By Kelly ShannonThe Associated PressAUSTIN – A Wisconsin man who says he decided to "mess with Texas" is waging war against Gov. Rick Perry's office because of its long-standing policy of deleting e-mails after seven days. Computer consultant John Washburn who lives near Milwaukee. Wis. says the electronic records should be available to anyone who wants them."It's not for the officials to decide what citizens can and cannot have access to," he said in a telephone interview Thursday. The battle began in early November when Washburn launched twice-weekly computer-generated requests to Perry's office asking for several days worth of government e-mails. Once such a request is filed the governor's office cannot legally delete the e-mails. Perry's office hesitated to provide the e-mails at first and asked for an attorney general's opinion but then agreed providing that Washburn paid for the cost of what it said was staff time spent sorting through which ones could be released. The bill came to $568 for the first four days of requested messages and by now. Washburn estimates totals close to $3,000."I thought I was wading at the shore but I hit the rip tide and now I'm in deep waters," said Washburn who has been active in seeking election records in Wisconsin for two years. When he got the bill. Washburn contacted the Texas attorney general to complain."We'll obviously review the complaint take a look at what led to the cost estimate," said Jerry Strickland a spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott. Washburn has contacted a lawyer for himself as well. Washburn said his strong feeling for public access to government records has its roots in America's colonial times when the king prevented citizens from making consent decisions."You're supposed to keep an eye on public officials," he said. Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said the governor's aides retain "official document" e-mails but that the office computer system automatically deletes e-mails every seven days including "transitory" messages such as those making lunch or dinner plans. That deletion policy has been in effect since George W. Bush was governor in the late 1990s. Castle said the charge assessed to Washburn is allowed by law and covers the staff work needed to look through the e-mails to see which ones are government documents and eligible for public view."It's a lot of work for 300 employees," she said. "It is taking up a lot of taxpayer time paid by taxpayer dollars."Castle said the staff is guided by a voluminous records retention policy."We trust that our employees will use their best judgment," she said. Washburn contends seven days is an "obnoxiously short" time for deleting e-mails and that they should be kept for at least a year. He said even seemingly casual e-mails could provide information on public business. The cost that can be charged for providing public documents is set out in state law and allows $15 per hour for locating compiling and reproducing requested records and 20 percent of that amount for overhead said Austin attorney Joel White former president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. A charge of $1 can be assessed for a CD-ROM. He said Washburn could try to get the fees reduced by working through the attorney general's office or pay the bill then sue the state. If he wins he could recover the money plus three times the amount paid. White said.
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