#MTGov Daily Rundown: AG Inquiry of Bullock's Deleted Emails Requested
Chair of the State Senate Judiciary Committee, Scott Sales, is requesting that the Montana Attorney General's Office investigate why Gov. Bullock's emails from his 2099-2013 stint as Attorney General are missing. Sales calls the fact that the emails are gone "very troubling."
“Gov. Bullock failed in a very basic duty to preserve the public records entrusted to his care,” he stated later. -Great Falls Tribune, 9/26/2016
Sales notes that someone in Bullock's office, when he was attorney general, must have given the order to destroy the emails, which may violate state law. He also said the legislature may consider legislation to clarify that elected officials are prohibited from deleting emails.
"Sales asked that Fox determine who at Attorney General Steve Bullock’s office ordered the destruction of these email public records and did the State Records Committee ever give authorization to destroy all their email public records?
Sales said it may take legislative action to ensure that future governors do not do the same thing." -Great Falls Tribune, 9/28/2016
Last week, Montana State GOP Chairman Jeff Essmann also questioned the legality of Bullock destroying his emails, saying the emails are state property.
“As you know, your emails written as attorney general were state property, not personal property, as were the emails of your senior staff,” he wrote. -Great Falls Tribune 9/28/2016
Montanans were treated to the shocking news that all of the emails on state accounts from Governor Steve Bullock's 2009-2013 term as Attorney General have been destroyed. This is despite emails clearly being considered "public record" in state law and guidance from the Secretary of State's office that public officials turn over their emails to the state archives when they leave office.
The emails from the governor's private account were released after emails from official state accounts showed an increasingly strained relationship between Bullock and then-Lt. Gov. Angela McLean.
"Gov. Steve Bullock and his administration had a strained relationship with Lt. Gov. Angela McLean and had considered replacing her on the 2016 ticket since early this year, according to internal emails and top Bullock staffers.
Emails obtained late this week by MTN News also showed that McLean had become largely isolated on the job by early October, when she was locked out of her official Twitter account, excluded from office meetings, and stripped of her initiatives." -MTN News, 12/11/2015
Sales said it may take legislative action to ensure that future governors do not do the same thing." -Great Falls Tribune, 9/28/2016
Last week, Montana State GOP Chairman Jeff Essmann also questioned the legality of Bullock destroying his emails, saying the emails are state property.
“As you know, your emails written as attorney general were state property, not personal property, as were the emails of your senior staff,” he wrote. -Great Falls Tribune 9/28/2016
Montanans were treated to the shocking news that all of the emails on state accounts from Governor Steve Bullock's 2009-2013 term as Attorney General have been destroyed. This is despite emails clearly being considered "public record" in state law and guidance from the Secretary of State's office that public officials turn over their emails to the state archives when they leave office.
“Note the email accounts for former Attorney General Steve Bullock and his appointed staff members no longer exist, so neither the accounts nor their archives are available to search,’ he wrote. Blixseth has asked state officials for a copy of the minutes of the meeting in which they followed proper protocols and requested destruction of emails." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31/2016
"Andrew J. Huff, chief legal counsel for Bullock, said the governor’s office does not maintain public information archives from the attorney general’s office or other state agencies.
“With some limited exceptions, the governor’s office does not store public information that predates January 2013 when Governor Bullock came into office,” he wrote July 26." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31/2016
“With some limited exceptions, the governor’s office does not store public information that predates January 2013 when Governor Bullock came into office,” he wrote July 26." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31/2016
“Do they exist, were they destroyed legally or illegally?” he [Blixseth] asked. “We find no record they were destroyed legally, so the assumption is they were destroyed illegally.” -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31/2016
"Blixseth cites email guidelines posted on the Secretary of State’s website that claim “When records are no longer needed, they may be disposed of in a legally prescribed fashion — but only after the State or Local Government Records Committees have approved their disposal.” -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31/2016
"He said research by him and his attorneys has shown the governor has not made a request to delete the information." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31//2016
"Blixseth cites email guidelines posted on the Secretary of State’s website that claim “When records are no longer needed, they may be disposed of in a legally prescribed fashion — but only after the State or Local Government Records Committees have approved their disposal.” -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31/2016
"He said research by him and his attorneys has shown the governor has not made a request to delete the information." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/31//2016
Bullock has been dealing with a "slow drip" of issues regarding how he is using both his state and private email since his 2nd lieutenant governor, Angela McLean, resigned her post unexpectedly last year.
"Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has used his private email account to communicate about a wide variety of official business from proposed legislation to his increasingly strained relationship with the former lieutenant governor, according to hundreds of pages of emails released Friday." -Great Falls Tribune, 5/6/2016
"The newly released records shed more light on the strained relationship between McLean, Bullock and his staff. McLean complains to Bullock about her treatment by his budget director, Dan Villa, whom she said told her 'either you are on the team or you are not.'
In May, the lieutenant governor wrote a letter to Bullock saying Chief of Staff Tracy Stone-Manning had confirmed that he was considering a different running mate for his 2016 re-election campaign. 'I guess I am learning ambition is a funny thing and realizing the full consequences of standing up for what you believe it right,' McLean wrote." -Great Falls Tribune, 5/6/2016
"Hundreds of pages of documents, which were released Friday, show the democratic governor used his private account for official communications regardi
"Hundreds of pages of documents, which were released Friday, show the democratic governor used his private account for official communications regardi
The emails from the governor's private account were released after emails from official state accounts showed an increasingly strained relationship between Bullock and then-Lt. Gov. Angela McLean.
"Gov. Steve Bullock and his administration had a strained relationship with Lt. Gov. Angela McLean and had considered replacing her on the 2016 ticket since early this year, according to internal emails and top Bullock staffers.
Emails obtained late this week by MTN News also showed that McLean had become largely isolated on the job by early October, when she was locked out of her official Twitter account, excluded from office meetings, and stripped of her initiatives." -MTN News, 12/11/2015
No comments:
Post a Comment