Fines sought against Mo. governor over records law

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Special court-appointed investigators are seeking fines against Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, alleging he "knowingly and purposely violated the Sunshine Law" by denying access to e-mails.

The request for penalties are outlined in a revised lawsuit against Blunt, his former chief of staff and others. A bipartisan pair of assistant attorneys general asked the court Wednesday for permission to file the amended lawsuit. The updated suit was made public Thursday.

The lawsuit raises the strongest assertions yet in a yearlong e-mail deletion controversy surrounding the Republican governor, who chose not to seek re-election and has barely a month left in his term.

It alleges Blunt and his attorneys have denied access to e-mails requested by the investigators by raising objections, refusing to produce some documents and demanding "excessive" amounts of money for them.

"As a result, the office of governor and the governor have knowingly and purposely violated the Sunshine Law," the lawsuit says while asking that fines and penalties be levied against the governor's office.

The lawsuit also claims knowing or purposeful Sunshine Law violations by Blunt's former chief of staff, Ed Martin, for asserting he had no e-mails sought under a media Sunshine Law request made in August 2007. Martin's response indicates he had deleted the e-mails, the lawsuit says.

"In fact, e-mails were available from back-up tapes," the lawsuit states, but the governor's office did not ask state computer technicians to search the back-up e-mail files.

Missouri law allows fines of up to $1,000 against public officials and governmental bodies found by a court to have "knowingly" violated the Sunshine Law. Fines of up to $5,000 are allowed for those found to have "purposely" violated the open-records law.

A Blunt spokeswoman said Thursday that the investigative team was "struggling to develop any coherent case," which she said was evidenced by "its eleventh-hour effort" to add Martin as a defendant while dismissing three other Blunt administration officials.

Those dismissed as defendants were administration commissioner Larry Schepker, former deputy administration commissioner Rich AuBuchon and state computer chief Dan Ross.

Blunt's attorneys also have asked the court to dismiss the governor as a defendant while rebuffing deposition requests from the court-appointed attorneys, former Democratic Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell and Republican attorney Louis Leonatti.

The investigators are seeking to take Blunt's deposition Dec. 11 in Jefferson City.