"Orleans Parish Civil Court Judge Rose Ledet delivered a stinging rebuke to Mayor Ray Nagin's administration Tuesday after learning that virtually all of the e-mails sent and received by Nagin last year and much of the information on his 2008 calendar have been erased in an apparent violation of the state public records law.
Clearly disturbed by the revelation, Ledet ordered the Nagin administration to immediately halt the practice of "destroying correspondence" by the mayor and members of his executive staff.
The tense scene played out during a hearing in Ledet's court on a lawsuit filed against the Nagin administration by WWL-TV news anchor Lee Zurik, who sought the e-mails and calendar information in a public records request filed in January.
Mary Ellen Roy, an attorney for the station, told Ledet that to date, the administration has provided only 15 of Nagin's e-mails and no part of his scheduling calendar. Nagin sends and receives between 50 and 100 e-mails daily, according to information provided to WWL's attorneys by the administration.
Under the state Public Records Act, government agencies have three business days to respond to requests for information. The Nagin administration has in the past provided copies of e-mails in response to public records requests from The Times-Picayune, although often far outside of the three-day time frame allowed by law."
NOLAAnother day, another dem politician violating the law. Business as usual.
