Deleted messages raising accountability concerns in Maryland governor’s admin

FILE PHOTO: Maryland Governor Wes Moore gestures on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 21, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

In deep blue Maryland, some top officials in Democratic Gov. Wes Moore's administration have, at times, been using the platform Google Chat for communications. The program offers a "history is off" option, which automatically deletes messages permanently after 24 hours. And according to Baltimore Banner reporters Brenda Wintrode and Pamela Wood, the use of that function within parts of the Moore Administration is raising "accountability" concerns.

In an article published on December 19, Wintrode and Wood report, "Hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The Banner through the state's public records law showed dozens of message threads created on the state's Google Chat platform with the 'history is off' function activated…. The messages were heavily redacted, but the ones that weren't indicated that the officials were discussing the federal government shutdown and congressional redistricting, among other state-related topics."

The Baltimore Banner reporters add, "State law requires every 'unit of the state government' to have policies spelling out which records need to be saved and which don't. The Office of the Governor does not have a policy."

According to Wintrode and Wood, "open-government experts and archivists" told The Banner that "setting messages to vanish could hinder accountability, dash the public's right to inspection and keep archivists from reviewing documents for historical value."

Arian Ravanbakhsh, an expert on digital records and former U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) official, told the Baltimore Banner, "If that's how you're conducting business, there is a responsibility inherent in a democracy that those records are being managed and preserved."

Moore's office, however, is defending his administration's use of the "history is off" option with Google Chat.

In a December 19 post on X, formerly Twitter, Wood noted, "The governor's office told The Banner it 'complies fully with all Maryland records laws and retention policies.' When we pressed for details, the governor's office said it was working with the AG on a records retention policy."

Read Brenda Wintrode and Pamela Wood's full article for The Baltimore Banner at this link (subscription required).

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