A Washington, D.C.-based government accountability group is calling for an investigation into Gov. Andrew Cuomo”™s office for allegedly using private email accounts and untraceable text messages to conduct official business.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan nonprofit, sent a letter Thursday to state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman saying the administration was sidestepping the state”™s records and transparency laws.
“Such practices seem designed specifically to shield official actions and statements from public view and access,” the letter said. CREW, which releases an annual “Most Corrupt” list of federal politicians, recently ranked Cuomo on a list of “Worst Governors.”
The letter comes on the heels of a May 5 ProPublica article that said aides to the governor had used their private email accounts to correspond with the press. When ProPublica”™s reporter requested emails from an aide”™s private account under the Freedom of Information Law, the governor”™s office denied the request and a subsequent appeal. A spokesman then told ProPublica that the governor”™s office did not believe emails needed to be retained as official records unless they were specific types of communications such as news releases or contracts.
A 2012 article in the New York Daily News said the governor never used email to communicate with top aides, instead using Blackberry PIN messaging. PIN messages are not available as public records, the article said.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said the use of private emails and texts for official business contradicts the governor”™s pledges of government transparency.
“Government officials who use private email or untraceable text message to keep their dealings secret from the public that elects them and funds their salaries and whom they claim to represent must be held accountable for their conduct,” Sloan said. “If Governor Cuomo doesn”™t want voters to know what he”™s doing, maybe he is doing something he shouldn”™t.”
Inquiries to the governor”™s office and the office of the attorney general were not immediately returned.
