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Privacy Of Governor's E-Mails In Dispute
by Michael Martinez
A New Jersey judge this week ordered Gov. Jon Corzine to appear in court later this summer to explain why e-mails he exchanged with his ex-girlfriend should remain private.
Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg has asked the Democratic governor to appear Aug. 4 to explain why his office has denied requests for e-mails he exchanged with Carla Katz, the president of Communications Workers of America Local 1034, during labor talks last year.
The New Jersey Republican State Committee sued last week to obtain the messages, which were exchanged on private e-mail accounts. A gubernatorial ethics panel that reviewed the e-mails earlier this year acknowledged that they demonstrated the special relationship between Corzine and Katz but concluded that Corzine's judgment was unaffected during the labor negotiations.
Katz, whose group is the largest union in New Jersey, received a series of large payments from Corzine after they broke up. The pair shared an apartment in Hoboken when Corzine was still in the U.S. Senate. The payments, which reportedly amounted to more than $6 million, stopped when Corzine was elected governor.
Corzine told AP this week that he would continue to invoke executive privilege over the e-mails in court. He said governors in the future would suffer if he concedes that privilege.
In a statement issued Tuesday, GOP Chairman Tom Wilson compared Corzine's arguments to those made by former President Nixon during the Watergate scandal. He said the Corzine administration's attempt to invoke executive privilege would not fly in court.
The Republican committee has argued that the e-mails should be considered public records because Corzine and Katz were discussing public business, and the fact that they were exchanged on private accounts is irrelevant.
"These aren't e-mails between the governor and his staff," Wilson said. "They aren't matters of national security. They're emails exchanged between the governor and the president of the largest public employee union that discuss public business. The public has a right to know."
Meanwhile, Katz broke her silence on her relationship with Corzine this week in an interview with The New York Post. She told the newspaper that she had "absolutely nothing on him" but did not elaborate on the payments she received after they stopped dating. Katz also said the CWA is "her life," and she is fully committed to being re-elected to her post.
ChoicePoint, States Cut Deal On Data Breach
The data broker ChoicePoint this week reached agreements with the top law enforcers in 43 states to do a better job protecting the consumer information for which the states are responsible.
The Georgia-based company also agreed to pay the states $500,000, which will be split to help cover the costs of a two-year investigation into a massive breach disclosed by the firm in 2005. The deal settles allegations that the company failed to protect the information of consumers.
"ChoicePoint has agreed to take important steps needed to protect sensitive personal information," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. "This settlement calls for stringent requirements that will help to prevent unauthorized access and identity theft."
As part of the deal, ChoicePoint will have to implement procedures to verify the identities of those seeking to buy information from the company. The attorneys general who announced the settlement claimed that it was the first time a data broker has ever agreed to use the same credentialing methods to protect consumer information that federal law requires them to use to protect financial data.
"I hope other businesses take note of the type of changes needed to secure information in this day and age of technology," Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said.
ChoicePoint paid $5 million to settle a 2005 case with the FTC. The company notified hundreds of thousands of consumers that their personal information was put at risk after it acknowledged the breach.
Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that ChoicePoint has agreed to "take important steps," but he does not believe problems with protecting consumer data will ever "completely go away."
Florida Nabs 126 In Online Sex Sting
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum this week announced that a recent five-month operation targeting online sexual predators in his state resulted in more than a hundred arrests.
McCollum said investigators nabbed 126 suspects during "Operation Eviction," an initiative conducted during the first 150 days of the year that involved roughly 260 probes. The sting ended May 31.
"The importance of presenting a united front against cyber criminals, when we are trying to protect our children, cannot be over emphasized," McCollum said in a statement. "Internet predators know no geographical boundaries, and we must fully cooperate to effectively cover our state with our protective efforts."
The operation included participants from law enforcement bodies at the federal, state and local levels. It was spearheaded by the Florida Law Enforcement Department.
In other news, Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo announced this week that investigators have continued to discover registered sex offenders from his state on the social-networking site MySpace.
Stumbo said his office found roughly two dozen more offenders who created MySpace profiles just two weeks after the site gave Kentucky law enforcers information on 68 convicted offenders with profiles. Kentucky launched its own investigation into the site and enlisted the help of Perverted Justice, the Internet-based group made famous by its affiliation with "Dateline NBC."
"We used good old-fashioned elbow grease and compared registered sex offenders with MySpace profiles," Stumbo said. "Sometimes strong detective work is more effective in sniffing out criminals than the expensive equipment used by MySpace."
Stumbo has turned the names of the sex offenders over to the state police to determine if the offenders violated the terms of their parole by creating MySpace profiles.
Oregon Clears Bill Targeting 'Payday' Lenders
The Oregon Legislature this week cleared to Gov. Ted Kulongoski a measure targeting Internet-based predatory lenders that offer consumers fraudulent short-term loans.
Under the bill, H.B. 2203, the annual interest rates charged by lenders would be capped at 36 percent. The state Senate passed the measure 20-10. Kulongoski is expected to sign it into law.
Once implemented, the measure would prevent remote lenders from charging initiation fees to consumers higher than $10 per every $100 they lend. The bill would take effect immediately.
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