Nixon made zero calls from public cellphone in '14

I was wrong.

In a recent column I hinted that the state of Missouri was evading my Sunshine Law request by not providing records of calls and texts made from the governor's cellphone. I thought the state was using lawyer tricks, trying to give me some information, hoping I wouldn't get all the information. I thought the state was playing games.

For the state employees who worked to fulfill that records request, I apologize.

So let the record show the state indeed complied with my request. The state was, in retrospect, very transparent about its opacity.

The reason the state provided no numbers of phone calls made to or from the governor's cellphone, and the reason the state provided no numbers on texts sent or received was because there were none. No logs exist because no calls were made.

You read that right.

In the year 2014, the year Ferguson erupted, the year the governor faced a huge tax cut bill by the Republicans that forced him to slash education funding, mental-health funding and the privatization (and reduction in services) of a long-term children's mental-health residential facility, the governor made zero phone calls on his state-issued cellphone, a Blackberry on an AT&T plan. It costs about $30 per month.

I hope you can understand my confusion. When I asked for billing information, including phone numbers placed, corresponding times, etc., I had assumed the governor actually used the cellphone our tax dollars pay for. My mistake. When the office administration sent me the record, I wasn't looking at the partial record of something. I was looking at a complete record of nothing. Also for the record, the state still has not provided a bill with AT&T letterhead. It was explained that the phone company sends the data to the office of administration, which then distributes the bill to the departments. What I received is all they have, apparently.

Let me bring you up to speed if you haven't been following my coverage of the governor's transparency and communication practices in the past few weeks.

Curious that I found no correspondence directly to or from the governor in some 11,000 emails regarding the privatization of Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center for children, I followed up with questions as to how the governor communicates, if he's not included in communications from his communications staff.

I was met at first with runaround, so I started asking more questions, which led to a governor staffer finally telling me that the governor does not use any form of electronic written communication for public business. This includes text, email and instant messaging.

The governor has to be a busy man, I reasoned, with many people reporting to him; he's on the road a lot, even out of country, and he must be able to act swiftly during the busy moments at the end of each session or during emergencies. It seemed incredible that a man of his stature and importance wouldn't use email or text, for Google sake. So I set out to confirm this statement, because I didn't believe it.

Now we must add this oddity to the governor's communication style: He doesn't make calls from his cell, either.

Here are some other tidbits I learned along the way: While Nixon was attorney general, he used two cellphones, one for public business, one for campaign purposes. Also during that time, he had two email addresses, one with the regular naming convention and the other for inner circle communication. The governor's office has no written policy on how it is to use email, though I suspect an unwritten one exists. The tone and content of our Cottonwood Sunshine request was too void of opinion, conjecture, humor and criticism to be unintentional. Email was used almost exclusively as a means to pass along documents. There is a policy, I'm certain. But like seemingly everything else Nixon, there is no record of it.

In 2014, the governor sent exactly two emails from his public email address (actually it was the same email sent twice, a link shared to a staffer). His office says the governor has no other email address from the state, and he doesn't use private email to conduct business.

So now we are left with some obvious questions:

• Why does the governor not use a cellphone provided by the state?
• If Gov. Nixon doesn't use his state-issued phone to call, text or email, why does he have one?
• Does the governor communicate directly, with anyone, at all, while away from his office in Jefferson City?
• Does he have another cellphone? And if so, is he using that phone to conduct business?
• If yes, then why? And how much? Is he retaining records? And if so, how do I or other media outlets obtain those records?

The governor placed not one phone call from his cell to let someone know he was sick or running late (and politicians are always running late). Not one call was placed to someone to tell him plans have changed. Not once did he call a secretary to double-check a schedule. No calls to his chief of staff to relay orders. No calls to his press secretary. Not a call to say, "thanks." No calls to anyone from the National Guard, Ferguson officials.

The man lives in a vacuum.

Another curious point. There were no calls placed to his public cellphone either. This means that his inner circle knows not to use that number.

So what does this mean?

It means that I've hit a dead end. It means that if the governor is conducting public business on a private cellphone, I have no way of requesting records. It means that if the governor is using a cellphone, he's intentionally not using one that leaves a trail. It means that if he's using a private cellphone, he could be striking any kind of deal with any kind of person and we'll have no record with whom he's negotiating. It means that if he's using a different phone or a different email address to conduct public business, he'd better be giving such communications to his custodian of records or he's breaking the law.

A few weeks ago I asked a very direct question to one of Nixon's key communication staff members.

I wrote, "Can you tell me how many cellphones the governor uses and for what type of business they are used? In other words, does the governor use an official state-authorized phone separate from his personal phone? Does he have a phone that is used for campaign purposes?"

To which Nixon's paid staffer replied, "He does not use his state phone for campaign purposes."

Now see, there you go. Nothing but truth; transparent as mud.