WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and some of his top aides used private e-mail accounts to conduct state business at times when Romney was governor of Massachusetts, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The communications were legal, even though Romney’s own administration warned state agencies against the practice because of cyber-security concerns. The state archives in Massachusetts, which learned about Romney’s e-mails from AP, now says the private e-mails should have invoked rules about preserving copies of state records.
Private e-mail accounts used by public officials to perform their public jobs are effectively off limits to review by citizens, watchdog groups, political opponents and news organizations because they’re often used secretly. Free accounts from commercial providers also are more vulnerable to hackers who exploit easy-to-use features to reset passwords.
Romney’s use of a free Microsoft Hotmail account and a private e-mail address linked to his 2008 presidential campaign was revealed in documents AP obtained under the Massachusetts Public Records Law. The Romney files, which span four months in mid-2006, represent the first substantive e-mails written by him to surface since he left public office in 2007.
When AP examined dozens of boxes of archived materials last summer in Boston from Romney’s former administration, it found no e-mails or memos written by or to Romney.
Some of the e-mails obtained by AP describe Romney’s internal deliberations on his health care policy and the state’s 2006 budget crisis: “I hate appearing as if I am just playing national politics,” Romney wrote in November 2006 during sensitive negotiations on state budget cuts, when he was preparing his 2008 presidential campaign.
Romney’s presidential campaign declined to explain why Romney and his aides used the private accounts or explain how long and how extensively they used them.
“Gov. Romney and his staff complied with the law and followed precedent in the handling of documents in the executive office,” said campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul.
Using private e-mail accounts to conduct government business has embroiled leading political figures, including Karl Rove and Sarah Palin, and has become a growing legal flashpoint nationwide. While 26 states view the use of private e-mails for government business as public records, the rest have no clear rules or prevailing case law — a source for continuing turmoil in state courts.
