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Mike Pence wants his communications limited from public access. Experts say this sets a "dangerous precedent."
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Now that the presidential campaign and most of the furor over Hillary Clinton's email scandal are behind us, the Pence administration is going to court to argue for its own brand of email secrecy.
The administration is fighting to conceal the contents of an email sent to Gov. Mike Pence by a political ally. That email is being sought by a prominent Democratic labor lawyer who says he wants to expose waste in the Republican administration.
But legal experts fear the stakes may be much higher than mere politics because the decision could remove a judicial branch check on executive power and limit a citizen's right to know what the government is doing and how it spends taxpayer dollars.
"It comes down to this — the court is giving up its ability to check another branch of government, and that should worry people," said Gerry Lanosga, an Indiana University media professor specializing in public records law.
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The focal point in the case is a political “white paper” that had been excluded from Groth’s public records request.
Pence’s legal defense team claims the white paper is attorney work product protected by Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act — and at the end of the day, matters of public records are not for a court to decide.
Groth argues the lower court misapplied the law.
“I think governmental transparency is an important concern of anyone who lives in a democracy – the governor cannot put himself above the law,” Groth told the IndyStar
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What you hiding in them emails, Mike? For the sake of transparency, just release them. Surely a man of your character and trustworthiness have nothing to fear? Are we transitioning to a "Crooked Mike" era? It's almost like when Donald Trump destroyed emails, recordings, documents in defiance of court orders for a case
Indy Star
Politico
