State officials keep e-mail from view

TRENTON, N.J. -- In New Jersey, the governor's e-mails might shed light on whether he inappropriately conferred with a labor leader he once dated. In Detroit, the mayor's text messages revealed a sexually charged scandal. In California, a fight rages for access to e-mails sent by a city councilwoman about a controversial biological laboratory.

Even the White House has been under pressure from Democrats in Congress over its problem-plagued e-mail system.

While e-mail and text messaging has become a hugely popular way to communicate throughout society, governments at all levels are often unwilling to let the public see the e-mails of their elected officials.

Officially, e-mails in all but a handful of states are treated like paper documents and subject to Freedom of Information requests. But most of these states have rules allowing them to choose which e-mails to turn over, and most decide on their own when e-mail records are deleted.

"There seems to be an attitude throughout government — at all levels — that somehow electronic communications are of its own kind and not subject to the laws in the way that print communications are," said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org.

"So we keep hearing reports of governors and mayors who decree that their e-mail records can be destroyed, in six weeks or six months, with no appraisal for permanent value and no review by an independent body," she said.

Open records advocates contend by keeping electronic communications private, states are giving their elected officials an avenue to operate in secret — they use taxpayer-funded computers to send and receive e-mail but with little or no obligation to make such communications public.

"The public needs to realize that is their possibility for accountability and historical review that is being put through the electronic shredder," McDermott said.

New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine is fighting in court to keep secret his e-mails with ex-girlfriend Carla Katz, the leader of a powerful union representing thousands of state workers. State Republicans sued when Corzine refused to turn over his e-mails.

"He seems to think he's still running a private company where he gets to set the rules and ignore them when it serves his purpose," said Tom Wilson, the New Jersey Republican Party chief. "He isn't doing business. He's leading a government established by and for the people."

Corzine says he's protecting privileges afforded governors to keep communication private while also keeping his personal life shielded from public examination.

"I think in the American system, people believe that people have a right to a private life," Corzine said.

Corzine is among several governors who say they don't use e-mail. But without a system that grants access to e-mails, open records advocates wonder how the public would know if that's true.

Frequent denials

An Associated Press survey — conducted in conjunction with Sunshine Week, a nationwide effort to draw attention to the public's right to know — found e-mails for governors in at least seven states are officially exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

But even in the other states, access to e-mail is limited, at best. Public records guardians decide which e-mails they'll turn over and which ones they won't.

"Now that e-mail has replaced faxes and standard mail as the preferred mode of communication, it is important that these e-mails fall under open public records acts," said Heather Taylor of the Citizens' Campaign, a New Jersey-based group fighting for open government.