Arcangelo's Rant: "Hey Mikey -- those are my e-mails."
Submitted by Arcangelo on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 2:20am
James says he's not ranting anymore, so I'll pick up the slack.
The News & Observer has been reporting about the Easley administration's e-mail policies for several weeks now. Some of the ineptitude in his handling of the situation has even spilled over here. I've withheld judgment until I've seen something more credible than the complaints of a woman who was just fired.
Unfortunately, I got what I needed to decide on the matter on Saturday:
Diana Kees, public information officer at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, recorded this note: “emails - more & more public records requests (blogs?) be careful w/emails; delete emails to and from gov office every day."
--The News & Observer, 3.29.08
Thanks to that little memo, I now have a message for Mr. Mike Easley: Any e-mail sent to and from the governor's office counts as a record that at least one member of the public – namely me – is interested in.
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Public records laws are intended to protect the public. We as taxpayers paid for those e-mails that are apparently being deleted from the governor's office, and they belong to us. Deleting them wholesale and haphazardly is an affront to the concept of open government, and should frankly be more of a crime than some pitiful misdemeanor that isn't even likely to be pursued.
I want you all to think about that for a moment. Easley's press office -- if not the governor himself -- has apparently ordered state employees to perform an act that is illegal under North Carolina law. Elected officials have been run out of office for less.
I wonder if Easley even realizes the type of damage he's done here. I don't trust government as it is, and I especially don't trust it now -- thanks to the new memos and previous statements from a some state public information officers (*cough* Ernie Seneca *cough*).
By regularly destroying public records, Easley's office has been destroying its own paper trail. I'm not suggesting that this administrative form of malice toward the public is masking some greater crime, but it certainly could. Is this the precedent we Democrats want to set?
In the past two years alone, we've seen Jim Black and possibly Thomas Wright fall to corruption. Do we want to add to this a legacy of secrecy and disregard for North Carolina's laws from the most visible Democrat in state government?
Mike Easley: Those e-mails that you are deleting belong to us. You should apologize for your mistake in either ordering or allowing your press office to even hint that something belonging to North Carolinians as a whole should be so aimlessly destroyed. Own your mistakes and face them like a leader – instead of hiding behind weak lies. That is one of the things we elected you to do. I think we would all rather that your legacy not be one of lies and failed mental health reforms.
Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue: I don't care which of you is elected governor as far as what I am about to say is concerned. The person who will get my vote will be the one that comes forth and owns their mistakes and criticisms – openly and responsibly. Do not treat the public as an enemy, and do not hide from it. You should embrace the public, and respect it enough to know that you will be judged on your actions. Perdue, that means you do need to debate Richard Moore. Moore, that means your need to truly demonstrate that you're willing to work with the public. I suggest disclosing the total amount of money that you have taken from individuals doing business with your office and their families. For both of you, that means taking on the criticism of your opponent head on, owning it and answering it – like a good leader should.
And to the rest of you: If our leaders fail at this, remember that we have the right to request any and every public record we want – if only to annoy the offices we are calling. For this affront, Gov. Mike Easley needs to explain himself. If he fails to do that, then I say we stage a protest. As citizens, I say we call the governor's office, and all request as many public records as we can think of – they are legally obligated to fulfill our requests. Even 10 to 20 requests like that could drive them up the wall, and I suspect we at Blue NC could do far more than that.
--Arcangelo
(Your new ranter with an angelic pseudonym)
Debbie Crane
isn't just some woman who just got fired.
She's an 18 year employee with the state who has a well established reputation for integrity among press and co-workers, even the ones who thought she was a little rough to work with at times (seems to be a common complaint about women who are intelligent and don't pretend to be otherwise).
If you were keeping up with the articles on this specific topic, you surely read Pat Stith's, which recounted his own experience as a journalist being given the run around by a state employee on information he was seeking --until Debbie Crane intervened and insisted that the guy be straight up with Stith. If you're familiar with Raleigh, you already know who Pat Stith is, but if you don't, he's one of the N&O's best known investigative journalists. It isn't unlikely that Debbie's insistence upon providing Stith the information he sought was one of her acts that displeased the governor's office.
It seems to me that you would not discount Crane solely on the basis of her having been fired if you had been reading carefully all the information that was made available surrounding the issues she raised and the record of her own behavior while employed.
It is, in any case, unreasonable to discount a person's credibility just because he/she came forward as a result of being fired. Sure, you can use that ever popular adjective "disgruntled" to weigh that person's credibility, but do at least *weigh* it rather than chuck it entirely. Hell, the only reason some people CAN come forward is that they are fired. Otherwise they're committing career suicide.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
Debbie Crane
Despite my poor word choice, I have all the respect in the world for Debbie Crane and her willingness and intelligence in coming forth after she was fired.
I should probably clear that up now.
But people do strange things when under duress, and I prefer hard evidence to words. I had enough trust in her words to continue my interest in the story, and my points still stand.
If Easley or his press office did actually order state employees to break the law, they need to face up to it -- there is enough corruption in recent North Carolina history as it is. Running from this will only make it worse.
--Arcangelo
Thank you, Arcangelo
Also wanted to note that in addition to Diane Kees, Julia Jarema's notes recorded the same directive.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
Very glad to have someone taking up the ranting duties!
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Ranting duties
Someone had to do it.
--Arcangelo
Wow....finally had a chance to read this
......nicely put. I simply don't know what to say.
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Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.