“PERSONAL” Material Redacted

Media sources around the country are consumed with the production of a multitude of e-mails by the State of Alaska that were e-mails generated by Sarah Palin during her half-term as Governor. The State of Alaska has produced over 24,199 pages of printed emails.

Conservatives4Palin has reported:

“The media went crazy thinking they were going to find a smoking gun on Governor Palin by forcing the State of Alaska to release 24,199 pages of email communications during her time in office. They were wrong and have admitted as much. After the media spent so much time and effort, they discovered no “bombshells,” which of course they were hoping for all along….”

Palin has now asked supporters to help demonstrate what a great Governor she was before she quit. Conservatives4palin has asked for help in reviewing these thousands of pages:

“The media is cherry-picking small excerpts to highlight, but they are leaving the bulk of the 24,199 pages out of their reports. That’s where you come in…

“We need to gather links from the email database that prove what kind of leader Governor Palin really is. We need to find the stuff the media doesn’t want the public to know about. We want to show the stuff they aren’t reporting but is still available online. The media wanted to “expose” what kind of executive Governor Palin was while in office… So, let us oblige them! We need your help collecting and archiving excerpts.”

I agree that Palin has successfully left the impression that the e-mails produced were reflective of her time as Governor. The truth is quite the opposite. Here are the facts:

1. Approxamately 2,275 pages of emails have been withheld.

2. Many pages have been “redacted.” That means that portions of the documents have been deleted.

3. The list of documents redacted is 79 pages long.

The list of documents withheld is 189 pages long.

The list contains the basis for the privilege asserted which would be the only justification for withholding or redacting the documents. The vast majority of the documents not produced as listed as “Executive/Deliberative Process.” When you look at the actual documents that have been redacted you see the words “Privledged or personal material redacted.”

If you were not an attorney you might assume this was in compliance with the law. If you were a person who was knowledgeable about Sarah Palin, you would probably assume that many documents were improperly withheld. You would be right.

The basis of the production was a “Freedom of Information Act” request. The Freedom of Information Act facilitates the accessibility of every document generated by an agency to the public in one form or another, unless it falls within one of the Act’s nine exemptions[i]. All “identifiable records” must be made available to a member of the public on demand[ii]. The Act expressly states, however, that the disclosure obligation “does not apply” to those documents described in the nine enumerated exempt categories listed in 5 U.S.C.S. § 552(b).

Here are the nine exemptions:

1. Interest of National Defense or Foreign Policy

2. Related Soley to Internal Personnel Rules and Practices

3. Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute

4. Trade Secrets and commercial or financial information

5. Inter-agency memos which would not be available by law to someone other than an agency in litigation

6. Personnel and medical files

7. Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes

8. Documents related to regulation of financial institutions

9. Geological information concerning the location of wells.

The Freedom of Information Act expressly does NOT authorize the withholding of or:

“d) …limit the availability of records to the public, except as specifically

stated in this section.”

Nowhere is there a reference to the “executive deliberative process” or “personal material.” Thus the assertion of these privileges is not in compliance with the express rules of the Freedom of Information Act. Note in particular that the exemption #6, makes reference to “Personnel” files, not “personal” files. It makes sense that personnel files should not be produced, but “personal” files should be produced if contained in the files that otherwise should be produced.

The original request for these documents came in 2008 when Palin was the Republican VP nominee. Alaska is supposed to respond to these type of requests within 10 days, . After more than two years, and multiple extensions of time, there are still more documents to be produced. The state has said it has not finished reviewing the emails from late 2008 through the summer of 2009. It remains unclear when those emails will be released. 

In conclusion over 26,000 pages of e-mails have not been produced in their entirety, so we can be assured that anything detrimental to the image of Sarah Palin has not been produced. If anything detrimental to her future as a candidate for the Presidency was determined to be “personal” it was not produced. Sarah Palin takes a lot of things personally.