Public information officer's advice: Shred the letter to Easley

A note attached to a letter in a file at the state Department of Transportation offers a startling instruction: Shred this after reading, the note says.

The letter is dated Nov. 29, 2007, and was sent to then-Gov. Mike Easley from his friend, then-Southport Mayor Norman Holden. At the time, Holden had an unusual, $19,800-a-year contract as a liaison for DOT and he was winding down his duties as mayor in Easley's hometown. The letter was sent on city of Southport stationery.

In the letter, Holden updated Easley, a Democrat, on several matters, including that Republicans were behind the new mayor and some new people on the town board of aldermen — and they would be relying on then-Rep. Bonner Stiller, a Republican, for "contacts, legislative issues, and grants."

"I have been informed my assistance will not be needed or necessary," Holden wrote to Easley. He added: "As you well know Bonner, he speaks only to serve himself and republicans."

(Stiller, who left the state House last year, denied that characterization of him, saying he aimed to serve all people in his district and that he broke ranks with Republicans on several issues, including approving the state lottery, if he felt it's what folks in his area wanted. Stiller and Holden are neighbors in Southport.)

Holden also relayed to the governor that developers at Bald Head Island, the private and exclusive development across the Cape Fear River from Southport, were having difficulty with DOT on an issue. "I think the problem is mainly coming from our Brunswick County Engineer. We have had several problems with her," Holden wrote.

He said he hoped to see Easley over the upcoming holidays, and indicated he would stay on in the DOT job until Easley left office. "Thanks for everything," he wrote.

The letter was mailed to the governor's office in Raleigh, and was routed to the head of communications and public information at DOT at the time, Ernie Seneca.

Seneca carried the letter to Vicki Stanley, a secretary in the top offices at DOT.

Stanley gave the letter to Dan DeVane, DOT's deputy secretary, and the overseer of Holden's liaison contract.

But Stanley also put a note on the letter for DeVane.

"From Ernie — ," she wrote, "advises that you shred this after reading."

DeVane, who could not be reached, did not follow the advice. The letter was in a folder in DeVane's files. (The letter is attached below, as is a description of the Bald Head Island problem.)

Seneca said in an interview that he had no recollection of the circumstances or what happened. "I just don't remember any of that," he said. He repeated that answer in response to several questions, such as whether he had done that before or since.

Asked if he thought it was a problem to have issued advice to shred a public document, he would not respond.

"It's not something I remember doing," he said.

UPDATE: After reading this blog post, Seneca called with more information. He said he would not have ordered the document shredded "unless I was told by someone else." Seneca said that, to the best of his recollection, he received the document directly from Easley's press office with the explicit instruction to destroy the document. He said he passed those instructions on. 

Seneca has been in the news in the past related to the destruction of public records. In 2008, The News & Observer reported that Seneca had been deleting nearly all of his e-mail messages daily. He acknowledged deleting e-mails a second time — in his computer trash bin — to be sure the messages were zapped.

After the news broke, DOT then issued a memo to its 9,500 employees, telling them it was OK to delete messages when they "no longer have reference value."

The N&O filed a lawsuit against Easley over the destruction of records, and it is pending.

Since then, Easley's former press secretary has testifed that the governor wanted e-mail messages to and from his office deleted so they would not become public.

Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat, has issued an executive order that says no e-mail can be deleted within 24 hours and that also requires agencies to back-up e-mail messages daily.

The lawsuit has been focused on destruction of e-mail messages, and not
the possible shredding of other documents, such as the Holden letter.

Seneca said his advice to shred is clearly unusual. "It would not have been a typical thing," he said. "I don't remember any other instances, or this one."

Seneca is now overseeing public information for the state's Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, which includes the state Highway Patrol.

Stanley refused an interview. Stanley said through a DOT spokeswoman that she doesn't recall receiving advice to shred something at other times. She said the Nov. 2007 occurrence was unusual enough that she still remembers it happening, according to the spokeswoman.

Frayda Bluestein, an expert on the records laws at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Government, said the document is clearly a public record. State law gives the government records branch in the Department of Cultural Resources authority to say when something can be destroyed. Retention schedules range from when a document's "reference value ends" to five years or more.

She could not say how long the document should have been kept.

Mike Tadych, a media lawyer who represents the N.C. Press Association and has handled cases for The N&O, said a public information officer should not offer advice to destroy a record as soon as it is read.

"Certainly, a record from the mayor of Southport to the governor about the topics covered has a reference value longer than even 24 hours," he said.

Media advocates say the "reference value" policy is a troubling one because the value of a document is in the eye of the beholder. In one past case, a simple thank you note was evidence of a bribe, and led to thousands of dollars being repaid to the state.

— J. Andrew Curliss

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