Washington Gov. Jay Inslee reveals his personal/government email habits
Mar 6, 2015, 2:01 PM | Updated: Oct 14, 2024, 9:36 am
Following news Hillary Clinton used a private email account to conduct official business, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee provided some info on his email habits. (AP Photo/Rachel La Corte)
(AP Photo/Rachel La Corte)
Taken from Friday’s edition of The David Boze Show on 770 KTTH.
With the recent revelation that Hillary Clinton used a private account to conduct official business as secretary of state, it led some to question our own state officials’ email habits.
KING 5 asked Gov. Jay Inslee about his email communications. Here’s what he had to say about his use of his private and state email accounts:
I have a personal email account and I have a government email account, and the vast majority of anything that involves any state business is on our official account.
I probably have sent emails on occasion from my personal account to staffers, probably, that will be available on the state archives and they’ll be subject to public disclosure, as they should be, because when I communicate with my staffer it’s on their governmental account. So it’s available for public disclosure with consistency with the public disclosure laws.
What I thought was interesting about the way that Inslee answered that question was he said a “vast majority.” He says he’s got this government email account and a majority of the time he conducts government business on that account. There was nothing certain in that answer.
Let’s review his statement more closely:
“The vast majority of anything that involves any state business is on our official account,” said Inslee.
Translation: There are things that are government business that are on my personal account, which wouldn’t automatically be archived. Now he’s going to try and clarify.
“I probably have sent emails on occasion from my personal account to staffers, probably,” Inslee said.
Probably? That’s kind of vague. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t.
“That will be available on the state archives and they’ll be subject to public disclosure,” Inslee said.
Subject to public disclosure isn’t the same as being publicly disclosed. Subject to public disclosure means I have to file a public disclosure request.
I assure you I’ve filed a number of public disclosure requests. What happens is even though, by law, they have to turn things over, you have to follow up and keep following up. Over the years, when I’ve made request for public information, they’re ignored it unless you do all the calling and follow-up.
Inslee continued:
“When I communicate with my staffers, it’s on their governmental account so it’s available for public disclosure.”
A great follow-up question to that would have been: Does that mean none of your staffers have a personal account? Because if you sometimes do government business from your personal account, are you sure that other staffers don’t also use a personal account? What if you and your staffers were both using your personal accounts in order to conduct state business? Doesn’t it seem like that would be possible?
I would like to know is there anything on the personal email that makes a reference to state business. That would include investment in the state, green energy for the state, consultancy for those purposes.
Based on my general cynicism of government, it just leaves those questions open. That is why people are so adamant about being able to have access to all the appropriate records. We don’t want to give the people in power the ability to decide what we should see and what we shouldn’t.
Imagine being stopped by the police if you were accused of the crime, and you got to determine the evidence that they were allowed to look at. That would really change the way our justice system works, wouldn’t it?
Taken from Friday’s edition of The David Boze Show on 770 KTTH.
JS
