INDIANAPOLIS (AP)
-- Vice President Mike Pence has turned over emails from private AOL.com
accounts he used to conduct official business while he was Indiana’s
governor.
The state’s public
records law generally requires state officials to preserve and make
available correspondence or documents related to state business, with some
exemptions. But Pence waited months to hand over the records -- and only did
so after his use of the private accounts was widely reported.
Attorneys for the
vice president notified current Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office in July
that an electronic database containing the emails was handed over, Holcomb
spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said.
"We delivered to
you a complete electronic production of state records that were in the
custody of Vice President Pence from during the time that he served as
governor,” attorney Karoline E. Jackson wrote in an email to the Republican
governor’s office. The email states that Pence’s attorneys also provided
guidance on emails and documents they believe could be withheld from
release.
Pence has touted
himself as a champion of a free press and the First Amendment, though he
repeatedly stonewalled public records requests as governor, often delaying
their release if not denying them outright.
Pence’s AOL account
was subjected to a phishing scheme in spring 2016, before Trump chose him to
join the Republican presidential ticket. Pence’s contacts were sent an email
falsely claiming that the governor and his wife were stranded in the
Philippines and needed money.
The hacking of
Pence’s private emails have led some to raise questions of hypocrisy after
he frequently attacked Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail over her own
email use. He argued Clinton’s use of a private server when she was
secretary of state could have jeopardized national security if her emails
got into the wrong hands.
But Pence spokesman
Marc Lotter has said charges of hypocrisy are unfair because there is a big
difference between the Secretary of State’s correspondence about sensitive
national matters and business conducted by a governor through a private
emails address.
Holcomb’s office
for months has been grappling with a backlog of roughly 50 public records
requests from activists, political groups and news organizations, including
The Associated Press. Some are more than a year old and most are seeking
emails from Pence’s private accounts.
Pence provided 13
boxes containing paper copies of the emails in March when news of his use of
the AOL.com accounts first drew scrutiny. But Holcomb’s office said at the
time that there were more emails that had yet to be provided. And Holcomb’s
office also sought electronic access to the emails, so they could be
searched and reviewed much more easily.
The state hired the
Indiana law firm McNeely Stephenson in May to handle the crush of requests,
entering a contract that could cost taxpayers as much as $100,000.