The case of the missing e-mails continues.

There was this little item in today’s Kansas City Star:

Across Missouri: Judge in Sunshine Law case resigns

Daniel Max Knust resigned Wednesday, two weeks after the former Webster County judge was appointed to help determine whether Gov. Matt Blunt’s administration violated the state Sunshine law.

In a letter to Attorney General Jay Nixon, Knust attributed his resignation to criticism leveled by Gov Matt Blunt’s office that questioned whether Knust, a Republican, was part of a Democratic witch hunt…

tiny URL

Jo Mannies in today’s St Louis Post-Dispatch:

New lead lawyer in email probe says he won’t rush to judgment

…Knust wrote in his resignation letter to Attorney General Jay Nixon, “I did not anticipate that my independence would be doubted by the Governor’s staff. My parents were devout Republicans, and I have held office for 28 years as a Republican…”

[The title of the article refers to the appointment of Chet Pleban to replace Knust]

tiny URL

The Missouri republican party website [Eeeew!] also aimed its wrath at Knust. [I’m not providing a link, just be thankful that I went there to read it so you don’t have to. Eeeew! Can’t get the bad taste out of my mouth. Uck.]  

The moral of the story: If you do anything that  makes Governor Matt “baby” Blunt look less than saintly he will release the hounds.

Memo shows attorney challenged Blunt’s policy before firing
Saturday, November 10, 2007
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD ~ The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — A former staff attorney for Gov. Matt Blunt sent an internal office memo challenging his boss’ stance on deleting e-mails just weeks before the attorney was fired, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The memo’s existence and content contradict public statements made by Blunt and his top officials after the attorney was fired in late September. Blunt officials have repeatedly said Scott Eckersley never challenged — verbally or in writing — their policy of deleting office e-mail and brought up the issue only the day he was fired….

This is a textbook case of how not to handle a political windstorm, unless…

…you’re worried that you’re going to go to jail for doing something really really bad.

…On Friday, Chrismer reiterated that Blunt’s office has “no record that Scott Eckersley ever wrote or stated that the practices of our office were inconsistent with any law or standard on record retention….

Heh. Do you think maybe that lack of record is because it was deleted? A classic “non denial denial” if I’ve ever seen one.

RSMo 610.010

(6) “Public record”, any record, whether written or electronically stored, retained by or of any public governmental body including any report, survey, memorandum, or other document or study prepared for the public governmental body by a consultant or other professional service paid for in whole or in part by public funds, including records created or maintained by private contractors under an agreement with a public governmental body or on behalf of a public governmental body; provided, however, that personally identifiable student records maintained by public educational institutions shall be open for inspection by the parents, guardian or other custodian of students under the age of eighteen years and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the student if the student is over the age of eighteen years. The term “public record” shall not include any internal memorandum or letter received or prepared by or on behalf of a member of a public governmental body consisting of advice, opinions and recommendations in connection with the deliberative decision-making process of said body, unless such records are retained by the public governmental body or presented at a public meeting. Any document or study prepared for a public governmental body by a consultant or other professional service as described in this subdivision shall be retained by the public governmental body in the same manner as any other public record;

RSMo 610.011

Liberal construction of law to be public policy.
1. It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records, votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law. Sections 610.010 to 610.200 shall be liberally construed and their exceptions strictly construed to promote this public policy.

2. Except as otherwise provided by law, all public meetings of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public as set forth in section 610.020, all public records of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public for inspection and copying as set forth in sections 610.023 to 610.026, and all public votes of public governmental bodies shall be recorded as set forth in section 610.015.

Rough translation: “when in doubt, save it” 

Where to start? A young attorney who works for the governor points out that the governor’s office isn’t following its own written policy on archiving office e-mails. Later, that same young attorney is fired “for cause” – that is, for inappropriate e-mails which were forwarded to his state e-mail account.

The irony is astounding. Think about it. The governor’s office managed to save those particular e-mails.

Blunt lawyer claims fired because questioned office handling of emails [tiny URL]
By Jo Mannies
POST-DISPATCH POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
10/28/2007

A former lawyer in Gov. Matt Blunt’s office says he was fired last month after he raised questions about how the governor’s staff was handling office e-mails and public records requests….

….”I believed I was fired for pointing to written office policy which … contradicted how the office was handling record requests,” Eckersley said….

….To back up AuBuchon’s assertions about Eckersley, the Office of Administration had sent unsolicited to the Post-Dispatch, by overnight mail, a box containing hundreds of pages of Eckersley’s office e-mails. The e-mails included those dealing with his father’s business and the one e-mail from the sex site.

The box was sent Friday, before the newspaper made any calls to Blunt’s office about Eckersley’s firing….

Ah, the “baby” Blunt administration, a paragon of  Missouri Sunshine Law efficiency. You no longer have to request the records, they’ll just anticipate your needs and forward it all to you. Such service. Especially when it comes to self-serving damage control.

I’m wondering if the governor’s office thinks all the spam e-mail they get is an indication that a lot of people really like them. Nah.

It gets more interesting:

Attorney speaks out about being fired [tiny URL]
….Martin’s buildup to a charge of accessing an inappropriate Web site took about a week. On Friday, Sept. 21, Eckersley had a verbal confrontation with his boss, chief counsel Henry Herschel, over a policy matter in the governor’s office. Eckersley thought Herschel had spoken to him in an inappropriate fashion, and he told Herschel as much.

The state’s rendition of that meeting says it was Eckersley who “shouted and ranted and made threatening motions toward his boss….”

The “baby” Blunt administration – the gang that can’t fire anyone without tripping over their untied shoelaces.

I’m surprised Eckersley wasn’t accused of participating in an international financial scam – you know, with all those overseas bankers sending random e-mails to people asking for help in transferring their funds.