Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton conducted government business on a privately owned Internet Service Provider, clearly circumventing the letter and intent of the Freedom of Information Act.
She denies it, saying she provided all pertinent emails to the State Department. But the trouble is, she determined what was pertinent and what wasn’t. She probably didn’t forward anything that might reflect poorly on her as secretary of state.
How can people see nothing wrong with that scenario? Even those who trust Clinton must realize it’s ridiculous to allow a government employee to determine which emails the public — the people paying for the government — can see.
Enter Lewis County, which has decided to allow employees to delete emails that they determine have no retention value.
While I know and like county employees, I agree with Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, who said it’s a “big risk” to allow employees to destroy emails pertaining to government and how it transacts the public’s business.
Think of “Pattigate,” the scandal involving Patti Prouty, Lewis County’s Central Services director who was fired in 2006 after sending text messages of a sexual nature to local law enforcement officers.
Or the private emails that same year between former Lewis County Commissioners Richard Graham and Jim Lowery, who may have violated the Open Meetings Act by discussing reorganization of the county’s government and how much they should disclose to the third commissioner, Dennis Hadaller.
Commissioner Edna Fund, a friend of mine, explained that a committee of 18 evaluated the email retention plan before suggesting the new policy. The only problem is the committee consists entirely of county employees.
Where are the private citizens? Local media representatives? People who may seek access to public records someday? An independent someone who can evaluate which emails should be deleted?
I think it’s the proverbial slippery slope. Although commissioners may trust all county employees, what happens when someone arrives who isn’t trustworthy?
We’ve all seen instances where employees given authority wound up abusing that trust. It happens in public service. It happens with nonprofits. It happens in private business.
In the interests of open government, taxpayers should have access to emails regarding business conducted in their name.
Writers Conference
Fee Increases
If you’d like to learn writing techniques from New York Times best-selling author Jane Kirkpatrick, sign up this week to save money.
The second annual Southwest Washington Writers Conference takes place Saturday, Sept. 12, at Centralia College. Kirkpatrick will present a keynote and teach three workshops: “Sprinkling Fictional Elements to Help Nonfiction Sparkle,” “Editing Selfie” and “Silencing the Harpies.”
“To Agent or Not to Agent: That Is the Question” is the title of a keynote by Scott Eagan, of Greyhaus Literary Agency in Puyallup.
Portland author Melanie Dobson, who has written 14 historical romance and suspense books, will teach about weaving romance into almost any genre, while Lacey’s Jennifer Shaw Wolf, author of two novels, will teach about story structure and writing for young adults.
Vancouver marketing guru Ronnie Noize will focus on selling books once they’re written; Gail Denham, a poet and photographer from Sunriver, Oregon, will show how poetry can strengthen writing; Olympia’s Les Eldridge, author of a half dozen Civil War maritime novels, will discuss writing historical fiction; Olympia sci-fi writer Lindsey Schopfer will present “A Novel in Four Drafts” and “Choose Your Words Carefully”; and a panel will discuss creating a sense of place.
The $60 registration fee, which climbs to $80 after Aug. 12, includes a light breakfast, lunch, all keynotes, three workshops and a late afternoon autograph party. Sponsors are Gorham Printing and South Bay Press. All proceeds benefit the Lewis County Historical Museum. For information, visit lewiscountymuseum.net.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
