Romney campaign: Mass. governor behind computer story
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s top aide suggested yesterday that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick was “running a dirty tricks shop” and that his office had become “an opposition research arm” of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
In a letter to Patrick, Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades blamed the Democrat’s administration for being behind a Boston Globe report yesterday that documented Romney’s efforts to leave no e-mail records behind when he left office in 2007. However, the Massachusetts public-records law doesn’t apply to the governor’s office, so there appears to be nothing illegal with the Romney-era computer removal.
The report, which included documents obtained from Patrick’s office, described how former Romney officials took their computers with them when they left their jobs and how Romney aides replaced e-mail servers and computers before leaving office. The report said that 11 of Romney’s top aides purchased 17 state-issued computers for $65 each when they left their jobs. Several of Romney’s top aides in the governor’s office later worked for his 2008 presidential bid.
Other records from Romney’s four years as governor remain archived, although his critics note 461 of the 633 boxes filed with the state archivist are not public. Among the items being kept closed: Romney’s press releases, proclamations and speeches.
Rhoades’ letter to Patrick — released by Romney’s campaign — said: “At a time when unemployment is at unacceptably high levels, both here in Massachusetts and around the country, the people of Massachusetts deserve to know that you are focused on alleviating joblessness — not running a dirty tricks shop for your friend, President Obama.”
“It is evident that your office has become an opposition research arm of the Obama reelection campaign,” he added.
As proof, Rhoades pointed to The Boston Globe report, noting that Patrick’s chief legal counsel, Mark Reilly, gave the newspaper copies of cancelled checks from 2006 — which are public records — that documented how former Romney administration officials bought their computers.
Rhoades called on Patrick to release all records of contact between his office and Obama advisers David Axelrod, David Plouffe and Jim Messina.
Patrick’s office said it would do so.
“We have fulfilled over 250 public records requests in our five years in office and we will be happy to fulfill this one,” Reilly told the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, top staffers for the three Massachusetts governors who preceded Romney say they cannot remember any administration employees purchasing computer hard drives at the end of their terms as 11 Romney aides did in 2006.
Romney’s three predecessors — Jane Swift, Paul Cellucci and William Weld — are like him, Republicans. Patrick is a Democrat.
Stephen Crosby, who worked in the Swift and Cellucci administrations, told The Boston Globe that the sale of computer hard drives was “almost unthinkable.”
Current aides for Romney, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, say the staffers did nothing illegal and the revelation of the sales now is a political ploy.
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Tags: Associated Press, e-mail, public records
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Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer/First Amendment Center. Previously, Paulson served as editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today and USATODAY.com.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is a scholar at the First Amendment Center. Hudson writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications devoted to First Amendment issues.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
