Canyon County Refuses Freedom of Information Request
Oopsie, he threw them away!
By Sharon Fisher, 1-03-09 (from New West Boise)
The Kuna-Melba News, a weekly paper that covers western Ada County and eastern Canyon County, is reporting that Canyon County has refused a Freedom of Information request for the messages Canyon County Commissioner Steve Rule sent out from his county email account on Dec. 2, comparing First Lady-elect Michelle Obama to a black widow spider.
“I understand from Commissioner Rule that he does not retain sent email,” the paper reported it was told. “I also consulted with the County IT Department and understand that Commissioner Rule’s sent emails are not archived by them.”
The paper reported that it had filed one FOI request on December 15, asking for a copy of all of Rule’s sent e-mails for the months of October and November. “Two days after the Dec. 15 request was referred to the Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Samuel B. Laugheed sent a letter to the Kuna Melba News on Dec. 17, seeking an extension of the deadline on my request,” the paper reported. “On Dec. 29, Laugheed sent another letter, denying the request for information.”
Thinking that perhaps the email messages had been automatically deleted after 30 days, the paper re-filed the request on Dec. 29, asking for sent email from December. According to the paper, Laugheed sent a response on Dec. 31: “As previously stated in our December 29, 2008, letter responding to your request of December 15, 2008, I understand from Commissioner Rule that he does not retain sent email.”
Aside from this particular issue, it raises troubling questions about oversight of Canyon County government. Really? Canyon County commissioners are not required to save email messages they send out from their official account? And the county organization doesn’t archive them, either?
So what happens if a county commissioner sends out something patently illegal or unethical from their account? They’re off the hook by not saving it? Few other governmental organizations allow this.
Moreover, this opens Canyon County up to legal issues. The rules for electronic discovery and evidence in civil cases were changed as of Dec. 2006, and throwing up your hands and saying, “We don’t have them” is no longer taken as an excuse by judges.
Editor note: Canyon County uses Outlook as their email program. It might be interesting to know if Commissioner Rule cleaned out his "SENT" file. Outlook automatically puts a copy of all emails in this file. If so, would this be considered a violation of the FIO laws?
Thanks for the reporting. This whole case makes me sick. Canyon County government need to get their act together.
ReplyDeleteIAC has told all counties that e-mail must be saved do to the fact that it is public information. Please call IAC in Boise and talk to Daniel G. Chadwick (Executive Director
ReplyDelete345-9126
The emails are there. Any competent trained forensic analyst could obtain them from a forensic image of the PC hard drive, and probably from the server hard drive as well. And any recipient computer hard drive. I highly doubt the individuals involved are bright enough to have removed all traces.
ReplyDeleteCan a FOIA be used to get a forensic copy? Probably not -- have to get a subpoena / search warrant for that.