AP: Blunt Agrees To Hand Over E-mails

SETTLED?

The Blunt administration has agreed to provide free copies of e-mails to special court-appointed investigators.

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The Associated Press writes: Tuesday's agreement will settle a lawsuit that accused Gov. Matt Blunt and his office of "knowingly and purposely" violating the state's open-records law by denying access to e-mails.

BLUNT'S OFFICE REACTS: WE WERE TELLING THE TRUTH

"Finally, after making false accusation after false accusation and wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, the e-mail team brings this political case to a conclusion two days before Christmas," said Gov. Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson.

"After falsely accusing many, the only real outcome is that the governor's office was telling the truth. This agreement comes just as the office was seeking to question an official in the Attorney General's office over his destruction of e-mails. One can see why they would be embarrassed by the result of their 13-month long legal fiasco and would seek to bury the story during the week of Christmas," Robinson added.

The e-mail lawsuit was scheduled for trial Jan. 5 - seven days before Blunt leaves office.

Ed Martin Pushes Back On E-mails

"Not Every E-mail Must Be Retained"

In an interview with the KY3 Political Notebook Thursday, Gov. Matt Blunt's former Chief of Staff Ed Martin responds to new deposition testimony by former Blunt attorney Scott Eckersley, that he encouraged staffers to delete e-mails regularly.

Martin refutes that, adding that the escalating allegations regarding the e-mail probe are beyond ridiculous. "Ridiculous doesn't even describe it," Martin said.

But the Associated Press reports: "At one point, Eckersley testified, Martin proposed making him a "records czar" and "suggested that I monitor folks' e-mail use, make sure their inboxes are kept low, deleting and then double deleting."

MORE MUST-SEE INTERVIEW CLIPS . . .

DEVELOPING . . .

Blunt Camp on E-mail Ruling: "Excellent"

Spokesperson Jessica Robinson on a judge's decision to dismiss a case requesting access to the Governor's E-mails:

(READ Chad Livengood's Piece HERE)

“The court has made an excellent decision in dismissing this political lawsuit filed by Jay Nixon’s political operatives.

“This political lawsuit accuses the governor of actions he did not take, it accuses the governor of actions that even if true would not be a violation of the law and it accuses the governor of actions that did not occur. In fact, it could be dismissed for any of these reasons and should Jay Nixon or his political operatives consider a similar lawsuit we stand ready to make all of these arguments for yet another dismissal.

“Jay Nixon’s office admitted to The Associated Press on September 25, 2007, that it routinely destroys e-mails in the Attorney General’s office and Jay Nixon refuses to participate in Gov. Blunt’s permanent e-mail retention system. Instead of launching political lawsuits we urge Jay Nixon to clean up his own office, stop destroying e-mails and join the governor's office in saving every e-mail.”

Dismissed

JUDGE THROWS OUT E-MAIL LAWSUIT AGAINST BLUNT
SNL'S Chad Livengood Reports: A Cole County judge dismissed the lawsuit seeking access to thousands of Blunt administration e-mails on grounds that special investigators had no authority to file the suit in Jay Nixon's name.

Investigators Sue Blunt Over E-mails

From the Associated Press:

A lawsuit claims Gov. Matt Blunt or his top deputies ordered the destruction of the state's backup e-mail tapes to avoid giving them to the media. The lawsuit was filed Monday by investigators appointed by Attorney General Jay Nixon to look into whether Blunt's office has violated the open-records law by deleting some e-mails.

The suit contends Blunt's administration sought to have the backup files destroyed after receiving an Oct. 31 open-records request from The Associated Press. The suit says the tapes were not destroyed because computer technology employees refused to do so.