Personal Emails Kitzhaber’s Staff Ordered Deleted Were with His Family and Attorneys

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The emails outgoing Governor John Kitzhaber’s assistant inquired about deleting from the state mail server Feb. 5 were between the governor, his family and his attorneys.

A report surfaced Feb. 12 that Kitzhaber’s assistant, Jan Murdock, had inquired with Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) staff about removing thousands of emails from the state server.

The emails, from one of the governor’s personal accounts, became what political commentors called the “nail in the coffin” for Kitzhaber’s governorship.

“A daisy chain of auto-forwarding,” saw the personal emails end up in the public database unintentionally, according to DAS spokesperson Matt Shelby.

Sources close to the Governor, who is facing state and federal criminal investigations, said Kitzhaber made a move to have the emails associated with his personal account deleted from the server because they contained correspondence with or regarding his son and personal contacts. Emails between Kitzhaber and his legal staff were also on the server. The request for removal came three days after Willamette Week filed a public records request for the same emails, raising suspicion.

"We were primed to think the worst," said Pacific University Professor and Political Analyst Jim Moore.

A Gmail for state business

When Kitzhaber took office for his third term in 2011, he began using the address [email protected] for state business. To comply with public records statutes, those emails were automatically forwarded to his state email account, and stored in the state’s data center. Why Kitzhaber used a gmail account is unclear.

Somewhere along the way, Shelby said, the governor’s personal email accounts were set to automatically forward to that gmail account.

“As a result, anything that hits [ [email protected] ] is on a fast track to the state server,” Shelby said. All emails stored in the state’s data center constitute public record.

“The horrible problem with a lot of these systems is that gmail allows you to integrate accounts,” said Janaka Jayawardena, IT Director at Portland State University’s College of Engineering . “It may be difficult to know what you’re actually doing when you’re configuring your mail if you’re not tech savvy.”

Emails to, from and regarding Kitzhaber have been the subject of dozens of public records requests since July, 2014.

When a user is setting up mail on a smartphone, importing data from a pre-existing phone, or adding a new account or update, he or she can inadvertently configure forwarding. Jawardena said he never consolidates his email accounts on a mobile device because each account serves a different purpose.

“In the IT world this is a problem, the technology really unfortunately pushes you to make these mistakes out of convenience,” Jawardena said.

When staff learned about the emails, there was already “a bunch of stuff” on the server, said Shelby. The archiving mechanism cannot be controlled by the IT department. Rather, the forwarding must be turned off by the owner of the email account.

Shelby said the DAS was working with the governor’s office to bring the matter to their attention and correct it in February. During that time frame, he said, a staff member from the governor’s office called the IT help desk asking to remove emails, Shelby said.

That staff member notified his superior.

“He did what he should have done and elevate it,” Shelby said. The same day, the matter reached DAS Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan.

“In this environment, I get where someone could easily jump to the conclusion, but the reality of the situation is that we stumbled upon an issue where we were collecting more than we should have been,” said Shelby.

Currently, the governor’s office is reviewing the emails, one by one, but none have been removed so far.

Dangers of syncing accounts

Replying to email on a smartphone can also trigger unintended effects, particularly if the mail application is synched to several accounts.

“It’s one program pretending to be four versions of me with four mailboxes, and I have to pick which identity I’m sending that mail as,” Jawardena said.

He said the rise of Google has hit corporations and government agencies because corporate email systems, such as Outlook, are harder to use and more difficult to access remotely than Gmail. Email accounts ending in @oregon.gov use the Microsoft Outlook suite.

Wednesday, when Kitzhaber’s resignation comes into effect, Secretary of State Kate Brown will be sworn in as Oregon’s next governor.