It seems that the Associated Press has taken notice of what CEI’s Chris Horner first reported (here at WUWT and elsewhere) about the EPA’s secret email alias of “Richard Windsor” and has found the same sort of off the books emails to be common in other cabinet political appointees. Thanks to Chris for his hard work leading to the awakening of the MSM to this issue. – Anthony
Emails of top Obama appointees remain a mystery
WASHINGTON (AP) – Some of President Barack Obama’s political appointees, including the Cabinet secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes from being overwhelmed with unwanted messages, according to a review by The Associated Press.
The scope of using the secret accounts across government remains a mystery: Most U.S. agencies have failed to turn over lists of political appointees’ email addresses, which the AP sought under the Freedom of Information Act more than three months ago. The Labor Department initially asked the AP to pay more than $1 million for its email addresses.
The AP asked for the addresses following last year’s disclosures that the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency had used separate email accounts at work. The practice is separate from officials who use personal, non-government email accounts for work, which generally is discouraged – but often happens anyway – due to laws requiring that most federal records be preserved.
…
“What happens when that person doesn’t work there anymore? He leaves and someone makes a request (to review emails) in two years,” said Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors, an open government group. “Who’s going to know to search the other accounts? You would hope that agencies doing this would keep a list of aliases in a desk drawer, but you know that isn’t happening.”
Full story here: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130604/DA6MPFHG2.html
Reblogged this on Climate Ponderings and commented:
Disgraceful conduct.
The issue should not be that government employees and appointees have more than one email address. Good heavens, I have 3 live ones; one I use for one-time registrations that will likely spam me.
The real issue is that the multiple email addresses, and even time-limited email addresses, are not properly administered, inventoried, accounted for, and automatically included in FOIA requests. It should not be necessary to specify the email address in an FOIA — only “all emails used by Secretary X in the period Y1 to Y2.” Whether it was KGS2@hhs.gov, or KGS3 or KGS4987 is irrelvant to the request.
Most transparent administration EVAR!
Heads up everyone: Bill Nye is going to do an “ask me anything” on reddit today:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/new/
Anyone have some suggested questions?
P.J. O’Rourke has some choice words about goverrnment employees.
At least they are using government accounts. Bush administration used Yahoo and Gmail accounts and then destroyed them prior (or after?) being served subpoenas.
Wow Brad, it’s been a while since I heard a “But Buusssh!!” excuse.
How many times did Richard Windsor vote for Obama last election?
Brad says:
June 4, 2013 at 8:43 am
At least they are using government accounts. Bush administration used Yahoo and Gmail accounts and then destroyed them prior (or after?) being served subpoenas.
I doubt this, but even if true it shows the Obama administration is not as smart as Bush’s.
As soon as you hear any politician promise “more transparency” as a campaign promise, you know which direction they will take once elected.
archonix says:
June 4, 2013 at 8:46 am
Wow Brad, it’s been a while since I heard a “But Buusssh!!” excuse.
________________________
Where’ve you been? That’s all we’ve been hearing about the IRS mess from the “Oh,But” party hacks like David Axelrod, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest.
“Oh, but the IRS commissioner was a Bush appointee”.
Shouldn’t we be congratulating Richard Windsor for being awarded the honor of “scholar of ethical behavior”:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/03/epa-honors-fake-employee-as-an-ethical-scholar/
mkelly says:
June 4, 2013 at 9:21 am
“I doubt this, but even if true it shows the Obama administration is not as smart as Bush’s.”
________________________
It is the party of the left side of the bell curve, after all.
And yet the Richard Windsor emails have yet to be delivered to Congress as per the subpoena.
“The issue should not be that government employees and appointees have more than one email address. Good heavens, I have 3 live ones; one I use for one-time registrations that will likely spam me.”
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You’re not a government agency with an IT department, either. The excuse that’s being proffered is that they would be overwhelmed with outside email. This is transparent BS, because they can screen that out at the firewall. Lame excuse is lame.
