For someone who claims to be a reformer and promises to change the ways of Washington, Sarah Palin has sure started off on the wrong foot.  Palin's email practices as governor of Alaska are strikingly similar to the email practices of the White House.

Alaska law, like federal law, requires all state agencies -- which includes the Governor’s Office -- to preserve public records that adequately document how they function do the business of the state.  AS 40.21.060.  Alaska law also requires each state agency to establish a records management program with controls over the creation, maintenance and use of records used in the conduct of current business, again mirroring the federal law.  And, like its federal counterpart, Alaska law defines “records” as including emails, which must be preserved as if they were paper records.

For Sarah Palin and her office this means that even if they are free to use outside email accounts to conduct state business -- which is far from clear -- they must still preserve those emails as public records documenting their functions, policies, decisions, etc.  But we know from emails that have leaked to the public that Sarah and her office are using outside email accounts precisely to avoid record preservation obligations.  Sound familiar?  It wasn’t that long ago we learned that top White House officials, including Karl Rove, were similarly using outside email accounts -- in their case accounts tied to the RNC -- to conduct government business but avoid leaving a paper trail.