Galvin: Loss Of Some Gov. Romney Emails Not "Deliberate"
BOSTON (CBS) - They say e-mails live forever, but that apparently has not been the case at the Statehouse.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports.
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Tens of thousands of e-mails sent and received by the administrations of the last three Massachusetts governors are gone for good, wiped off state computers when mass deletions occurred automatically as officials left office.
"I think there's been an element of mystery, which is not justified, added to this. These records, like records of other governors, when they're given to the archives, and other public records are available," said Secretary of State William Galvin.
Galvin says hard copies of the emails may still exist in hundreds of boxes of paper printouts from the Romney administration, and he will make them available on request.
"I don't think there's any evidence, based on what I've read and what I've heard, that Romney cabinet secretaries deliberately did not retain records. They were left on the computers, and there was no action taken place by the succeeding administration to preserve them. I don't think that was deliberate either," said Galvin. "I don't think this is a case where one side or the other culpably decided they didn't want to retain these records."
Cabinet secretaries and staffers in the Jane Swift, Paul Cellucci and Mitt Romney administrations failed to properly back-up the emails on a central computer. In the case of Romney, that was in violation of state guidelines.
