Governor Says Delete Emails; Attorney General Says "No"

If you were a government official in Missouri, would you delete email or archive them?

Governor Matt Blunt's staff members acknowledge that they routinely purge emails from the state system and don't consider the electronic communications to be public record, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  The Governor gave a straight forward explanation during an interview:

"Nobody saves e-mails for three years."

"There is no statute or case that requires the state to retain individual's e-mails as a public record," a Blunt spokesman, Rich Chrismer, clarified in a written statement.

But, wait! Attorney General Jay Nixon's office says government emails are public records and must be preserved, according to a report in the Springfield News-Leader.  James Klahr, the attorney general's lead Sunshine Law attorney, sent a message to Missouri media saying:

"There should be no debate — email communications are public records."

Of course, none of this would have anything to do with politics.  Or, could it?  Nixon, a Democrat, is running for governor against Blunt, a Republican.  Will open government become an election issue?  In the meantime, what is a hard working public official going to do? 

(Thank you to the Open-Government Blog for alerting me to this news.)