allow the public to see e-mail he sent privately in his first two years in office — even as counterparts in other states fight for the opposite result.

E-mail sent from private computers and servers that dealt with state business will be released as part of a request for the records by the Associated Press. Culver’s attorney, Joseph P. Sandler, said that the e-mail, "the essential purpose of which is the conduct of official government business," should be released under the law.

But as Culver moves toward transparency, his northern counterpart Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin continues her fight to keep e-mail containing official business sent from her private Yahoo! account from release.

And Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter won a 2008 lawsuit allowing him to keep from the public records of calls made on his personal cellphone where he discussed official state business.