Many of the Richard Windsor emails have been released, but they are heavily redacted. In some cases, the entire email contents are redacted. Is the EPA involved in top-secret national security? What reasons could they have for redacting anything in the emails except, perhaps, some sensitive personal information?
pat says:
June 4, 2013 at 9:37 am
And yet the Richard Windsor emails have yet to be delivered to Congress as per the subpoena.
Only once it was discovered that Lisa Jackson was using an alias. But not before.
I’m just as real as any other government employee.
Occurs to me, this should be an invitation to audit, if a govt employee has very little relevant work done on their official email account, the AG can claim they are obviously not doing their work and fire them.
If they then produce an alias account, fire them.
The irony of people collecting from the public purse arguing that they are entitled to privacy.
Could they be too stupid for government?
Nice to see the Presstitutes waking up, will they stay awake? Or are they playing CYA , to avoid the wrath of the citizens they(the media) betrayed?
This expanding exposure of systemic corruption,is a story of the MSM and their complicity.
Politicians are naturally orientated to lust for power by any means available, a free and ethical press was supposed to expose the stupid and dangerous choices by these politicians and thus keep them in check.
The North American (Old)Media’s “Slobbering Love Affair” with all things progressive, has been apparent for decades.There is a reason we get our news from other sources today.
I can sympathise with the issue of the official email getting swamped and needing a private one. But in the company I work in, that private one is something like “Forename-personal.Surname”, not a completely different name. That way, it’s obvious who it belongs to yet it’s recognised as being for internal/informal emails. Surely the Government could do the same?
This truly is ‘Its worse than we thought’, because CEI has shown rather compellingly in its court filings that the purpose of ‘Richard Windsor’ actually was to evade FOIA requests.
archonix says:
June 4, 2013 at 8:46 am
Wow Brad, it’s been a while since I heard a “But Buusssh!!” excuse.
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For the low information crowd, it’s all they’ve got.
What I find strange about this whole affair is the Obama administration was supposed to understand technology better than any other and still they couldn’t figure out how to filter their mail with their contact list. The only solution they could come up with is a hidden email account.
Luther Wu says:
June 4, 2013 at 9:35 am
mkelly says:
June 4, 2013 at 9:21 am
“I doubt this, but even if true it shows the Obama administration is not as smart as Bush’s.”
________________________
It is the party of the left side of the bell curve, after all.
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It just demonstrates the EXTREME HYPOCRISY of the Left.
Every thing the Bush people did was wrong and evil and Obama promised to change all that and here they are being “Bush bad” X 10 and not a peep from them (except Blame Bush)
Attention Luther Wu: I wrote you a brief note on this thread on June 3, 2013 at 9:15PM
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/03/climate-sensitivity-deconstructed/#more-87526
Glad you are okay.
@ Richard Windsor, LOL, you know that isn’t your real name. #[:)]
****************************************************************
So, anyway, tell us, Mr. (cough) Windsor, what’s with all the 007 super-top-secret nonsense? What in the WORLD could E.P.A. have to hide? New missile guidance software? Names of C.I.A. covert agents (who are still covert)?
None of that?
Guess your redacting is CLEARLY an attempt to deceive, then.
GO TO JAIL. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect one hundred dollars.
Boy, what I wouldn’t give to say that to some of those Demonocrats!!!
(and, to poster, The Last Democrat, I would not include you, all your posts show you are not a typical, unthinking, Democrat, but, (head shake) why do you trumpet the fact?….)
Thanks, D. B. Stealey for the link (at 0837 today) to the hilarious (redundant, I know) P. J. O’Rourke essay on NASA and politicians, etc… . LOL.
Janice Moore says:
June 4, 2013 at 4:31 pm
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donkey shoesdanke shoenI for one can’t wait until Richard Windsor wins the next Nobel Peace Prize.
Regarding the honors and training bestowed upon Richard Windsor, can anyone comment on whether or not it cost the Federal Government anything to bestow these honors and certificates, or to otherwise administer them; and, if so, would these constitute false claims?
Hi, Luther — Deutsche, of course. Cute.
