email Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

26 May, 2016

Haslam staff used private email accounts for state business

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-27T08:20:35-05:00May 26, 2016|Categories: email|Tags: Bill Haslam, Janet McGaha, Mark Cate, Phil Williams, private email, Will Cromer|0 Comments

While the U.S. State Department's inspector general on Wednesday released a blistering analysis of Hillary Clinton's use of private email, back in Tennessee reporter Phil Williams of NewsChannel 5 reported a nugget about the use of private email by Governor Bill Haslam and his staff. NewsChannel 5 reporter uncovers Haslam staff using private email for government business. Williams made a public records request of emails on the state email server of a handful of administrators that either were received from or sent to a private email address containing @billhaslam.com, a domain for the governor's campaign webpage. Although it was only a snapshot for a defined slice of time, [...]

16 Oct, 2015

AP: Haslam defends recommendation for advisers to avoid email

By Deborah Fisher|2021-12-28T11:18:20-06:00October 16, 2015|Categories: deliberative process privilege, email|Tags: Bill Haslam, deliberative process privilege, email, outsourcing|0 Comments

Another story on government email from Erik Schelzig with the Associated Press: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam is defending a practice among his outsourcing advisers to avoid email correspondence to prevent information getting out to the public. The Republican governor told reporters after an economic development conference this week that it's a standard practice of "sharing some wisdom" with new employees who have come to government from the private sector that all of their correspondence is subject to Tennessee's open records laws. "Any government that comes into office, the very first day they say, careful what you put in that email, because unless you want to see it [...]

15 Oct, 2015

AP: Tennessee officials told to avoid emailing about outsourcing

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-27T16:18:43-05:00October 15, 2015|Categories: email|Tags: email, outsourcing, privatization, Terry Cowles|0 Comments

From the Associated Press, by way of the Chattanooga Times Free Press - a story about government email: NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- Officials mulling over the privatization of operations at state buildings, college campuses, prisons and armories are being discouraged from putting their thoughts into emails. Terry Cowles, who is in charge of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's office of Strategies for Efficiency in Real Estate Management, or SEREM, told reporters Tuesday that the group "put that control in place" to prevent the release of what he called premature or incorrect information. "We want to provide you all and the public with as much information as we can, but we have to [...]

30 Jun, 2014

Government emails from private accounts – how to comply?

By Deborah Fisher|2014-06-30T15:01:01-05:00June 30, 2014|Categories: email|Tags: emails, litigation|0 Comments

In Tennessee, the Office of Open Records Counsel has made clear that emails sent by government officials discussing government business, whether sent from a government account or a private account, are subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act. A judge's ruling earlier this year in a lawsuit over Knox County government emails underscored the issue of open access, though it took the Knoxville News Sentinel one and half years to prevail. In talking with reporters in the past three or four months, I think the more thorny issue is how difficult it is for anyone to know private email accounts are being used for public business -- and, then, how [...]

31 Mar, 2014

News Sentinel: Ruling affirms broad definition of public records

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T08:11:54-05:00March 31, 2014|Categories: email, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: emails, Knox County, Knoxville News Sentinel, litigation|0 Comments

This editorial was published in the Knoxville News Sentinel on March 31. It is reprinted here with permission: Blount County Circuit Court Judge David Duggan struck a blow for open government this year by ordering Knox County to turn over nine emails that Law Director Bud Armstrong had deemed private. The News Sentinel had requested to see the emails, which were sent to or from county accounts, under the state’s Public Records Act. After Armstrong refused, the News Sentinel filed suit in October 2012, with attorney Richard Hollow handling the case on behalf of the newspaper and in the name of managing editor Tom Chester. Judge David Duggan [...]