Iowa’s governor doesn’t seem to understand what a smartphone is or how e-mail works

Gov Terry Branstad (R-IA) has insisted for years that doesn’t own a smartphone or use e-mail. That’s what he has staff for -- to e-mail, to tweet, to Instagram, to Facebook on his behalf. But in what local papers are portraying as a gotcha moment, it was discovered that Gov Branstad indeed gets e-mails on his personal BlackBerry. The flap -- which is nowhere near Hillary Clinton dimensions -- has now morphed into a bizarre debate over what e-mail actually is. On March 27, the governor continued to deny that receiving e-mail on your phone constitutes an act of e-mail. “These Des Moines Register accusations are just false,” he told KCCI 8. “The fact is I don’t have an e-mail address. I don’t send e-mails. I don’t get e-mails.”

Communications director Jimmy Centers explained that there exists a special Gmail account solely for him to send the governor news clips. “The staff maintains the e-mail account,” he said. “There was no state business conducted. These are simply news articles.” Centers continues to insist that Gov Branstad does not use e-mail. But checking your e-mail on your phone counts as using e-mail. Receiving e-mails from your staff counts as using e-mail. Sending accidental e-mails with your Blackberry counts as using e-mail. It doesn’t seem that Gov Branstad accepts those definitions.