RALEIGH - A respected legal scholar said today that the Easley administration's policy of allowing workers to delete e-mail messages when their "reference value" ends is lawful.

David M. Lawrence, a professor of public law and government at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a member of the group appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to review his administration's handling of e-mail. The group is reviewing the policy in light of the state's public records law.

In a letter to the panel's chairman, Lawrence wrote:

"I believe that the guidelines conform with and do not violate the public records statutes. That being the case, a public employee who destroys e-mail in accordance with the guidelines also conforms with and does not violate the public records statutes."

Lawyers for the N.C. Press Association and the N.C. Association of Broadcasters disagreed with Lawrence. They said in written arguments that the policy is illegal, and they urged Easley to rescind it.

"The tradition of open government in North Carolina has always included the obligation to archive government records for a length of time sufficient to allow the public and press a meaningful opportunity to request and inspect records made and received by government in connection with their government's business," wrote John A. Bussian, lawyer for the press association.

"The advent of electronic communications has not altered this tradition in any way."

Nearly all of the panel members appointed by Easley appeared to accept Lawrence's conclusion that the current policy is legal.

Only Ned Cline, a former newspaper editor from Greensboro, pointed out that the panel was created because of evidence that high-ranking state officials had been deleting e-mail regardless of content, counter to both the policy and the law.

A system giving individual workers the discretion to erase messages they judge no longer relevant "is not going to prevent employees from doing something devious," Cline said.

Ten North Carolina news organizations, including The News & Observer, have sued Easley over his administration's deletion of e-mail, which they say violates the state's public records law.

In a letter to the e-mail panel this week, State Auditor Leslie Merritt said it is important to retain e-mail messages as public records.

"They tend to confirm the occurrence of actual events and provide a unique window into the operation of state government," Merritt wrote.

"For the Office of the State Auditor, e-mails serve as information in the audit trail. Their retention aids our ability to carry out all of our audits included the vital role of uncovering fraud, waste and abuse in state government."

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