Political Hacks and Techies

It looks like the Governor has taken another vacation at tax payer expense while the kids have screwed up once again.

From Pol Watchers:

FRANKFORT — Key members of Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s staff made conflicting statements today about the possible inappropriate release of old phone messages left for a top aide of former Gov. Paul Patton………

Fletcher press secretary Jodi Whitaker said today she has "no idea" who released the documents to Hall, who has access to the documents, where the documents originated or when they were first discovered.

When asked if anyone in the governor's office could answer those questions or was trying to find answers to those questions, she replied that "no one is looking into it that I'm aware of."

However, Fletcher’s general counsel, David Fleenor, confirmed today that he "is in possession" of at least some of the phone messages.

Luallen’s spokesman, Jeff Derouen, also confirmed today that the governor's office provided Luallen with a copy of a database containing thousands of phone messages on Monday.

If the Attorney General really wants to know where the leak came from they need to talk to the six guys listed below. The folks on the Governor’s staff do not have the technical expertise to produce this type of information.

That expertise lies in the Commonwealth’s Office of Technology. These are the same guys that couldn’t find Ernie’s old emails when he was raping the merit system.

But the do seem to be able to find what they want when it serves a political purpose,

Michael Inman, the former commissioner of the Commonwealth Office of Technology, told the Herald-Leader in an interview that he witnessed -- as well as heard his then-deputy, Mark Rutledge, brag about --at least one cabinet secretary calling to review certain employees' e-mail accounts to check on their loyalties.

So if I really wanted the answers to where the info came from and who gave the orders then I’d make life difficult for these guys.

Mark Rutledge, Commissioner
Rick Boggs, Deputy Commissioner
Toby Whitehouse, Chief Security Officer
Jim Barnhart, Executive Director, Office of Infrastructure Services
Brad Watkins, Director, Division of Communications

And
Tom Ferree, Former Deputy Commissioner