Easley sets e-mail policy review

Open meetings and public hearings are promised as scrutiny begins of the state's policy on deleting e-mail

Gov. Mike Easley on Tuesday initiated a review to determine if his administration needs to change the way it handles e-mail messages.

The review, to be led by one of Easley's top aides, is also supposed to consider whether any changes are needed in the state's public records law and how it applies to e-mail.

Under a policy set by Easley, state workers are allowed to trash messages that they have determined have no "reference" or "administrative" value. Attorneys for the N.C. Press Association and The News & Observer have said that Easley's policy doesn't square with state law, which they say doesn't give public employees unrestricted discretion to delete records.

Easley said in a statement that electronic communication has changed in ways that he and others couldn't have foreseen. He asked Franklin Freeman, a top aide in the governor's office, to specifically address e-mail as well as messages from wireless devices such as BlackBerrys.

Easley said the review will be conducted through open meetings and public hearings. Easley has asked Freeman to recommend changes that could be made through executive order or even new laws.

Freeman said in an interview that the committee will include government officials and representatives from outside government. He said the committee will have to weigh the public interest against the potential burden to government.

"That's the challenge we have: What is the appropriate balance between the public's right to know and the practicality and cost of maintaining gosh, the -- I would assume -- literally tens of thousands of e-mails sent each day in state government," Freeman said.

John Bussian, chief lobbyist for the N.C. Press Association, said he respects Freeman. But Bussian questioned Easley's choice to head a committee that is supposed to be objective.

"This would be like the fox guarding the henhouse," Bussian said. "The North Carolina public records law doesn't need to be changed to preserve the public's right to see e-mail concerning government business ... It's the practice and the understanding of the politicians and the understanding of the legal obligations by the politicians that needs to change."

Linda Daves, chairwoman of the state Republican Party, also criticized Easley's decision to appoint a senior adviser to lead the review.

"It's more of the same-old, same-old," she said. "Study commissions are, in my opinion, a ploy and a way to say we're doing something but we really are not doing something."

The issue spilled over Tuesday to the campaign for lieutenant governor. Hampton Dellinger, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, is a former legal adviser to Easley who helped write the e-mail retention policy. He said Tuesday that the messages should have been kept and that he didn't know whether the deletions were a result of a poorly written or poorly implemented policy.

State Sen. Walter Dalton, another Democrat running for lieutenant governor, accused Dellinger of shirking blame for the deletions.

The administration's handling of e-mail messages has been an issue since the governor's office fired Debbie Crane from her position as the chief spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. Crane alleged that she and others were instructed by the governor's office to destroy e-mail messages. An attorney for Easley said he found no evidence to support the account by Crane, who was fired after a series of stories by The N&O on the failure of mental health reform.

It was Freeman who relayed Easley's desire to fire Crane to DHHS officials.

Hugh Stevens, an attorney who has represented The N&O in its disputes with Easley over e-mail messages, said Tuesday that he thinks Freeman was an excellent choice.

"I am confident that Franklin will run the process in a way that does encourage and invite participation," Stevens said.

Stevens said he would like to see representatives from the legislature participate in the review so that all of state government has the same policy toward e-mail messages. Representatives from House Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate leader Marc Basnight's office said a uniform policy might be unwieldy since the legislature has different rules for what is a public record.

Freeman said he will appoint a committee which will meet as early as next week. A preliminary report is due to the governor in mid-May.