Palin administration must preserve Yahoo e-mail, judge says

An Alaska judge on Friday ordered Gov. Sarah Palin’s office to preserve e-mail messages in her private Yahoo accounts, amid a lawsuit filed this month by a local watchdog over records in the governor’s administration.

Andree McLeod’s records requests have already helped reveal Palin’s frequent use of Yahoo accounts to conduct official business.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, Superior Court Judge Craig Stowers ordered Palin’s office to preserve every e-mail message she exchanged with her staff from Dec. 4, 2006 to present that "relates in any way to the conduct of official business of the state of Alaska."

Palin and her office were also told to move quickly to find e-mail messages and attachments that "Yahoo and other Internet companies have intentionally or automatically deleted," the newspaper said.