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This week SFR reports on the loose methods the governor's office uses to archive public records, based on material derived from its ongoing lawsuit against Gov. Susana Martinez. And it appears that's not the only place in state government with a habit of deleting correspondence.
Governor's office Records Custodian Pamela Cason says in a lawsuit deposition that she isn't sure how long staffers at her office are supposed to keep their e-mails on file for archival. She admits that she deletes e-mails on her public account that she views as "transitory."
But messages provided by other state agencies and not retained by Cason indicate that lots of correspondence is going by the wayside, including messages from the governor's office to the chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee.
In SFR's story, New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Executive Director Susan Boe disputes that the messages between the state senator and the governor's office are exempt from state laws that require officials to keep records.
Other state agencies overseen by
the governor seem to have similarly narrow definitions of what e-mails are considered "transitory" and therefore don't have to be retained or archived in the public domain.
Dan Mourning, general manager of Expo New Mexico, which runs the state fair, also recently said he deletes emails related to his public job. Mourning was himself deposed earlier this year in another public records lawsuit filed by former State Fair commissioner Charlotte Rode. Rode is suing over the agency's alleged failure to give her public documents related to the award of a lucrative lease for Downs at Albuquerque racino.
Several emails leaked to the media in 2012 featured a lawyer
for the Downs communicating with top state officials, including Mourning, about
the racino deal before it had been officially awarded to the Downs. None of these were given to Rode in her public records requests with Expo about the Downs deal.
In the deposition, Mourning says he also deletes "transitory" emails
from his personal and government accounts even though he's not certain whether
the deleted messages contain information about the Downs deal.
"What does transitory mean?" Rode's attorney Nicholas Koluncich asked Mourning in the deposition, conducted earlier this summer.
"I mean, if it's just a communication between a department," Mourning responds. "In other words, 'Hey, I have got whatever going on here at—,' you know, 'We are going to bring X, Y, Z for the fair this year,' or, 'I have this entertainer that wants to book,' or something of that nature. Just general communication."
After Mourning says that he deleted "transitory" e-mails from his account in all the years he's worked at Expo, Koluncich asks him if any of those "could have related to the [racino request for proposal] or Charlotte Rode."
"Not to my knowledge," Mourning responds.
"Sitting here today, you say not to your knowledge, so do you know the content of those e-mails?" Koluncich asks.
"No, I do not," Mourning says.
"So, you couldn't say for certain that something wasn't about Charlotte Rode or the RFP?" Koluncich asks.
"No, sir," Mourning responds.
Expo New Mexico spokeswoman Erin Thompson asserts to SFR that Rode received all the documents she originally asked for "in hard copy." She adds that the agency is following proper records retention rules.
"We comply with state regulations as defined by the General Records Retention and Disposition Schedules, as well as the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act," Thompson writes to SFR.
Santa Fe Reporter