NY Gov Cuomo Administration Ends 90-Day Rule on Deleting State Workers’ E-mail

After widespread criticism, Gov Andrew M. Cuomo’s (D-NY) administration ended a policy of automatically deleting New York State employees’ e-mails after 90 days. Moving forward, e-mail deletion will be “entirely manual,” said Alphonso B. David, the governor’s counsel. The decision was a rare reversal for an administration that is generally not inclined to concede in response to criticism. The deletion policy attracted condemnation over the winter, with government watchdog groups and some lawmakers arguing that the speedy deletion of e-mails destroyed public records and undermined transparency. Though the state had adopted the policy for state agencies in 2013, it came under particular scrutiny this year as the state finished rolling out a centralized e-mail system and applied the policy in a consistent manner. The outcry reached a high point in March, with several lawmakers unveiling legislation to require the preservation of e-mails. Gov Cuomo’s administration has long had a reputation for secrecy, and the deletion policy only added to that image.