Missouri

Missouri, N.C. e-mail parallels continue

bniolet — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:30:00 -0400

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.

Carnahan: McCain 'out of touch'

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:57:13 -0400

Former Sen. Jean Carnahan says John McCain is out of touch.

In Hendersonville to speak on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the former Missouri senator focused her arguments on the Republican nominee.

She said that McCain will not do as well in November among moderate Democrats and independents because he is too closely tied to Bush administration's policies.

"He's sort of wrapped himself around George Bush," she told Dome. "He's already done that with his economic policies, and he wants to make the war last 100 years if it has to. I just don't think most thinking people are going to go along with that."

McCain has said that he could see U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years, but only if they are not being attacked, comparing it to the military presence in Japan and South Korea.

Carnahan had little to say about Hillary Clinton, predicting that Obama would do better than expected in Pennsylvania and come to North Carolina to "wrap it up."

"I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll make a good show there," she said.

Would Edwards help other candidates?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:48:47 -0400

Ten party leaders from across the country said today John Edwards would do more than any other candidate to help get Democrats elected in their states.

In a conference call organized by the Edwards' campaign, elected officials from six states touted the former N.C. senator's chances not only to win but to help other Democrats on the ballot, Jim Morrill reports.

The call is part of the campaign's effort to sell the electability of a candidate trailing Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois in money and polls.

"For the Democratic Party to nominate a candidate who will not win the general election is obscene as far as I'm concerned," said Oregon Senate President Pro Tem Margaret Carter.

Democrats have recently all but written off many so-called red states, which include virtually the entire South. Nominees campaign instead in states where they've had more of a chance.

Connie Johnson, minority whip of the Missouri House of Representatives, said another candidate besides Edwards at the top of the ticket would cause her party to continue losing seats in the state.

"This state has been hemorrhaging," she said. "If Hillary comes to a state like Missouri, we can write it off."