Bitte.
“… can’t wait until Richard Windsor wins the next Nobel Peace Prize. ” [Not a Real Climate Scientist] LOL
Hey, might not be waiting long! If a fraud like the Empty Suit can win it for doing nothing but managing to keep all his academic records and other certifications (ahem) hidden, being the mascot of law review, and voting “present” a good part of the time (except when he was one of only two Illinois state senators vehemently opposing the Infant Born Alive protection act c. 2006), why not a nominal entity?
I don’t blame employees. I don’t blame politics This is a direct consequence of the nature of coercive government. The actions of its agents must remain secret for it to project an illusion of legitimacy.
Let us not lose sight of the important part of this:
Which email addresses were used to order the hookers and blow?
Is that why the “Richard Windsor” emails are so heavily redacted, too much mixing of “business” and pleasure?
Wait a minute. That could yield a legitimate reason for some of the redacting. It would be prudent to redact the account numbers of their expense accounts and government credit cards that they sent by email to purchase their “party favors”, to keep them out of the unscrupulous hands of so-called “government accountability activists”.
See, sometimes the government really does things for the benefit of the public, rather than just “for the public’s own good”.
Hey, K.D., I think you’re on to something. LOL, all that bumblingly ham-handed, blanket redacting which makes them look REALLY guilty is actually comforting (in a way).
I mean, just think how much more of our liberty they would have seized by now if they weren’t such “[stupid] [idiots],” Rahm Emmanuel (2010).
Transparency that you cannot see through!
Richard Windsor says:
June 4, 2013 at 10:47 am
With that established, can we see your emails, now?
From RockyRoad on June 4, 2013 at 11:42 pm:
By established playground protocol, the response should be “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”
But adults are involved, who are employed by government. Thus the response is:
I can neither confirm nor deny I already have read your emails, you are free to try to request mine by the FOIA. Oh BTW, I can also neither confirm nor deny the person you’re meeting for lunch at Cafe Caliente next Tuesday at 12:30pm is about to get a massive multi-year audit from the IRS after posting an anonymous patently untrue slur against our beloved President at a Huffington Post article, so it would be best for you to cut off all contact with them immediatey, wink wink, nudge nudge.
Secret government email accounts used for obfuscation of history. This guy approves of them.
(I know who he votes for.)
{ Brad says:
June 4, 2013 at 8:43 am
“At least they are using government accounts. Bush administration used Yahoo and Gmail accounts and then destroyed them prior (or after?) being served subpoenas.”}
He doesn’t like GWB though.
Kevin Kilty says: “Regarding the honors and training bestowed upon Richard Windsor, can anyone comment on whether or not it cost the Federal Government anything to bestow these honors and certificates, or to otherwise administer them; and, if so, would these constitute false claims?”
Did the “Fake Employee” have a government ID#? Was “He” on the Government payroll? What was the pay grade? Did the government issue paychecks to “Fake Employee” “Richard Windsor”? How many “Fake Employees” are there in Washington, DC “working” for the government?
Brad says @ June 4, 2013 at 8:43 am
At least they are using government accounts. Bush administration used Yahoo and Gmail accounts and then destroyed them prior (or after?) being served subpoenas
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Here’s a new concept for you, Brad: if it’s wrong (not to mention illegal), then it’s wrong for everybody. Got that? Something about “…a nation of laws…”.
On the other hand, I’m comforted you’ve assured us these new guys are all using [secret] government email accounts, not Yahoo & Gmail. It never crossed my mind to ask how you know that…
Am I the only one to notice that Brad seemed to have fired off one troll-gram and quickly left the building?
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It all depends on what is “transparent”. Is it actions taken or the methods used to hide the actions taken?
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None. It seems they think we work for them.
Ever read “Animal Farm”?
Chris Horner on Kudlow Report tonight. Romney on tomorrow evening.
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000173437
So much for transparancy, by the most tyrannical, ignorant, delusional, mean-spirited, corrupt, abusive, wasteful and mendacious administration in US history.