Mike Pence used a private email account to conduct state business
Vice President Mike Pence used a private email account to conduct public business as Indiana’s governor, according to public records obtained by the Indianapolis Star. The newspaper reported Thursday that emails provided through a public records request show that Pence communicated with advisers through his personal AOL account on homeland security matters and security at the governor’s residence during his four years as governor. The governor also faced email security issues. Pence’s AOL account was subjected to a phishing scheme last spring, before he was chosen by Donald Trump to join the GOP presidential ticket. Pence’s contacts were sent an email falsely claiming that the governor and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and needed money. The governor moved to a different AOL account with additional security measures, Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said, but has since stopped using the new personal account since he was sworn-in as vice president. Lotter said Pence “maintained a state email account and a personal email account” like previous governors in the state. At the end of his term Pence directed outside counsel to review all of his communications to ensure that state-related emails were transferred and properly archived by the state, the spokesman said. As Trump’s running mate, Pence frequently criticized rival Hillary Clinton‘s use of a private email server as President Barack Obama‘s secretary of state, accusing her of purposely keeping her emails out of public reach and shielding her from scrutiny. Lotter said “the comparison is absurd” because Clinton had set up a private server in her home at the start of her tenure at the State Department and, unlike Clinton, Pence did not handle any classified material as Indiana’s governor. The newspaper reported that the office of Pence’s successor, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, released more than 30 pages from Pence’s AOL account, but declined to release an unspecified number of emails because they were considered confidential. Public officials are not barred from using personal email accounts under Indiana law, but the law is interpreted to mean that any official business conducted on private email must be retained to comply with public record laws. The state requires all records pertaining to state business to be retained and available for public information requests. Emails involving state email accounts are captured on the state’s servers, but any emails that Pence may have sent from his AOL account to another private account would need to be retained. At the end of his term, Pence hired the Indianapolis law firm of Barnes & Thornburg to conduct a review of all of his communications and that review is still ongoing, Lotter said. Any correspondence between Pence’s AOL account and any aides using a state email account would have been automatically archived, he said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Robert Bentley defends use of private email account
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told reporters Thursday his use of a nonstate private email account, as reported by AL.com, is subject to public records requests, defending the practice. “Why use a private email account for public business and, if you did, shouldn’t those be a public record?” a reporter asked the 2-term governor, who has recently come under investigation and possible impeachment for an alleged affair with his former senior adviser Rebekah Mason. Bentley has maintained he did nothing wrong throughout the relationship, and has said he will cooperate diligently to clear his name. The question came during a brief time with media after a military appreciation luncheon on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. “They are a public record and, in fact, whoever wrote the article does not know how to ask for the material. If they would ask for it properly they could get the material,” Bentley answered. “All of that is public record. All they have to do is go and ask the person who either sent the email that’s public or received an email from me, and they can get it. That’s public record. “Nothing is being hidden. Everything is open. All they have to do is access it properly.” The governor’s response is a continuation of the administration’s historical stance on the use of unofficial emails, saying if it is with another state employee it is captured on their official account, which is subject to public record. “The Governor’s Office takes its archival responsibility seriously — both from a legacy perspective and a legal perspective,” said Bentley’s director of communications Jennifer Ardis. “As files are closed and matters concluded, these are archived on a rolling basis in accordance with the Governor’s Office Records Retention and Archiving Policy.” AL.com’s original investigation into the governor’s use of personal email accounts to conduct state business, including alleging emails between Bentley and Mason, resulted in what amounted to a closed door, with the governor’s office saying, “This request is not subject to the Alabama Open Records Act to the extent the request is for email communications conducted on personal accounts.” But for investigative reporters fishing for communications between Bentley and Mason, this too could present a problem, as Mason hasn’t been a state employee since 2014.
