Indiana took months to reveal Mike Pence emails
Indiana took months to reveal Mike Pence emails:- The Indianapolis Star has been engaged in a long-running effort to obtain emails from Vice President Mike Pence’s personal AOL account.
The controversy over his use of a private email account exploded Thursday, but the story has its roots in another batch of emails.
In 2014, The Star was investigating a possible conflict of interest involving Seema Verma, a powerful state health-care consultant who was simultaneously working for one of the state’s largest Medicaid contractors. Verma is now President Trump’s pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In conjunction with that investigation, reporters requested emails involving Verma and one of Pence’s cabinet members with whom she butted heads.
About nine months later — well after the paper published its report on Verma — the Pence administration provided nearly 1,500 pages of emails.
Tucked among them was an email to Pence’s personal AOL account from a low-level Pence staffer who was forwarding a news clip from the local business journal. At that time, it was not known whether he used the personal email address routinely for state business or to discuss sensitive issues.
The use of private emails to conduct public business later exploded as a major presidential campaign issue. That’s when The Star filed a public records request seeking emails from Pence’s personal account.
In September, reporters requested all emails between Pence’s AOL account and any state government account, but his administration declined to fulfill that request, arguing it was too broad. The Indianapolis Star narrowed its request, but the administration again argued it was too broad.
In a third public records query, the request was narrowed to meet the administration’s parameters that it name a specific sender and recipient, include a date range of no more than six months and specify search terms.
Pence’s office accepted that request. On Oct. 27, Shelley Triol, Pence’s communications director, said, “We will send responsive records on a rolling basis as they are located and reviewed for confidential material.”
In the weeks before he left the governor’s office, the paper filed a complaint with the public access counselor arguing that the administration had failed to provide the records in a timely manner and expressing concerns about how the records request would be fulfilled since the incoming administration would have no access to Pence’s personal email account.
The access counselor decided in the state’s favor, arguing that Pence’s transition to the White House presented extenuating circumstances.
Despite the setback, Star reporters continued to pursue the records under the new administration of Gov. Eric Holcomb.
Late last week, Holcomb's office released 29 pages of emails but withheld an unknown number of others, arguing they are exempt from Indiana's records laws.
The Indianapolis Star continues to pursue additional records as well as more information about those that the Holcomb administration is withholding.
Source:- http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/03/mike-pence-emails-background/98700292/
