Governor Rick Scott’s office: Ask employees for records
The administration of Governor Rick Scott is making a unique argument when it comes to handing over public records.
Scott’s lawyers have recently declared that state employees and former employees are the “custodians” of any text messages or emails done on personal accounts even if they cover state business.
via Governor Rick Scott’s office: Ask employees for records.
Conducting Florida public business on private electronic devices is anything but Sunshine.
Scott’s contrary position will encourage the worst of our public servants to become more confident in expanding their unethical behaviors, which are already extraordinary, per my previous posts, including recent posts about abuses of DAVID, abuses that have a number of Floridians upset about the department of motor vehicles system being used as Facebook for Cops.
Of course, making every state employee a records custodian has more drawbacks than just making it nearly impossible for citizens to know to whom to address records requests.
The state employee – as records custodian – will be able to destroy records at will, which will likely soon put judges in the unfortunate position of having to decide whether state employees – as records custodians – must produce personal devices and billing records to prove that records were not destroyed.
Rick Scott is never short on ill-conceived, mean-spirited, unAmerican ideas, nor is he shy about abusing his powers … he’s behaving just as reasoning individuals knew he would, given his history of pleading the fifth.
Pre-election, the media whitewashed Rick Scott’s past. They’ll continue pour on the whitewash if they are not challenged.
In the unaccountably short linked article, I suspect that the lawyer’s described by the AP as being Scott’s are actually working on Floridians’ dimes, against our best interests.
It might be difficult to find out just whose lawyers these are, given that Scott deems himself a records custodian and may have made all communications with them about this matter entirely on his personal electronic devices.
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