Open Records

In North Carolina, it turns out that three members of Gov. Easley’s staff regularly deleted their e-mails. The e-mails that they deleted might be important public records.

Last month, Gov. Easley told the News & Observer that although these staff members “thought” they had been told by Renee Hoffman, the governor’s press secretary, to destroy these public records, that Thank Goodness, none of them actually did. Or, as he put it,

“The good news is, in spite of all that, they all kept their stuff like they were supposed to. They all followed the [correct] policy.”

The newspaper came to believe that this wasn’t the case, and that potentially important e-mails had been deleted:

The News & Observer has filed a lawsuit against the administration; Andrew Vanore, the governor’s counsel, is looking forward to waging a vigorous defense paid for by the taxpayers of North Carolina.