As if a political wormhole has opened up between Raleigh and Jefferson City, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has been sued over his administration's alleged deletion of e-mail backup tapes to avoid releasing messages concerning the wholesale destruction of public records and the firing of a whistle-blowing state employee.

The story should sound vaguely familiar to North Carolinians who have seen a flap over e-mail destruction arise in the wake of the firing of a state employee, Michael Biesecker reports. Here, it was a group of newspapers that sued the Gov. Mike Easley, and not a special investigative team that sued Missouri's governor, according to a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The suit was filed in Cole County Circuit Court by the special investigation team set up by Attorney General Jay Nixon last November to probe allegations that Blunt's staff were destroying office e-mails in violating of state laws governing open-records requests and preservation of public documents.

The suit is filed against Blunt and Dan Ross, the state's custodian of records who works in the Office of Administration and oversees the computer system that handles and preserves e-mails for most of state government.

The suit says the order to delete was made on Oct. 31, less than a week after news broke about the firing a month earlier of Blunt's former deputy counsel, Scott Eckersley. The lawyer maintained that he was fired after raising concerns that the governor's staff was intentionally destroying e-mails that should be preserved as public records.

Blunt has maintained that Eckersley was fired for unrelated reasons.

State Republican party chairwoman Linda Daves blasted the work of a panel convened to review the state's policy toward electronic public records.

Daves said the committee's recommendations, which include more training for state employees and a five-year archive for messages, don't stop state employees from improperly deleting e-mail messages. 

"The group studies the issue for two months on the taxpayer dime and then releases recommendations that don't even address the problem for which the panel was originally convened," Daves said in a statement. "This is a perfect example of Raleigh politics. Speak loudly. Do nothing."

A panel appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to review his administration's deletion of e-mail messages unanimously approved recommendations Thursday aimed at ensuring that state employees know the public records law and have the technology needed to comply.

But the panel's suggestions, if implemented, will do nothing to prevent employees from knowingly circumventing the law — the very accusation that triggered the group's creation.

"They treated the symptoms, but the disease rages on," surmised Beth Grace, the executive director of the N.C. Press Association, after the panel's vote.

The panel recommended that Easley start a new training program that would require state employees who handle public records to complete a one-hour online tutorial about what the law requires. Similar training has been available previously, but was voluntary.

The panel also recommended extending the automatic back-up of e-mail on state servers from 30 days to five years. (N&O)

Gov. Mike Easley said today he was bothered by recently released notes suggesting that public information officers were told to delete daily e-mail exchanges with the governor's office.

Easley said he was not convinced the notes are clear evidence that the governor's office instructed others to destroy public records. But he said he was "bothered" by that interpretation by others in what has become a public debate over his administration's handling of e-mail messages.

Easley said in an interview that he would have a problem with anyone on his staff telling others to delete public records. Easley said he has asked members of his staff to look further into what public information officers were told to do by his press office.

"That bothered me and that's why I wanted more investigation," Easley said. "If there's evidence of criminal violations, I'd turn it over to the SBI in a heartbeat."

Easley's comments are in response to notes taken by state public information officers in a meeting with the governor's press office. One public information officer at that meeting noted, "Public records request — increasing — careful of email — delete emails to/from gov. office everyday."

Another wrote, "emails — more and more public records requests (blogs?) be careful w/emails; delete emails to & from gov office every day."

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Three Republican gubernatorial candidates said Monday that the State Bureau of Investigation should look into allegations that Gov. Mike Easley's staff told state public information officers to delete e-mail messages to and from the governor's office.

Bill Graham, a Salisbury lawyer, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and Bob Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice, joined the director of an open government group in calling for the investigation.

Easley and his staff have said the state public records law was not violated.

This weekend, The News & Observer reported that handwritten notes by two public information officers show they were told in a meeting with Easley's staff May 29 to delete the messages.

Spokesmen for Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore, Democratic candidates for governor, stopped short of calling for an investigation. (N&O)

Is Gov. Mike Easley listening to his critics at the N.C. Republican Party?

Easley just announced that he is adding former state legislator Charles "Chuck" B. Neely Jr. of Raleigh to his e-mail panel.

Although Easley's announcement did not mention it, Neely is registered as a Republican. State GOP officials had complained that Easley had not put any Republicans on the committee, which began its work this morning.

The committee is charged with figuring out how state government should handle e-mail retention under the state's public records law.

Neely is an attorney specializing in state and local tax litigation. He is also a registered lobbyist.

"Chuck Neely's experience as a lawyer, former state representative and lobbyist will be instrumental as the panel develops recommendations to ensure public records are properly maintained," Easley said in a statement.

Linda Daves says Gov. Mike Easley needs a new leader on the panel he has asked to review his administration's handling of e-mail.

Daves, chairwoman of the N.C. Republican Party, was struck by Franklin Freeman's comments earlier today that he does not communicate by e-mail. Easley has assigned Freeman, one of his top aides, to lead a panel to study the retention of e-mails by public employees under the state's public records law.

"With this latest revelation, I now urge Governor Easley to take this inquiry seriously and appoint a chairman with familiarity with the technology and issues involved in this important matter," Daves said in a statement.

Franklin Freeman, Gov. Mike Easley's senior assistant for government affairs, said today that people who want to speak at the public hearing before the governor's newly appointed committee on retaining e-mails as public records should not send him e-mail to reserve a slot.

"My children are besides themselves with laughter because I don't even know how to cut a computer on," Freeman said of the reaction at his home after Easley picked him to chair the committee, reports Michael Biesecker.

"I do not communicate by e-mail. I receive it. I have an e-mail address to receive it, but I'm still one of the old-fashioned folks that communicates by telephone or face to face."

The public hearing is scheduled for April 3 at 9:30 a.m. in the Administration Building on Jones Street in Raleigh

Those wanting to speak can sign up when they arrive, or register in advance by calling Freeman at 733-6184. They can also e-mail committee member Liz Riley, Easley's deputy legal counsel, at liz.riley@ncmail.net.

State employees routinely trash millions of potential public records, according to presentations given today at the first meeting of a committee appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to review his administration's policies for retaining e-mails.

The state's public records law makes no distinction between e-mails and other types of documents that the government is required to retain and provide to the public.

George Bakolia, the chief of computer services for the Easley administration, told the committee that state employees are sent about 5.5 million e-mails a day, reports Michael Biesecker.

About 95 percent of those e-mails are immediately "declared worthless" by two layers of spam-blocking software. The remaining 270,000 e-mails are delivered to the computers of the estimated 62,100 executive branch employees with e-mail accounts.

That figure does not include the hundreds of thousands of e-mails state employees send to each other daily or those that they address to people outside state government. Each employee is allotted a limited amount of digital memory on state servers and mainframe computers.

Read more after the jump.

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Brent Woodcox with the N.C. Republican Party is not too keen on the make-up of Gov. Mike Easley's e-mail panel.

Woodcox called Dome to say that none of the members of Easley's panel, announced this morning, are registered Republicans. Easley is a Democrat. Woodcox said three members of the panel are registered as independents.

Woodcox, a spokesman for the party, said Easley should "get voices from all sides of the aisle" if he wants the panel's recommendations to have credibility.

He said Easley could also have considered asking an independent commission to look at the question of how and when government e-mail messages should be retained under the state's public records law.

"I don't feel that this commission is going to accomplish that," Woodcox said.