Mo Gov Blunt finally releases emails (thought to be the reason he didn't run for reelection)

[proud2BlibKansan]

The release of thousands of e-mails from top officials in Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt’s administration appears to at least partially vindicate a disgraced staff lawyer who was fired last year.

The documents released to an unprecedented consortium of media organizations, including The Kansas City Star, also reveal two other questionable trends:

• The Blunt administration refused to comply with media requests for records under the state’s Sunshine Law even though those records appear to have been readily available. At the time, the administration said the records weren’t available or were exempt from the Sunshine Law, and denied that the lawyer, Scott Eckersley, had told them otherwise.

•Blunt’s former chief of staff, Ed Martin, orchestrated political opposition to judicial nominees and to the state’s system for selecting judges. Martin carried out Blunt’s agenda and was the principal gatekeeper between the governor and his staff.

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Several e-mails show Martin corresponding with members of the Federalist Society, a Washington-based conservative legal think tank, to undermine Breckenridge, the only Republican judge among the three finalists.

In one, from July 25, Martin includes a short biography of Breckenridge and says, “We need to frame her tomorrow as ‘out of the mainstream.’”

In a later e-mail, he criticizes her for sitting on the boards of non-profit organizations “that serve illegals” and jokes, “Yup, she’s a real republican alright — a mccain repub!”

more . . . http://www.kansascity.com/837/story/892296.html

Key players in the Blunt e-mail case

Gov. Matt Blunt: In September 2007, nearly three years into Blunt’s term, the firing of Scott Eckersley raised questions about whether the governor’s staff was deleting public records. In January, Blunt abruptly announced he was dropping out of his campaign for re-election against Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon. Blunt said he was satisfied that he had accomplished his goals for the office.

Ed Martin: Named Blunt’s chief of staff in September 2006. The St. Louis lawyer was an advocate for conservative causes, such as limiting abortions. Martin quickly became known as a hard-charging, bombastic adviser with a tough political style. He became involved in the open records debate after news outlets sought e-mails Martin sent to outside political groups. Martin claimed he had no obligation to save e-mails because they weren’t public records. In September 2007, he fired attorney Scott Eckersley, who had challenged that view. Martin said Eckersley was fired for doing personal business during work hours, viewing e-mails with sexual content and arriving late to work. Martin was replaced months later, and now represents various political advocacy groups in Missouri.

Scott Eckersley: Eckersley wasn’t yet 30 years old when he took his job as deputy general counsel to Blunt. A devout Mormon, Eckersley sometimes took ribbing from younger colleagues because he avoided cursing and drinking. Eckersley challenged the administration’s position that it could choose which e-mails to delete and which to save. He sent several memos on the topic, including memos to Martin, Blunt general counsel Henry Herschel, and Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer. All three later denied that Eckersley was involved in the open records debate.

Henry Herschel: He became Blunt’s top attorney in 2006 after stints as a lawyer in the Office of Administration and director of research for the Missouri Senate. Herschel was Eckersley’s boss and frequently complained about Eckersley being late to work. He also asked Eckersley to research the open records policy when media outlets began to challenge it. Eckersley sent an e-mail to Herschel challenging Blunt’s public statement that the office had no formal policy for retaining e-mails. Eckersley said the policy was clear. Herschel later denied publicly that Eckersley was in involved in any way in debates over record retention. He left Blunt’s administration after Eckersley’s firing and is now is an administrative law judge handling worker’s compensation cases.

Richard Aubuchon: As legal counsel for Blunt’s Office of Administration, he directed many of its day-to-day decisions in 2007 when officials debated whether to retain e-mails. The Office of Administration kept a series of backup tapes that record e-mails even after government employees deleted them on their computers. Those backup tapes were later released to The Kansas City Star, The Associated Press and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. AuBuchon is now chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

Rich Chrismer: Formerly U.S. Sen. Jim Talent’s spokesman, he joined Blunt’s administration as senior spokesman after Talent lost to Democrat Claire McCaskill in 2006. Chrismer dealt extensively with media requests to the governor’s office and, during Eckersley’s time there, dealt with e-mails and other public documents. After Eckersley sent Chrismer memos outlining state open-records law, Chrismer sent an e-mail to Eckersley’s boss asking that Eckersley quit sending such e-mails to him. Chrismer later told reporters that Eckersley was not involved in the open records debates and was fired for poor performance.

http://www.kansascity.com/837/story/892167.html

http://www.kansascity.com/837/story/892203.html

[Robbien]

1. Being so corrupt must be SOP if they are so arrogant to put it in writing

In my opinion, if the DoJ is not on top of the new admin's agenda, any progress they may make in any other area will be reversed in this corrupt Loyal Bushie system of Just Us.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. They put it in writing and then denied they did so

and then fought a lengthy battle in court, insisting to the end that these emails did not exist.

Unbelievably arrogant.