Email secrecy became an issue for Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) predecessor in the governor's mansion, George W. Bush, when the latter man became president. Seeking copies of White House emails, congressional Democrats found that staffers had used non-government accounts. Controversy ensued. In response, open-government advocates called for longer retention of emails to ensure transparency.

Pressed in this October 2010 interview about why his staff only preserves emails for seven days, Perry bristled. He maintains that policy, he said, to prevent "fishing expeditions" -- Freedom of Information Act requests that consume the time of government workers tasked with digging through old emails, as journalists and citizens root blindly for damning evidence.

Video credit: The Texas Tribune

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