“Through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) I have obtained and uncovered several hundred e-mails involving high-ranking county officials and numerous county employees using their county email, while at work and on their county computers, for political purposes.”
That’s what former Madison County State’s Attorney’s office employee Andrew Kane wrote to County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler, asking that a sampling of the emails be entered into the record at the county board meeting last Wednesday and that a formal investigation be launched to determine if the communications broke laws prohibiting political activities by public employees during office hours and/or using public property.
“While some of the officials and employees involved are no longer employed by the county, their behavior has only emboldened others to continue the prohibited conduct,” Kane wrote in his letter to Prenzler. “For those officials and employees still employed, there should be swift and immediate action taken to enforce all applicable laws and pertinent policies as defined by the Madison County Personnel Policy Handbook or department policies.”
Prenzler acceded to Kane’s request and sparks flew at last week’s board meeting, one befuddled member even suggesting that there should be an investigation into whether or not the emails produced in response to a FOIA request were obtained legally.
One of the emails entered into the record – sent by Michael Clark in the fall of 2007 to former administrator Joseph Parente, Randy Smith, and then-chief deputy sheriff John Lakin – concerned an after-work get-together at the Gladstones bar in Soulard and urged recipients to “pass this note around to any school girls you might want to bring.”
We don’t know what to make of that strange comment and don’t care to speculate, but surely it warrants investigation, as do all the emails obtained by Kane documenting the frequent use by Madison County employees of public property during working hours for politicking and other nonofficial business.
This is not what we pay public employees to do, and it’s against the law. They must be held accountable.