FBI Director James Comey walked a fine line on Tuesday.
He in deciding to use a network of private email servers to store classified emails while she was secretary of state. But Comey stopped short of accusing the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of violating federal law.
The moment reminded me of something then Circuit Judge Richard Callahan said in a Cole County courtroom in January 2009.
鈥淪ome good lawyers believe this case raised issues that should never be answered,鈥 Callahan said. Now the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Callahan at the time was approving a settlement in the politically charged Sunshine Law case brought against former Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican. In that case, the governor agreed to release about 60,000 emails in exchange for an acknowledgement that he had done nothing wrong. The case had been brought by then Attorney General Jay Nixon, a Democrat, and prosecuted by appointees approved by Callahan.
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One of those prosecutors, attorney Louis Leonatti, concluded at the end of the case that the state鈥檚 Sunshine Law is broken. Seven years ago, he said of the law that governs public disclosure of documents, 鈥淚t鈥檚 got to be brought into the 21st century. We really need some help from the Legislature.鈥
What was true then is true now, in Missouri and the nation.
And that鈥檚 what shouldn鈥檛 get lost in the political hubbub over Clinton鈥檚 email mess.
The lines between the public鈥檚 business and politicians鈥 private interests get increasingly blurred in the digital world. While Clinton鈥檚 use of private email servers to pass some classified and top secret emails is particularly 鈥渃areless鈥 鈥 to use Comey鈥檚 characterization 鈥 it is fundamentally in line with what has become common practice in government today, from city halls to state capitols to the halls of Congress.
It manifests itself in different ways.
Former Republican candidate for president Jeb Bush to the state of Florida after his terms as governor. Bush, like Clinton, conducted government business on a private email system, but Florida鈥檚 Sunshine Law, one of the strongest in the nation, requires such emails to be turned over to the state upon the end of a governor鈥檚 term.
Here in Missouri, Nixon responded to the email controversy involving his former rival by eschewing the technology altogether after he was elected governor. File a Sunshine Law request for Nixon鈥檚 emails these days and all you鈥檒l get are daily emails from staff forwarding news clips to the governor.
What that means is that the governor is using some other technology (smoke signals, perhaps?) to communicate with his staff and department heads 鈥 and it鈥檚 likely less transparent than an email trail would be.
That鈥檚 not good for government either.
And it鈥檚 not just governors who have a problem.
Last month, a former state representative for allegedly violating the Sunshine Law by refusing to turn over emails sought in an open records request. Hawley is a Republican running for attorney general, the office which is often called upon in Missouri to enforce the Sunshine Law. Hawley has claimed his emails .
Ironically, considering that the lawsuit was brought by former state Rep. Kevin Elmer, R-Nixa, attorneys for both the Missouri House and Senate have claimed for years that state lawmakers鈥 emails are exempt from Sunshine Law disclosure, too.
The Hawley case, like the Blunt case, was predicated on a concern that officials were using public resources for private, campaign purposes.
In the end, that鈥檚 what some Clinton critics have alleged, as well, wondering if her dealings with foreign officials as secretary of state crossed purposes with her family鈥檚 private nonprofit Clinton Foundation.
This is why transparency laws are so important. Politicians and their surrogates will always seek to paint their opponents in a bad light, but the paper trail 鈥 er, digital trail 鈥 should exist to hold them accountable. As long as public officials feel free to do their public business on private email accounts, or shield their public emails from disclosure, accountability will be but a dream.
Get past the politics and that鈥檚 the real fallout from the Clinton email mess.
Her case, like similar ones before it and after it in Missouri, raise questions that some politicians 鈥 regardless of party 鈥 just don鈥檛 want answered.
