Gov. Rick Scott continues to fight the release of information about his private email accounts, which some allege he has used for public business. (Photo by Sara Brockmann, Via FLGov.com)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Gov. Rick Scott has sought an attorney in California to try to protect some private email accounts allegedly used by the governor and his staff to conduct public business.
This past August, a judge ruled Google and Yahoo will have to turn over some information about the private email accounts. The ruling was part of a lawsuit claiming Scott’s administration has been skirting the state’s broad public records laws.
The request for information was limited, however. The judge only sought information about the accounts. He did not require that any person or entity must turn over specific emails.
Despite the limited scope of the ruling, Scott is fighting it in court and has hired a lawyer in California to help him.
According to The Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times:
California attorney John A. Hartog filed a petition in Santa Clara County court on Friday attempting to quash the release of what could be potentially embarrassing details about the use of Gmail accounts held by the governor and two of his staff.
The decision to carry the fight to California came after Tallahassee Circuit Court Judge Charles A. Francis twice ordered the governor and his lawyers to stop fighting the request for basic information from Tallahassee attorney Steven R. Andrews.
Andrews is seeking documents that identify the IP address of the Gmail accounts held by the governor, first lady Ann Scott’s former assistant Sarah Hansford, and Scott’s former assistant Brad Piepenbrink.
He alleges that the accounts were opened to allow staff to circumvent Florida’s public records law and believes the petition filed in California is an “attempt to delay the release until after the election.” He is not asking for the content of the emails but wants information that identifies when the accounts were opened and by whom.
“It seems they have something to hide,’’ Andrews said. “Why would the governor spend so much money on California lawyers to stop this from getting to court? If I was a cynic, I would say there’s a political motive to this.”
Because Florida has some of the most robust public records laws in the country, state officials typically have to turn over any emails concerning state business, regardless of whether they are under public or private accounts.
However, Scott has been fighting the release of any information about those email accounts.
Andrews, who has been locked in an ongoing legal battle with Scott over a land issue, has said getting courts involved is the only way to get information about what the governor’s office is up to.
As the Herald/Times reported back in August,
Andrews has produced evidence that Scott and his staff have used the Google and Yahoo accounts to conduct some government business but, when asked to produce the documents, the governor’s office replied that “no responsive records were located.” Florida law requires emails used for state business to be retained and not destroyed.
… Andrews produced a document that shows that Scott has used at least one account, gov.rls@gmail.com, to discuss public business outside of the sunshine. In 2013, Scott forwarded an email sent to him on the Gmail account from his former chief of staff, Steve MacNamara, to his public Sunburst account in which MacNamara urged the governor to consider Sen. John Thrasher as his lieutenant governor.
…Andrews also found evidence that members of the executive office staff have forwarded documents to eogfl@yahoo.com and he found that several members of the executive staff routinely used Gmail accounts to conduct state business. In addition to the former lieutenant governor, First Lady Ann Scott, and her former aide, Sarah Hansford, used Gmail accounts to communicate. O’Rourke and other members of the governor’s staff also were found to use Gmail accounts.
Since Scott took office in 2011 he and his staff have been repeatedly accused of violating public records laws.
It was reported early in his term that the email accounts Scott and most of his transition team used were deleted right after he took office– even though state law required that those emails and documents be kept for public record.
Scott was heavily criticized following that episode, so he launched Sunburst, an online database of state emails aimed at creating transparency.
However, because it was common knowledge that Scott’s administration used private email accounts, experts said Sunburst simply wasn’t enough.
And most recently, Scott’s attorneys created a new policy making state employees the “custodians” of their private emails and text messages that deal with state work.
In practice, this change means journalists and members of the public will have to ask a state employee personally for records of state business conducted over private accounts. In the past, a state agency would hand over any public record on the subject requested, regardless of what type of email was used. Barbara Petersen of the First Amendment Foundation has said the change effectively cripples the state’s public records laws.