Suzanne Kreiter
photo courtesy of The Boston Globe Boston
Mayor Thomas M. Menino is interviewed in a Boston restaurant by a Boston
Globe reporter.
Public
records controversy
casts shadow on Menino’s
City Hall, re-election run
 The
deletion of public records by a top aide of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino
-- thought by The Boston Globe to be e-mails related to a federal
investigation of political corruption in Massachusetts – has put
Menino’s City Hall under official scrutiny for possible public-records
abuse. The controversy also has provided political fodder to Menino’s
challengers in his bid for re-election.
In light of a potential public-records
violation, William F. Galvin, Massachusetts secretary of state, ordered
Sept. 14 that the computer used by the aide be seized and that forensics
experts be brought in to try to retrieve the deleted e-mails, the Globe
said.
E-mails are subject
to the same law as paper records, according to the Massachusetts supervisor
of public records. Municipal employees also are required by Massachusetts
law to keep all e-mails for at least two years. Violations of the law
call for a fine of up to $500 or a possible prison sentence of up to
one year. MORE>
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