Carmen Hooker Odom, spammer?

Are most North Carolinians spammer?

Among the more interesting statistics mentioned at Friday's meeting of Gov. Mike Easley's e-mail retention panel was the fact that the state's firewall blocks about 95 percent of all messages addressed to state workers as spam, Michael Biesecker reports.

A skeptic could wonder if that's why some administration employees seem so difficult to get in touch with. But George Bakolia, the state's chief information officer, assured the group that the blocked messages were the usual solicitations to participate in get-rich-quick schemes in Africa or ads for erectile dysfunction pills.

Bakolia admitted that on occasion, however, the firewall had barred legitimate attempts at communication. Specifically, he said he used to get complaints from former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom.

It seems the spam-blocking software took exception to her middle name.

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The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer, leaders in the drive to inhibit citizen communications with state government, are acting more as political entities than journalistic institutions.

Now, when a citizen encounters a problem area in education or environmental protection, transportation or law enforcement, he or she will have to think twice about contacting appropriate offices and departments of state government in a discreet or confidential manner. Why? because The News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer are suing the Governor's Office demanding immediate access to all emails communicated between citixens and state government and also among the employees and departments of state government itself, beginning with the Governor's Office.

Will citizens risk gaining the animosity or retaliatory opposition of powerful interest groups and organizations because their concerns about consumer safety or well-being have been publicly disclosed by the press before state government has had a proper opportunity to fulfill its service to the people of the state in one problem area or the other?

The constitutionality of the public records law which is being cited in this ill-advised lawsuit by overzealous media organizations should be challenged because constitutional rights of expression in the U.S. and N.C. constitutions should not be seized upon as a justification for interfering with, abridging or pre-empting the legal and constitutional duties and responsibilities of the Governor as the constitutionally designated head of the executive branch of state government to see to it that the laws are faithfully executed.

To uphold the law requires that responsible offices and departments be able to exchange, review and properly edit information of all sorts in order to ascertain the facts as best they can be determined and take appropriate action. The News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer have confused information and dialogue with the constitutional exercise of the functions of the executive branch of state government.

David McKnight

[Former staffer for the Durham Herald-Sun, The News & Observer, the Fayetteville Observer and the Greensboro News & Record.]

Carmen Hooker Odom, spammer?

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The Constitution sez DELETE?

Re: Carmen Hooker Odom, spammer?

Re: Carmen Hooker Odom, spammer?