All Muck is Local: All The Governor’s MenOne might say that Scott Eckersley did his job too well.
As deputy counsel to Governor Matt Blunt (R) of Missouri, Eckersley gave the governor and his staff impeccable legal advice. According to the lawsuit Eckersley filed against Blunt and other administration members, he told them they were violating Blunt’s own written instructions, document retention policy and Missouri’s Sunshine Law by deleting all their emails.
Since the governor and his pals were deleting emails to preclude the scandal that would likely hit them if they became public, Eckersley’s advice was unwelcome, and since he was in charge of complying with the state’s freedom of information law, he became inconvenient, to say the least. Ed Martin, Blunt’s chief of staff, fired Scott Eckersley on September 28.
Things went downhill from there, according to Eckersley’s suit. Shortly afterwards, aware of the threat posed by a resentful employee who felt he had been wrongfully dismissed, Blunt and his aides took the offensive by sending to newspapers packets insinuating that (among other things) Eckersley was interested in kinky sex and drugs. Eckersley asserted that the governor’s staff had gone into his personal email account and sent unopened spam to bolster their defamatory claims.
In late October, Eckersley announced that he’d been fired in retaliation for objecting to the illegal activities of the governor and his aides. Blunt (son of House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO)) denied the charge and told reporters that Eckersley was fired because he was habitually late and did private work on government time. Eckersley countered that he had been repeatedly praised for his work.
Kindling this mucky firestorm is the gubernatorial election this fall. Republican Gov. Blunt expects to face Democratic Jay Nixon, the attorney general of Missouri.
That rivalry underlies Eckersley’s whole case.
Rich Chrismer, the governor’s chief spokesman, sent emails last summer ordering the Department of Public Safety and the Highway Patrol to publicly criticize AG Nixon’s handling of the investigation of a dam collapse. Noticing discrepancies in the resulting statements, a newspaper reporter requested and obtained the incriminating emails and published the story.
Panicking in fear of the damaging fallout, Henry Herschel, Blunt’s general counsel, called a meeting of the governor’s staff in August and, together with Martin, ordered them to destroy all emails. According to Eckersley, they discussed texting with their Blackberrys so as not to leave any evidence that might be used against them in the future.
When faced with a new Sunshine Law request in September, therefore, Martin instructed Eckersley to inform the reporter that there were no emails. Eckersley balked and lost his job as a result.
Now Eckersley has filed suit against Blunt, Martin, Herschel, Chrismer and Richard Aubuchon (Deputy Commissioner of Administration, another of the governorâs aides), alleging defamation of character and accusing the five of destroying evidence and other illegal practices. Martin was fired in November, presumably because of his mishandling of the email affairs, and Herschel took another government job at the same time.
And Blunt and Nixon will probably face off next November. Stay tuned.
