MO governor sued by fired attorney over email deletes

[kpete]

Mo. Governor Sued by Fired Attorney
By DAVID A. LIEB – 9 hours ago

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former attorney for Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt sued the governor Wednesday, claiming he was fired and defamed in retaliation for challenging the administration's policy of deleting office e-mails.

Scott Eckersley's lawsuit alleges that Blunt's top aides ordered staff in August 2007 to delete e-mails and destroy backup computer files to avoid having to provide information to the media and public under Missouri's open-records laws.

Eckersley believes he was fired in September for advising governor's aides that some office e-mails could be considered public documents and that they should be kept.

After Eckersley was fired, Blunt's staff provided the media with documents meant to smear his reputation, the lawsuit claims.

more at:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g7VeaReRHFo6SsuZlaOBQXRr8FJAD8U2PE881
http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Mo_governor_sued_by_fired_attorney_01092008.html