Late North Dakota attorney general’s assistant resigns after emails wiped

Present Lawyer Normal Drew Wrigley mentioned he would not assume Liz Brocker did something criminally improper, however a media legal professional and the chief of the state Democratic Get together say the matter is unlucky.

Stenehjem, 68, a Republican, died Jan. 28 from cardiac arrest. About 24 hours after saying his dying, Brocker requested Stenehjem’s electronic mail account be deleted, in accordance with emails obtained Monday by The Bismarck Tribune.

“Very first thing Monday, might you’ve Wayne’s nd.gov electronic mail account shut down and the emails in his in field, in field folders, despatched objects – deleted,” Brocker wrote on Jan. 29 to the workplace’s data know-how/felony justice data providers director.

Brocker wrote that she and then-Chief Deputy Lawyer Normal Troy Seibel went in that day and deliberate to satisfy the following day. She mentioned she would seek for emails Stenehjem’s spouse, Beth, would possibly need and print them off. 

“We need to be sure nobody has a chance to make an Open Document request for his emails, particularly as he saved EVERYTHING. This was accepted by Troy,” Brocker wrote.

Extra paperwork requested by the Tribune present that Brocker instructed the workplace IT workers that his laptop computer could be delivered to them “for ‘wiping’ however to protect private data.”

The workplace IT workers moved photographs from the laptop computer onto a drive for Stenehjem’s household to make use of at his Feb. 3 funeral, in accordance with the data, which comprise a timeline.

The legal professional normal’s IT workers submitted a ticket Jan. 31 to the state IT Division to “Please delete Lawyer Normal Stenehjem’s electronic mail account. The deputy legal professional normal and his administrative assistant have already reviewed and retained what was wanted.”

North Dakota Newspaper Affiliation legal professional Jack McDonald referred to as the deletion “not state of affairs” however mentioned he would not assume Brocker was trying to cover “some important state secret.”

“I actually doubt whether or not there was an actual intent to violate any legislation. I feel there was simply an overzealousness and perhaps overprotectiveness,” McDonald mentioned.

Solely emails pertaining to state enterprise could be public data, in accordance with McDonald. Copies of the deleted emails would possibly nonetheless exist with the senders and recipients, he added. 

Wrigley and Deputy Claire Ness on Friday mentioned that they discovered in early July of Stenehjem’s and Seibel’s electronic mail accounts being deleted whereas processing a data request for the Tribune associated to a $1.8 million development price overrun on a leased constructing in south Bismarck.

Gov. Doug Burgum in February appointed Wrigley to finish the remaining months of Stenehjem’s time period. Wrigley should win election over Democrat Tim Lamb in November to proceed serving past 2022.

Seibel resigned in mid-March after Wrigley instructed him he deliberate to call his personal chief deputy, which Wrigley mentioned was “customary” for altering management.

Seibel instructed the Tribune on Friday that he would not recall a dialog about Stenehjem’s electronic mail account. Seibel additionally mentioned he had no management over how his electronic mail account was dealt with after he resigned.

He didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Monday on Brocker’s late-January emails.

The Tribune emailed Brocker early Monday for remark however obtained a response that she was not within the workplace and didn’t have entry to electronic mail. The Tribune then requested the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace for data concerning Brocker’s standing.

Brocker resigned Friday in a letter to Wrigley and Ness, saying, “You’ve been very understanding and affected person as we now have labored collectively through the transition, however I imagine we each now acknowledge that we are going to not obtain the shut working relationship that’s important between the legal professional normal and his govt assistant.”

She had been with the workplace 21 years.

Her letter didn’t point out the e-mail state of affairs. However in one other letter dated Friday, she outlined how she had full entry to Stenehjem’s and Seibel’s accounts and sometimes dealt with the previous’s emails. 

“After Wayne’s dying, throughout a dialogue with Troy, he directed that Wayne’s electronic mail account needs to be deleted. I relayed the instruction to IT,” Brocker wrote within the letter that Wrigley mentioned was unprompted after a dialogue between them.

Wrigley declined to debate Brocker, saying “the report responses are talking for themselves.”

An announcement Friday from Wrigley’s workplace mentioned Stenehjem’s “total state electronic mail account” was deleted Jan. 31 — days earlier than his Feb. 3 funeral — “on the instruction of a nonsupervisory, non-attorney worker of the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace who acknowledged the motion was accepted by then-Deputy Lawyer Normal Seibel.”

Wrigley mentioned Seibel gave verbal approval to the worker, who relayed it to IT workers. 

Seibel’s total electronic mail account was deleted Could 23 “on the instruction of the identical nonsupervisory, non-attorney worker of the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace,” in accordance with the workplace. 

Wrigley on Friday mentioned the deletion was finished “with out authorization.”

Seibel’s emails had been “culled by way of extensively to see whether or not there have been unfastened ends, some work, some follow-up that wanted to be finished,” a type of “triaging” that ended after two weeks, concluding with the account’s deletion, Wrigley mentioned.

Brocker directed the workplace IT workers to delete Seibel’s account “throughout an oral dialog and (this) was not approved by any Lawyer Normal’s Workplace personnel,” in accordance with the timeline doc.

The report states that workplace IT workers then submitted a ticket to the IT division to “Please take away the shared mailbox with Liz Brocker after which delete the e-mail account.” 

That report additional outlines that Brocker round July 5 “confirmed she directed the deletion of the e-mail accounts” of Stenehjem and Seibel. 

“Ms. Brocker was requested what authority she might provide for ordering the deletion of (Seibel’s) account, and she or he didn’t present any,” the timeline doc states. 

Wrigley final week declined to say whether or not the one who ordered the deletion of the accounts was disciplined, citing an “inside personnel matter,” however mentioned he would disclose these particulars “finally.” 

He mentioned he and Ness did categorical their “shock and disappointment” to the worker. 

Wrigley mentioned Friday that the deleted accounts deliver no “authorized implications” for any pending data requests and no violations of workplace coverage. He mentioned his workplace will formalize a coverage for preserving the emails of the legal professional normal, deputy and workplace division administrators. 

He mentioned he “noticed no proof of what I’d name a nasty intent or a nefarious intent” within the accounts’ deletion. He additionally mentioned he noticed “no indication of something that might lead me to conclude that there would have to be an outdoor felony investigation.”

He reiterated that time Monday, saying there have been no open data requests on the time of the deletions and no proof of the deletions being finished to cover wrongdoing.

He mentioned his workplace evaluated “intent parts,” and noticed nothing to warrant potential felony prices.

“I haven’t got any proof of some nefarious act of wrongdoing,” mentioned Wrigley, who declined to elaborate.

He mentioned “this matter is closed from what we all know proper now.”

Democratic-NPL Get together Chairman Patrick Hart mentioned in a press release, “This isn’t a shock to anybody who has made an open data request from Ms. Brocker previously, a lot so she’s earned the nickname ‘Liz Blocker.’

“If we need to see change in our state authorities we now have to begin voting for folks with integrity, which is one thing we’ve not seen from the GOP in fairly a while,” Hart mentioned.