Regardless of practice on personal computers, the commonweath had a duty to its citizens to save all email on the server until we could no longer be sued over actions that may have been discussed in them. It is a violation of federal law to delete them. We already know Romney and his team have no moral compass, but i would expect the IT department to work on the taxpayers' behalf more than the sitting governor's.

This sounded like something from the movies. Dispire the fact that they may or may not have something to hide, the IT should have a complete image of their sever.

Discredited Republican henchman Karl Rove used the same tactic with White House emails. Getting rid of emails is now a central part of the Republican dirty tricks playbook: Rove E-Mail Sought by Congress May Be Missing (Washington Post, April 13, 2007) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202408.html

Poor Deval. He has to jump through hoops to do his 'duty' to the DNC, to perform opposition research on behalf of his mentor, David Axelrod. Oh, boo hoo!

This pretty much proves that Romney ran in 2002 knowing he would not seek a second term in 2008. His only reason for seeking the Massachusetts governorship was to position his presidential aspirations.

Those emails are public records and were subject to the state's public records laws. Clearly, Romney didn't want to have the type of close scrutiny of his tenure as Governor that he is demanding of other public officials. This begs the question, "What is being hidden?" It will be interesting to see if any of those records were backed up on tapes somewhere. Time for some investigative journalism...

It sounds as if regular captures of server data, rather than waiting for the end of an administration, is the only way to secure the state's records.

This is a non-issue, because the actions are legal! Why dosen't the Globe investigate how the White House Communications Agency made tapes for Army General Chester "Ted" Clifton Jr, who was Kennedy's senior military aide and was in the Dallas motorcade when the president was assassinated? The media is now reporting "the long-lost Kennedy tapes are found!" Nonsense. The Kennedy tapes were never lost. The possession of the Kennedy tapes was a well kept family secret who was waiting for the day to announce their treasure and sell it for the right price. One half million dollars!

This is an egregious abuse of power. When we elect public officials, their business must be open to public scrutiny. If Romney destroyed all emails from 2002-2006 he and his staff should be prosecuted. Clearly they were trying to hide something. I don't care if this was a long-standing practice. If other governors also destroyed documents they should also be prosecuted.