Florida Supremes screwing us over.

[sybylla]

They just ruled that a public employee'e private e-mail, even though composed and sent on government computers, is private and not subject to FOIA.

AND to top it off, the public employees get to decide which e-mail is private and which is public.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/12/State/Workers__private_e_ma.shtml

By JENNIFER FARRELL, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 12, 2003

<snip>

Clearwater City Manager Bill Horne said taxpayers should trust public employees to do the right thing. "I think that's why we're held to a higher standard," he said. "You are supposed to trust us and we are supposed to perform up to that standard."

In Clearwater, personal use of city computers is permitted, but not encouraged. "Believe me," Horne said, "supervisors do pay attention to that sort of thing."

But Paul Tash, Times editor and president, said the ruling creates a loophole for people to avoid the public records law or hide private business pursuits on taxpayers' time.

"I'm sympathetic to public employees and their privacy concerns," said Tash, whose wife is a public school teacher. "That said, I think the risk that comes with this decision is a very big one."

<snip>


Would you trust a public employee like Katherine Harris to sort her e-mail into private and public for us?



edited title to avoid hijacking

[scarletlib]

1. Well that's a ruling that surprises me but

I don't think it was the Florida Supremes who screwed us over. They had ordered that the votes be counted. It was the 5 Scabrous Supremes of the Supreme Court who overruled the Florida Supremes and stopped the counting of the votes.

[sybylla]

2. True, but

IIRC, they passed the buck and refused to make a ruling on at least one case related to the recount.