The term refers to a set of policies dictating how e-mail messages, which are generally public records under state law, should be retained or archived for posterity.

Originally drafted near the start of Easley's first term, the "Records Retention and Disposition Schedules" in place at various state departments have been extensively amended over the years. Signed by Easley and Secretary of Cultural Resources Lisbeth C. Evans, the policies say that e-mail messages of "ephemeral or rapidly diminishing value" may be deleted if the computer user determines the message's "administrative" or "reference" value has ended.

State law makes no distinction between e-mail messages and other documents that are to be retained and made available to the public.

Andrew A. Vanore Jr., Easley's legal counsel, said this week that an e-mail message's value may expire immediately if the message's sender or recipient determines it is no longer needed.

Amanda Martin, an attorney for the N.C. Press Association and The News & Observer, challenged the assertion that a document's value is in the eye of the beholder.

"I do not believe that this policy gives public employees unfettered discretion to destroy documents at their personal whim," she said.

In a March 4 letter to the governor's office, a lawyer for The N&O asked that all e-mail messages be preserved and stated the newspaper's intent to pursue legal remedies if they are not.

The chairman of the N.C. Republican Party, Linda Daves, sent a letter to Attorney General Roy Cooper Thursday urging him to conduct an investigation into "the possible destruction of public records by the governor's office and their agents." Easley and Cooper are Democrats.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Cooper, said the Attorney General's Office has been "examining these issues" since they were first raised by The N&O. Talley said it would be premature to comment further because of the possibility of litigation.

Some state employees indicated this week they have been deleting e-mail messages wholesale.

State Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett sent an e-mail message Tuesday to about 9,500 DOT employees with e-mail accounts, telling them it is OK to delete messages "when they no longer have reference value to the sender or receiver of the message."

The message came after chief DOT spokesman Ernie Seneca told a reporter last week that he deletes nearly all of his e-mail daily.

Copies of Seneca's e-mail messages appear to back that up. Of the roughly 100 messages he had on hand, nearly two-thirds were from the past seven days.

The recent e-mail messages suggest that Seneca is killing information that would be of public interest. They show that he receives weekly status reports from top DOT officials that show whom they met with, what they talked about and other public business.

Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Bill Gore's report shows, for example, that he met with officials who have been in the thick of two recent issues -- an emissions program that has more staff than needed to do the required work, and hundreds of vintage vehicle titles being issued to the owners of replicas.

A guide available on the Web site of the state Department of Cultural Resources gives examples of types of documents that are subject to swift destruction, such as fax sheets, routing slips, travel reservations and messages not related to official business.

"When in doubt about whether a record has short-term value, or whether it has special significance or importance, retain the record in question," the guide says.

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