Question about rationale for using RNC email server....

[LiberalHeart]

Something I don't understand about use of the RNC email servers:

BushCO says the RNC computers were put in place because folks aren't supposed to use government equipment while conducting political activities.

Okay, fine -- but shouldn't the WH itself be off-limits for conducting partisan political activities? If we go for purity, shouldn't it be the place where elected officials and their staff conduct business for the people, all the people, with partisan political activities conducted off-site?

And don't the desk and chair where people sit while switching from one computer to another fall into the category of equipment? Technically, shouldn't they have to trot outside, off the people's property, to send those emails on the RNC servers?

And isn't there any problem with them sending those emails on the people's dime? Aren't those hours spent at work, doing the people's work, supposed to be the time we pay them to work for us? If we have people flip-flopping from one computer to another all day long, doesn't that indicate they're doing political work all day long rather than attending to what they're supposed to be doing?

If we look at the pre-RNC-computer rules, it seems the intent of those rules is to keep partisan political activities out of the work day. But rather than comply with that, BushCo looked at the rules as a way to circumvent those other rules re retaining documents. It's as if a rule put in place to clean up government was used as an excuse to get around complying with another rule aimed at preserving a record of what our prez, vp, and staff are doing for and to us.

Thus, my question:

Wouldn't what the WH folks did be akin to my going to the my office at, say, Widget Manufacturing, and spending the day in my company-supplied building, in my company-supplied office, at my company-supplied desk, in my company-supplied chair, switching back and forth between the company-supplied computer on which I performed company work -- and my personal PC, from which I emailed back and forth with Democratic activists and operatives all day long, meanwhile getting my full pay from the company?

[BuyingThyme]

1. Well, they're not telling the truth, you know.

If there's one place on earth -- and I don't think I'm exaggerating the point -- if there's one place on earth where political goings on should not be permitted, it's within the upper echelons of the U.S. Justice Department.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. The answer: what they were doing, and the intent, is obvious.

They should not be spending their time at the WH, taxpayer paid, doing RNC/Republican work.

They should not be using RNC email to do their WH/government work.

Obviously these people view both as one and the same, and were merely trying to use both sets of resources for maximal shielding from disclosure. Hopefully it's coming to bite them in the ass now.

[peacetalksforall]

4. I think we, the taxpayers, should prepare and present a bill. Anyone

know how who would know how to go about calculating what the bill should be? We should get our money back from the RNC and the whatever Dept handles Compensation. It's time to take back the chutzpah. It's time send 'a message' - something they understand.

[jimshoes]

13. If you had the chance to look at

any of the recent document dumps coming from the likes of Kyle Sampson and those with whom he'd been e-mailing, you may get an idea of the amount of time put in to bolster their case for usurping the DOJ and firing those US Attorneys, not to mention the missing 5 million e-mails.

[shraby]

3. My sentiments exactly..

if they are on the government dime during the day, they have no business doing political work, therefore there was no need for RNC laptops, etc. in the White House at all. Those activities should have been conducted after work hours, on lunch breaks if taken away from the White House and on their days off...period.
One other question, where was the IT department for the White House back-up system when it wasn't operational? They should have recognized there was a problem and fixed it BEFORE 5 million emails went missing. They need to be called in and questioned about this.

[Captain Angry]

5. You left out the network.

Unless they had

separate LAN cables that went to
separate switches that went to
separate routers that went to
separate internet service providers

Then they were using government wires, switches, routers, and internet hookups for personal business.

[LiberalHeart]

7. Oh, my goodness, you're right!

[TripleD]

9. Wouldn't the documents be captured on WH servers then?

Otherwise they are saying they set up a shadow communications infrastructure on government property?

[Captain Angry]

12. I haven't followed the details closely enough to be sure...

But, if the emails missing are from the RNC, there is no reason to expect any storing of that information anywhere else but the RNC.

If these are eop.gov/internal emails, then the email servers and backup systems would be government property.

To use email from the RNC at the White House would be no different than you using MSN or GMail from work. There is no reason to capture and store the data going through your company's network on the way to MSN or Gmail.

The RNC COULD store all information, but most of the users probably download the email from the server to their system rather than reading the copy on the server itself. Many systems are set up such that downloading the email to your system deletes the server side copy. There is nothing to back up and nothing to store since you have it now. If you lose an email, you can contact the person who sent it and ask them to check the "sent items" folder in their email program for the original and have them resend it. But if you delete your sent items every 30-365 days, there is no record.

So, it is very easy to delete an email permanently depending on the infrastructure used.

I don't think the RNC had actual hardware onsite at the White House as far as the email server itself goes. They probably sent it all offsite to the RNC. And if the RNC admin is worth a darn, that stuff would have been gone in the normal course of doing business. Storing 5,000,000 emails would be unbelievable. Attachments of documents, photos, sound clips, video clips and such would make for HUGE storage required to keep it on the server side. So, I doubt that stuff is around.

There is nothing malicious about deleting emails every so often and not having a copy.

There is something malicious about doing government business on unsecured servers just to avoid the Records Act.

[Robbien]

6. Remember when they made Clinton go use the private quarter phones

for fund raising activities. Eh. That was back when the Hatch Act was enforced.

Now the only time a person is brought up on Hatch Act charges, that person is a Democrat.

[yy4me]

8. Your point is valid. We'd all be fired if caught doing the same

thing on our company's time.

BTW, say we charged them a reasonable per/hour rate of pay for the senders of those 5,000,000 missing e-mails, what would the bill be? Bet I could pay off my mortgage and take a very long vacation, come back and put a much needed roof on my house. I'd still have tons of $$$ left over.

[TripleD]

10. Of course they are full of shit

They didn't install this network at the White House to get around the Hatch Act. Sure, you can't use government computers, but you can't use a government office while on government time either.


Installing computers for supposed "political purposes" at official's desks would encourage violations of the Hatch Act.

[LiberalHeart]

11. Yep, and would those computers be considered a reportable gift?

Can the RNC just hand the WH a bunch of computers and nobody bats an eye? (Or did the WH pay for them -- and if so, with whose money?)

If they were just a loan, wouldn't that mean the RNC could take them back and have access to all manner of WH docs?