Missouri leaders mired in e-mail mess

by J Scott Christianson, Columbia Daily Tribune Columnist

I have to admire Gov. Matt Blunt’s courage in bucking conventional wisdom. Most people who find themselves stuck in a deep hole decide to stop digging. Instead, our governor says, “Hand me a bigger shovel.”

Blunt’s excavation project started when Tony Messenger, a former Tribune columnist, now an editor at the Springfield News-Leader, made a request for copies of e-mail correspondence between Blunt Chief of Staff Ed Martin and anti-abortion activists Martin enlisted in a campaign to prevent Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon from representing the state in a case regarding a new anti-abortion law. Although Messenger had a copy of one such e-mail, he was told related e-mails could not be provided because the governor’s staff does not save e-mails.

That’s already a pretty good size hole right there because the 2004 amendments to Missouri’s Sunshine Law specifically say that electronic records and correspondence are public records. Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer took a turn at digging when he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch “there is no statute or case that requires the state to retain individuals’ e-mails as a public record.”

The governor took the shovel back and dug down a couple more feet by adding, “I think people are trying to have a clear and manageable inbox. That’s what they’re trying to do.”

Meanwhile, inside the hole — er, I mean the governor’s office — attorney Scott Eckersley…