E-mails from Romney term as governor gone

BOSTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- E-mails from Mitt Romney's term as Massachusetts governor have vanished from public records in the state, interviews and records reveal.

The Boston Globe reported Thursday that just before Romney, a GOP presidential candidate, left the governor's office in 2007 and first ran for president, 11 top aides purchased their state-issued computer drives.

Romney administration officials had remaining computers in the governor's office replaced before Gov. Deval Patrick's staff took power in January 2007, leaving no electronic record of any Romney administration e-mails, Mark Reilly, Patrick's chief legal counsel, said.

The Globe said Patrick's office has been deluged with inquiries for records from the Romney administration.

"The governor's office has found no e-mails from 2002-2006 in our possession," Reilly said in a statement. "Before the current administration took office, the computers used during that time period were replaced and the server used during that time period was taken out of service, all files were removed from it and it was also replaced."

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said the governor's staff "complied with the law and longtime executive branch practice."

"Some employees exercised the option to purchase computer equipment when they left," Saul said. "They did so openly with personal checks."

Saul accused Patrick, a Democrat and a friend and supporter of President Barack Obama, of "doing the Obama campaign's dirty work" and mounting "political attacks to distract from Obama's horrible record on jobs."'

Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who oversees the state public records law, said the governor's office doesn't have to release e-mails to the public but must preserve them and turn them over to the state archivist.

"They have an obligation as a public official to preserve their records," said Galvin, a Democrat. "Electronic records are held to the same standard as paper records. There's no question. They're not in some lesser standard."