Shades of Hillary: Bullock Under Fire For Deleting State Emails

Back in May, we learned Montana’s Democrat Governor Steve Bullock was using private email to conduct state business – in the style of Hillary Clinton – in a direct attempt to shield his communications from the public. Now, Bullock is facing further criticism, after it was revealed Bullock destroyed official state emails, possibly illegally. When email records from his time was Attorney General were requested through a FOIA, Montanans were told that they “no longer exist.” This creates another headache for Bullock, since state officials agree that “state emails received by Bullock when he was attorney general are public information.”

The Great Falls Tribune reports:

“The Yellowstone Club founder who has requested emails from the governor’s days from when he served as attorney general is crying foul after being told those emails either no longer exist and said officials did not follow laws in destroying them. Blixseth filed a freedom of information request with Gov. Steve Bullock’s office in July, seeking correspondence between Bullock with six other people, including former Gov. Brian Schweitzer and employees of the governor’s office, Department of Environmental Quality and Attorney General’s office.

“Note the email accounts for former Attorney General Steve Bullock and his appointed staff members no longer exist, so neither the accounts nor their archives are available to search,’ he wrote. Blixseth has asked state officials for a copy of the minutes of the meeting in which they followed proper protocols and requested destruction of emails. 

“We can’t find them,” Blixseth said. “It appears to be that emails were destroyed contrary to state law. Do they exist, were they destroyed legally or illegally?” he asked. “We find no record they were destroyed legally, so the assumption is they were destroyed illegally.”

State officials said the state emails received by Bullock when he was attorney general are public information unless protected by privacy.