Politicians quitting the e-mail age
Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced Monday that he's not going to use e-mail anymore, for public or private communication.
He joins the non-e-mailing ranks of President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Chertoff told the NY Times magazine a few weeks back that he'd quit, and even said it was partly because of the fallout of Michael Brown's e-mail trail of tears. Bush apparently sent his last email shortly before his 2001 inauguration, once he found out that all the messages would be public record. And I didn't know about Gonzales until I read the article above - apparently he announced in August 2005 he had cut himself off from forwards from his co-workers and mom. (He didn't cite those specific reasons, but his inbox is like mine, I'm sure it was a factor.)
Anyway, I'm not sure that these people will bring about the results that seek to achieve. Investigations on their work will be one step more difficult, because people will have to check all the staff members' e-mails. (Gov. Fletcher is under investigation, by the way.) But all the correspondence involving staff and colleagues is still around, and able to be subpoenaed. It does make the trail a little tougher to sniff down, I suppose. It adds a bit more deniability, and politicians, of course, take what they can get.
He joins the non-e-mailing ranks of President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Chertoff told the NY Times magazine a few weeks back that he'd quit, and even said it was partly because of the fallout of Michael Brown's e-mail trail of tears. Bush apparently sent his last email shortly before his 2001 inauguration, once he found out that all the messages would be public record. And I didn't know about Gonzales until I read the article above - apparently he announced in August 2005 he had cut himself off from forwards from his co-workers and mom. (He didn't cite those specific reasons, but his inbox is like mine, I'm sure it was a factor.)
Anyway, I'm not sure that these people will bring about the results that seek to achieve. Investigations on their work will be one step more difficult, because people will have to check all the staff members' e-mails. (Gov. Fletcher is under investigation, by the way.) But all the correspondence involving staff and colleagues is still around, and able to be subpoenaed. It does make the trail a little tougher to sniff down, I suppose. It adds a bit more deniability, and politicians, of course, take what they can get.
posted by bp at
10:02 AM
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