Why can't Matt Blunt level with the people of Missouri and the political press?  Has he read his own office's employee manual?

As noted by Chris Leonard of the Associated Press in a story last week [1], Blunt has gone on record to vehemently deny that his office had a written policy dealing with the retention of emails and other public records.  In a story appropriately titled "Blunt says his office has no specific policy on deleting emails," Leonard wrote in the lede:

Gov. Matt Blunt said Thursday his office has no written policy dictating which internal e-mails are public records and which can be deleted. He rebutted charges from a former staff attorney who said he was fired for warning Blunt officials they had violated his office's written policy.

Yet Blunt's own Employee Manual for the Office of the Governor [1] contradicts the Governor's public statements.­  A portion of the handbook reads:

Records Retention-- Every record made or received under the authority of, or coming into the custody, control or possession of Governor's office personnel, in connection with the transaction of official business of state government, and having sufficient legal, fiscal, administrative or historical value, shall be retained in accordance with Missouri law.

Unless Blunt doesn't believe that an email qualifies as "a record" (a position that plainly contradicts statutory language) then his office does, indeed, have a policy regarding the maintenance of emails.

So was Blunt unaware of his office's own written policy, or was he just being dishonest with the public?