Henry Herschel

Hiding behind executive privilege didn't work, and trying to make Governor Nixon the target of the suit didn't work, so settling to avoid a trial may have been the last best option.

The state will pay a former staffer of Gov. Matt Blunt $500,000 to settle his wrongful termination and defamation lawsuit.

Scott Eckersley sued the governor and several of his staff members last January alleging defamation of character, wrongful termination and violations of the state open records law. The lawsuit has cost the state well over a million dollars as Blunt and his staffers used the state’s legal defense fund to pay attorneys fees.

No luck for the former governor:

The Western District Court of Appeals agreed with a trial judge that Gov. Matt Blunt could not hide behind “executive privilege” in defense of the defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit of Scott Eckersley.

For a breakdown of the bad behavior Blunt wants to hide, check out our timeline of how the Eckersley firing went down.

Though the formal investigation into the record retention practices of the Blunt administration records has concluded, Scott Eckersley's defamation suit is yet to be resolved.

As first reported by Fired Up!, Eckersley, a former Blunt staff lawyer, was fired in September 2007. Eckersley says he was fired after raising concerns about whether Blunt’s office was properly applying the Sunshine Law to e-mails. But after Eckersley was fired, Governor Blunt, COS Ed Martin and others tried to convince the public that Eckersley's dismissal was the result of improper use of state resources, and had nothing to do with his warnings about the legal record retention requirements.

However, the publicly released emails from Ed Martin, Richard Aubuchon, Rich Chrismer and others show that requests for details on Eckersley's computer and phone use came after Fired Up! reported that Eckersley had been locked out of the Governor's office.

----- Original Message-----
From: Eckersley, Scott
Sent:Wednesday, September 19,2007 2:10 PM
To:Herschel, Henry
Subject:RE: PD sunshine

I don't know but gmb is going around saying we don't have an office policy--kane showed it to me in the pd--I don't think Chrismer gets it.

Scott J. Eckersley
Deputy General Counsel
Off ice of Govcrl2or Matt Blunt
State Capital, Room 216
Jefferson City, MO 65101
573-751-3841 (Phone)
573-751-8099 (Fax)

----- Original Message-----
From: Herschel, Henry
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 12:48 PM
TO: Martin, Ed; Eckersley, Scott
Cc: Chrismer, Rich
Subject:RE: PD sunshine

I think we already told everyone that.
--------.-----------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

----- Original Message-----
From: Martin, Ed
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 12:41 PM
To: Eckersley, Scott
Cc: Herschel, Henry; Chrismer, Rich
Subject: Re: P3 sunshine

Give to rich c.

Ed Martin
(573) 751-5261

----- Original Message-----
From: Eckersley, Scott
To: Martin, Ed
Sent: Wed Sep 19 12:37:35 2007
Subject: PD sunshine

Ed-I just want to make sure you are aware that we do have an official office policy on records retention (in the employee manual):

Section 5.11-Office Record Retention and Open Record Policy:

----- Original Message-----
From: Eckersley, Scott
Sent: Wednesday, September 19,2007 257 PM
To: Herschel, Henry
Subject:RE: PD sunshine

I didn't send him anything than what ed asked me to send.

Scott J. Eckersley
Deputy General Counsel
Office of Governor Matt Blunt
State Capital, 3oom 216
Jefferson City, MO 65101
573-751-3841 (Phone)
573-751-8099 (Fax)

----- Original Message-----
From: Herschel, Henry
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 2:56 PM
To: Eckersley, Scott
Subject: Fw: PD sunshine

Please go through me before you start e-mailing people

------Original Message------
From: Rich pin C
To: Henry Herschel
Sent: Sep 19, 2007 2:50 PM
Subject: Fw: PD sunshine

Henry, can you, in a very kind way, ask Scott to not send me emails about email retention?

I am not complaining, but I would prefer to discuss in person.

------ Original Message------
From: Scott Eckersley
To: Chrismer, Rich
Sent: Sep 19, 2007 2:05 PM
Subject: FW: PD sunshine

Scott J. Eckerjley
Deputy General Counsel
Office of Governor Matt Blunt
State Capital, Room 216
Jefferson City, MO 65101
573-751-3841 (Phone)
573-751-8099 (Fax)

----- Original Message-----
From: Martin, Ed
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 12:41 PM
To: Eckersley, Scott
Cc: Herschel, Henry; Chrismer, Rich
Subject: Re: P3 sunshine

Give to rich c.

Ed Martin
(573) 751-5261

----- Original Message-----
From: Eckersley, Scott
To: Martin, Ed
Sent: Wed Sep 19 12:37:35 2007
Subject: PD sunshine