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William Galvin, secretary of state and chairman of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, is shown during 2013 visit to the region.

(File photo / Don Treeger)

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin has a four decade career in public service, and currently runs the state department which oversees corporate filings, elections and enforcement of the state's public records law.

He is also, apparently, an email skeptic.

Galvin has no work email address and conducts all state business by phone, by letter or by having staff monitor the Secretary of the Commonwealth's general account, spokesman Brian McNiff said in an interview.

"He doesn't have one. He does business without an email account," McNiff said."It's not mysterious."

Requesting the emails of public officials is a tool frequently used by journalists, attorneys and citizen activists to monitor government activity. Those emails are generally considered public record under the law, with specific exceptions including attorney-client advice, some personnel records and files that could compromise ongoing investigations.

Anyone can request records, including emails, from a public agency, who must respond within 10 calendar days. If they fail to do so or deny the request, the decision can be appealed to the Supervisor of Public Records - an employee of Galvin's who does, McNiff says, have an email address.

But anyone curious about Galvin's written communications will have a harder time of it - a fact Bay State Examiner cofounder Andrew Quemere found out last week.

Quemere, a public records gadfly who writes a column on government transparency for Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, requested "the most recent email sent by each of Secretary William Galvin's email accounts that is not exempt from disclosure" in July, he told MassLive in an email.

It was a small and undramatic request, simply designed to learn Galvin's email address for future reference, Quemere wrote.

The response he got surprised him.

"Hello Mr. Quemere, Secretary Galvin does not have an email account," the response said. Quemere posted a screenshot of the email on Twitter, expressing incredulity that the head of the state's public records agency does not have an email address.

"I can't say why Galvin doesn't use email. Maybe he wants to keep his conversations private or maybe he's just too old school for it--but in any case, I thought it was pretty funny," Quemere wrote in an email. "After all, requesting emails is a great method for seeing what public officials are up to, and Secretary Galvin is responsible for oversight of the public records law."

McNiff, a Secretary for the Commonwealth spokesman, said Galvin's lack of an email account does not affect his performance or ability to communicate with staff.

"There are many ways to do it. Other people's accounts. Telephone," McNiff said. "If he has official communications, they're in letters."

Massachusetts lawmakers passed changes to the state's public records law this year, following persistent criticism that the state's approach to transparency was out of date. Under the previous law, agencies could charge thousands of dollars for locating and redacting lengthy records requests; under the new law, the first four hours of that work are free, and labor costs are limited to $25 per hour.

The new law also allows judges to award attorney's fees to people who successfully fight for public records in court - a measure that could alleviate the hefty financial burden of taking on state agencies intent on blocking disclosure.

And while Galvin was a supporter of reforming the state's public records law, his own record on the issue has come under criticism. For years, he did not refer cases for enforcement to the state Attorney General; that changed once Maura Healey took office in 2015.

Investigative Reporters and Editors named Galvin and Supervisor of Public Records Shawn Williams a finalist for their 2016 "Golden Padlock" award, a sardonic nod to public officials who the organization says have obstructed government transparency.

Galvin and Willliams supported "the withholding of a wide range of public records including race and ethnicity data and a recording of a public official making derogatory comments about two women at a public meeting," IRE said.