This year, government officials are placing greater scrutiny on using IM and other electronic messaging after the unsavory deeds—and messages—of two elected officials were splashed across the front pages of American newspapers.
Tapping into state public records law and an increased use of electronic messaging in government, digging for dirt on the hard drive is quickly becoming a new trend in keeping tabs on elected officials and one that could soon put the messages of ordinary citizens into the hands of the public.
High-Profile Cases Highlight Trend
Pointing to three high-profile cases in the last two years (and not even counting dozens of smaller cases we found across the country), attorney Mark Weaver, of Ohio, says IMs and other electronic media are becoming hot commodities for reporters and citizens.
Serving as the deputy attorney general of the State of Ohio from 1995 to 1999, Weaver was on the frontlines of the issue as it began to appear in his state. As a custodian of the state’s public records law, he helped then Attorney General Betty Montgomery deal with what he saw as a developing trend across the country.
Little was he aware it would soon affect the very office he swore to uphold.
In May, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann resigned after a public records request by the Columbus Dispatch revealed a series of sexually suggestive emails and IMs between himself and his then-scheduler, Jessica Utovich.
The messages, which Dann reluctantly released after initially denying the request, helped reveal a series of abuses and improper behavior in the AG’s office as several of his aides were under investigation on sexual harassment charges.
Dann’s departure comes months after Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick refused to resign his post following a Detroit Free Press piece, in which the paper confirmed an affair with Chief of Staff Christine Beatty through IMs sent on their city-issued pagers. The text message scandal is only one of recent embarrassments for Kilpatrick, who was charged with eight felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice in a conspiracy trial.
And remember U.S. Rep. Mark Foley? The Republican congressman from Florida’s 16th District resigned in 2006 after ABC News exposed a series of sexually-charged IMs exchanged with an underage Congressional page.
While each of these cases features messages of a private nature, the fact these messages were sent on government-owned devices made them open to release, Weaver said.
“A judge could have made Marc Dann release those records had he continued to refuse because they were sent on Ohio State computers,” he said.
The release of these records, of course, depends on a number of factors.
