Gov. Jack Markell (D) is standing by his use of an email account linked to a pseudonym, despite pressure from a state lawmaker and an open government group.
Rep. John Kowalko (D-Newark South) and the Delaware Coalition for Open Government filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request at 1 p.m. Thursday requesting that that email address be revealed to the public.
Kowalko says his request stems from past attempts to get records regarding Markell’s controversial Priority Schools plan and not receiving any emails between the governor and his staff or others involved.
In a letter sent to the governor and his staff Thursday, Kowalko wrote, “Secret email accounts used by public officials violate the spirit of Delaware’s Open Government Law and prevent the public from exercising that opportunity to observe and monitor these same public officials.”
The letter continues, requesting the administration release a list of all email addresses and pseudonyms that Markell has used during his six years in office concerning any government business.
“I have no problem if you want to use [a pseudonym], but they have to be divulged to the public. Otherwise, we’re just allowing a veil of secrecy to descend,” Kowalko said.
“It caused me a little bit of concern. Is he not in the loop? Is he deliberately staying out of the loop? Is he conducting these [conversations] by phone, which are harder to accumulate [under public records laws]?”
Markell’s spokeswoman Kelly Bachman issued a statement, saying, “There is nothing secret about the Governor’s state email accounts, which are on the state system and subject to FOIA. The Governor stands on his record on open government.”
“He uses jack.markell@state.de.us, Governor.Markell@state.de.us and one other account address that is set up to allow him to use email without spamming or unsolicited messages that could make the account unusable. That has been the tradition of past governors and other public officials,” the statement said.
US Attorney General Eric Holder has used a handful of aliases on a government email server.
Former Secretary of State and potential 2016 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has also been part of a recent scandal involving the use of a personal email account during her time in office.
John Flaherty, president of the Delaware Coalition for Open Government, defended Markell’s open government record, noting his push to lower the price of copies of public records and signing a bill opening parts of the General Assembly to the state’s FOIA law.
Despite that, Flaherty says he shouldn’t use a secret pseudonym – even if that means sifting through extra correspondence.
“It’s just part of being a public official in today’s environment. I mean, all of us are overloaded with electronic communication because of Twitter and everything else that’s going on out there, but I think it’s better to err on the side of transparency.”
“I’m surprised to hear that,” said House Minority Leader Danny Short (R-Seaford), noting that he didn’t know about the separate email account. “I’m not sure what the need is [for a pseudonym]. I’d like to hear an explanation why that’s the case.”
Short says most of his communications with the governor happens over the phone or through Markell’s chief of staff.
House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf declined to comment for this story.
While Markell has instituted some changes to Delaware’s public records laws, state lawmakers’ emails are still exempt from FOIA.
In the past, Kowalko has freely distributed his emails to the public and the press – including emails with other legislators.
He also sought to include legislator emails under Delaware’s public records law, only redacting personal constituent matters.
Kowalko says he’s seen the governor’s statement, but will withhold further comment until he receives a response.
“FOIA laws are very, very significant in the fact that they’re not supposed to be a way to construct a slowdown or an obstacle to gathering information that should be public knowledge.”
Markell’s staff have 15 business days to officially respond to Kowalko’s request.
