{"id":608,"date":"2009-09-29T00:56:35","date_gmt":"2009-09-29T04:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/?p=608"},"modified":"2009-09-29T00:56:35","modified_gmt":"2009-09-29T04:56:35","slug":"meninos-email-problem-just-got-a-lot-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/meninos-email-problem-just-got-a-lot-bigger\/","title":{"rendered":"Menino’s Email Problem Just Got A Lot Bigger"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been lazily watching the Boston Globe’s pursuit of Menino aide Michael J. Kineavy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emails<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0It was obvious from the start that the guy was violating state law – he was deleting emails that the law required be retained. \u00c2\u00a0But it looked like more smoke than fire. \u00c2\u00a0Yeah, he should be keeping the emails, I thought, but there’s a long distance between deleting some emails and a cover-up. \u00c2\u00a0The easiest explanation was that he was anal-retentive, not that he was a felon. \u00c2\u00a0I’m a firm believer that one should \u00c2\u00a0“never\u00c2\u00a0blame on malice what\u00c2\u00a0can be explained by\u00c2\u00a0incompetence.” \u00c2\u00a0Even while the Globe was mentioning Kineavy’s relationship with accused felons Dianne Wilkerson and Chuck Turner, I thought they were just fishing for a good story line.<\/p>\n

Today, the Globe got a pile of emails<\/a> from the mayor’s office. \u00c2\u00a0Kineavy had deleted emails, but the people he corresponded with hadn’t, and thus the emails came to light. \u00c2\u00a0The Globe published a sample, and there’s a game-changer in that sample. \u00c2\u00a0Kineavy sends an email saying “reminder. . .these are foiable.” \u00c2\u00a0Foiable? \u00c2\u00a0What’s foiable? \u00c2\u00a0Foible? \u00c2\u00a0Friable? \u00c2\u00a0No – it’s FOIable. \u00c2\u00a0As in “Freedom of Information Act”-able. \u00c2\u00a0Suddenly Kineavy isn’t a naive, idiosyncratic geek. \u00c2\u00a0Now, he’s someone with knowledge of the Freedom of Information Act who takes actions every day<\/em> that violate state law about record retention. \u00c2\u00a0This is no longer a “honest mistake” that Menino can just shrug off – it’s a deliberate attempt to hide the internal workings of government from the public. \u00c2\u00a0This is no longer just smoke. \u00c2\u00a0There’s fire.<\/p>\n

There are three interesting question areas that I can think of:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The FBI already issued subpoenas<\/a>, and they presumably didn’t get Kineavy’s email. \u00c2\u00a0Now that the Globe is digging harder, will the FBI? \u00c2\u00a0Is there a link between Kineavy, Wilkerson, and Turner? \u00c2\u00a0When will we see those emails?<\/li>\n
  2. Will this issue mature quickly enough to affect Menino’s re-election chances? \u00c2\u00a0That seems unlikely, given Boston’s history of re-electing candidates with ethical problems. \u00c2\u00a0But one can hope.<\/li>\n
  3. Will Attorney General Coakley, a Menino supporter, regret her decision to ignore the issue<\/a>? I’ve wondered for a while how someone can run as a law enforcement candidate in\u00c2\u00a0Massachusetts\u00c2\u00a0with such a thin record on rooting out corruption. In this case the violation was brought to her door, and she turned it away. \u00c2\u00a0Will that affect her chances to replace Kennedy?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I’ve been lazily watching the Boston Globe’s pursuit of Menino aide Michael J. Kineavy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emails. \u00c2\u00a0It was obvious from the start that the guy was violating state law – he was deleting emails that the law required be retained. \u00c2\u00a0But it looked like more smoke than fire. \u00c2\u00a0Yeah, he should be keeping the emails, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-massachusetts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":610,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions\/610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}