Colorado Court Blocks Release of Ex-County Officials' Intimate E-Mails

The Colorado Supreme Court blocked the release of hundreds of romantic or sexually explicit e-mails between a former clerk and an employee, ruling Monday they were not public record. The Rocky Mountain News and Arapahoe County commissioners had sought the release of the e-mails, arguing they were public record because they were written on county computers. The court decided the e-mails were exempt from Colorado's open records law because they dealt with their private lives, not public business.

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The Colorado Supreme Court blocked the release of hundreds of romantic or sexually explicit e-mails between the former Arapahoe County, Colo., clerk and an employee, ruling Monday they were not public record. The Rocky Mountain News and Arapahoe County commissioners had sought the release of the e-mails, arguing they were public record because they were written on county computers. The Supreme Court decided the e-mails between former clerk Tracy Baker and his deputy and girlfriend, Leesa Sale, were exempt from Colorado’s open records law because they dealt with their private lives, not public business. “The only discernible purpose of disclosing the content of these messages is to shed light on the extent of Baker and Sales’ fluency with sexually explicit terminology and to satisfy the prurient interests of the press and the public,” the ruling said. The case returns to the Colorado Court of Appeals to decide which e-mails fall within the legal definition of public records under Colorado law. Officials of the Rocky Mountain News and the Arapahoe County attorney’s office didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Voters recalled Baker in 2004 and Sale resigned. The Supreme Court’s ruling overturns two lower courts. A district court ruled in 2003 that all the e-mails should be released. The Colorado Court of Appeals later ruled that Baker and Sale had a limited expectation that their e-mails would be private and knew they were subject to county review. Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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