Vermont Supreme Court: Private emails of public officials subject to records requests

The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that the private email and text message accounts of public officials are subject to the state’s public records law, a decision hailed as a victory for advocates for government transparency.

The high-court’s unanimous decision Friday reverses a lower court ruling earlier this year that held that the private email accounts are protected from public release. The justices determined that exempting private accounts from the public records law would “encourage government officials to conduct the public’s business in private.”

“We conclude that the PRA’s (Public Records Act) definition of ‘public record’ includes digital documents stored in private accounts, but emphasize that it extends only to documents that otherwise meet the definition of public records,” the decision read.

The case decided by the court is Toensing v. the Attorney General of Vermont. The dispute centered on a request by Brady Toensing, the Vermont GOP vice chair, for public records related to campaign finance and pay-to-play allegations against former Attorney General William Sorrell.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/10/20/vermont-supreme-court-private-emails-public-officials-subject-records-requests/#.WerX4HZrzRY