Blunt Investigation Findings

The findings of the 15-month long investigation into former Gov. Blunt's record destruction practices have been released:

By failing to preserve e-mails as public records, the office of former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt ran afoul of two state record retention laws, a 15-month investigation concluded. Investigators do not plan to refer any violations to prosecutors.

In a report filed with the Cole County Circuit Court Tuesday morning, investigators Mel Fisher and Rick Wilhoit cited several areas of noncompliance with the law and blamed bad legal advice for getting Blunt’s office on the wrong side of state statutes.

The investigators stopped short of saying that Blunt had specific knowledge of the legal compliance issues, in part because they were unable to interview him.

“Absent the opportunity to conduct an interview, the (investigative) team is unable to determine of Gov. Blunt had … any independent and/or special knowledge that might negate any good faith belief he had in the incorrect legal advice that he received as governor from his general counsel, Henry Herschel.”

Download the Report of Investigation here. 

Here are the main points from the investigations summary: 

• The Office of the Governor's policies regarding the Sunshine Law and record retention, as set forth in the Employee Manual for Employees of the Office of Governor Matt Blunt, were insufficient to ensure proper compliance with the Sunshine Law and record retention statutes;
  
  
  
• The record retention policies and practices of the Office of the Governor for E-Mail as public records were inadequate, and not in compliance with Chapter 109 RSMo., so its ability to produce public records in the form of E-Mail that were responsive to Sunshine Law requests was limited;

   

  • The designated Custodian of Records for the Office of the Governor was unfamiliar with the duties and responsibilities of that position; 
     
  • The Office of General Counsel for the Governor lacked knowledge of the Sunshine Law and record retention statutes and the E-Mail record and retention policies of the Secretary of State; 
     
  • From October 22, 2007 through November 1, 2007, the Office of the Governor received three Sunshine Law requests and one litigation preservation letter that all specifically requested E-mail data on backup tapes. The Office of the Governor did not forward any of these documents to the Office of Administration. Therefore, OA-ITSD staff had no knowledge that there were four specific requests for Office of Governor E-Mail data that was stored on backup tapes that were in the possession of the Office of Administration; 
     
  • The data contained on the three compact discs provided to the Special Assistant Attorneys General by the Office of the Governor, pursuant to their settlement agreement, was not consistent with the data that was provided to the media in paper form, scanned, and copied onto a DVD that the media provided to the Special Assistant Attorneys General and the I-Team. A comparison of the data conducted by the I-Team revealed that there were 587 pages of E-Mail provided in the data on the three compact discs provided to the Special Assistant Attorneys General by the Office of Governor that were not present in the data on the DVD that was provided to the Special Assistant Attorneys General and the I-Team by the meda. 
     
  • Insufficient evidence was present to either prove or disprove the allegations that there was any endeavor by any individual or group of individuals to overwrite data contained on backup tapes in the possession of the Office of Administration. The allegation was unsubstantiated; and
     
  • The June 18, 2008, implementation of the Consolidated E-mail archiving system, pursuant to Governor Matt Blunt's directive to the Office of Administration of November 15, 2007, ensures that any E-mail sent or received by any user at any agency serviced by the Consolidated E-mail System will be retained and archived from that day forward.