O’Malley often used Gmail for Maryland business

Former-Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD), who has been loath to criticize Hillary Rodham Clinton for using her personal e-mail account to do government business while secretary of state, often used his own private gmail account when he was governor of Maryland to communicate with staff and Cabinet officials.

Aides said that O’Malley’s use of the account was not at an attempt at secrecy. The private e-mails were subject to the same state public records laws as O’Malley’s government account -- a point O’Malley himself alluded to during an appearance Wednesday at the Brookings Institution. “In our state, whether you used a personal e-mail or a public e-mail or a carrier pigeon, it was all a public record subject to disclosure,” O’Malley, who is weighing a 2016 White House bid, said in response to one of several questions from reporters about Clinton’s practices. Several other governors or former governors considering presidential runs have used private e-mail for government business, including Republicans Jeb Bush of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas. Public disclosure laws vary considerably among states.