Steelman Tries to Answer Question No One Asked About Missing Records

Sarah Steelman tried to address questions about missing records from her time as Treasurer late Friday night, but her statement provided to The Star looks like a classic diversion. 

As you'll recall from the story first reported in Politico, "most of the key documents from her four-year term" were unable to be provided in response to recent Sunshine Law requests. Missing records include "schedules, emails and other documents from Steelman's tenure that are routinely retained" by her executive office. But perhaps because she doesn't have a good answer to questions about what happened, Steelman tried to suggest that everything a person might want to know is already in the public record: 

I worked hard to ensure investing and policy decisions were made in regularly scheduled public meetings open to all Missourians, and not behind closed doors. Minutes from these meetings were maintained by division heads, and the schedule for meetings related to policy and investment decisions were publicly available, as Missourians were welcome and encouraged to attend.”

The treasurer oversees several divisions (e.g., the Missouri Linked Deposit Program, MOST college savings program), but the meeting and division records are not what the Politico story indicated are unavailable.  

Given the amount of time that's transpired since the story broke, and the attempt to deflect fairly basic inquiries about the record retention practicies of her office, it looks like Steelman will continue to face questions about this. 

ALSO: Can we all agree that it's more than a little bizarre to see Ed Martin's campaign criticize Sarah Steelman about her committment to open government and document destruction retention?