Romney used private email accounts as governor

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Romney used private email accounts as governor
Updated 5m ago

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and some of his top aides used private email 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 due to cyber security concerns. The state archives in Massachusetts — which learned about Romney's emails from the AP — now says the private emails should have invoked rules about preserving copies of state records.

Private email 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 email passwords.

Romney's use of a free Microsoft Hotmail account and a private email address linked to his 2008 presidential campaign was revealed in documents the AP obtained under the Massachusetts Public Records Law. The Romney files, which span four months in mid-2006, represent the first substantive emails written by him to surface since he left public office in 2007. When the AP examined dozens of boxes of archived materials last summer in Boston from Romney's former administration, it found no emails or memos written by or to Romney himself.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-03-09/romney-private-emails/53441424/1

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. Governing via Hotmail.

That is almost as priceless as Palin running a state over yahoo.com