There is so much irony on so many levels.

…Since the Nixon administration, a mantra repeated during many scandals has been, “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up…”

The Kansas City Star has an online copy (pdf) of the lawsuit filed in Cole County by Special Investigator C.E. Fisher against Governor Matt “baby” Blunt in the e-mail destruction/obstruction case. It’s kind of nice that the paper saved us a drive down to Jefferson City to get a copy. The document provided by the paper does not have the case number nor any filing stamp on the header. tiny URL

Oh, yeah. The Kansas City Star did a front page story (below the fold) in this morning’s Kansas City Edition. tiny URL

It’s on the Missouri Courts case system:

08AC-CC00370 – STATE OF MO EX REL V MATTHEW R BLUNT ET AL

Judge Assigned: CALLAHAN, RICHARD G

Date Filed: 05/05/2008

Location: Cole Circuit

Case Type: CC Declaratory Judgment

Disposition: Not Disposed

There are some interesting revelations:  

First, someone in the Blunt administration who was concerned about the law spilled the beans on the Blunt administration:

…30. On November 1, 2007, after hearing the aforementioned confrontations with Ross, an employee of the Office of Administration contacted a member of the Attorney General’s office and confidentially reported the activities of Ross to the Office of the Attorney General. After receiving this information, the Attorney General took steps to begin an investigation…

Second, that big bill for the records request was not exactly a big bill for the records request:

…63. On February 8, 2008, Mr. Holstein provided his supplementary response to his January 8, 2008 correspondence. In his response on behalf of Defendant Blunt and the Office of Administration, Holstein communicates an estimated cost of $540,940.00 to determine which records Defendant Blunt is required to produce, said amount not including any costs of copying or electronic formatting. Of the $540,940.00 estimated costs, $467,840.00 was for attorney time to review the records…

It was a big bill for attorney’s fees.

What’s the lawsuit all about?:

…73. In order to complete the instant investigation, Plaintiff must review the records of e-mail transmissions and other records currently in the custody of the Office of the Governor and the Office of Administration…

The big revelation?:

…89. Defendant Blunt or those acting on his behalf, under his control or at his direction have violated or attempted to violate the provisions of Chapter 610, by:

a. instituting and overseeing practices to delete email transmissions from forty-three (43) computers located in the Office of Governor…

…b. attempting to compel employees of the Office of Administration to place backup tapes containing public records back into a rotation cycle after Sunshine Law request had been made for such records which would prevent the proper disclosure of public records…

Uh, oh.

And why did they do it?:

…90. The actions set forth in the preceding paragraph where taken to mitigate potential personal and political damage to Defenfdant Blunt and not in furtherance of any legitimate governmental interest…

Yeah, read the “Exhibit 3” attached to the lawsuit.

“…it’s the cover-up”