In the case of e-mails, he said, "Once requested (under the Sunshine Law), and if they exist, they're definitely a public record."

This contradicts what other state offices understand to be the state's laws for record retention:

In general, the preservation requirements mandate that all state communications or memos dealing with management, policy or financial matters need to be preserved for three years, or 90 days after the release of a state audit on that office. The law defines communications broadly, including those on paper or electronic.

In a follow up article, Mannies reports:

Blunt, asked by a Post-Dispatch reporter earlier this week why e-mails aren't being routinely saved, replied, "Nobody saves e-mails for three years."

And how much would you be willing to bet that these emails no longer exist?

The handling of e-mails came to light earlier this week, when the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader reported that it sought a week's worth of e-mails from Blunt chief of staff Ed Martin in August.

At issue was Martin's communications with anti-abortion activists about a Planned Parenthood lawsuit, which seeks to overturn a new state law imposing more restrictions on abortion clinics.

The News-Leader received some of the e-mails from a third party and sought to get more. Martin told the newspaper that he does not retain such communications.

In one of the e-mails sent from his government account, the newspaper reported, Martin wrote: "We need to mobilize the supporters -- to get Nixon off the case and get a new lawyer. ... Please have people write letters and call Nixon and the press."

Guess someone did contact the press Ed!