Perry Should Take A Lesson From Iowa’s Governor On E-Mail Policy

Texas Governor Rick Perry has been under fire over the past couple of years because of his office’s email practices. First, it was the “seven day delete” policy; then, it was the revelation that the Governor himself claimed to never use state email.

For those who may not recall, during the hottest moments of 2007’s Texas Youth Commission Scandal, it came to light that it was the policy of the office of Texas Governor Rick Perry to delete all emails after seven days. The problem, however, was that the “seven day delete” policy clearly violated state regulations concerning maintaining governmental correspondence. The “seven day delete policy” became a story unto itself and dragged on through most of 2007, gaining national attention, involved a Wisconsin open government advocate, and involved wiping servers clean of email correspondence.

During that saga, it also came to light that Governor Rick Perry used a private email address. Although he has maintained he uses the private email address for non-official business, there is no real way of checking that.

Iowa Governor Chet Culver was in a similar situation:

In his first two years in office, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver rarely used his state e-mail account, relying instead on a private server and computer in what freedom-of-information advocates decried as an effort to skirt public records laws.

But after The Associated Press began questioning Culver aides about the matter, the governor changed his policy and has begun using his state e-mail account for public business.

Culver aides had said the governor and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge used private e-mail accounts and computers to ensure they didn’t violate state laws banning public officials from using public e-mail accounts for political or personal purposes.

But public records advocates had scoffed at their claims.

“Why doesn’t the governor just use his state e-mail account for government matters and his private account for personal and family matters and err on the side of disclosure?” asked Herb Strentz, a retired professor at Drake University in Des Moines who studies public records issues.

Weeks after The Associated Press began questioning the governor’s office about his e-mail habits, spokesman Troy Price said Monday that Culver had begun to use his state e-mail account for state business in the last two weeks and Judge was making the same transition.

Perry needs to make a similar transition. He could learn a lesson from his peer in Iowa.

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