Newspaper seeks court order to read Gibbons’ official e-mail

CARSON CITY -- A Reno newspaper lawyer asked the Nevada Supreme Court on Monday to issue an order that lets the public read e-mail by Gov. Jim Gibbons and other officials when the messages apply to government matters.

Scott Glogovac, representing the Reno Gazette-Journal, insisted his newspaper wants to review only Gibbons' e-mail pertaining to government matters, not those dealing with his personal life.

But among the nearly 100 e-mail messages the newspaper requested are those between the governor and Kathy Karrasch and Leslie Durant, two women with whom Gibbons has been accused of having affairs.

Karrasch accompanied the governor to Washington, D.C., last week. Gibbons first denied to a Las Vegas TV reporter that she was with him, but later admitted she was.

"If an e-mail is on a government computer, it is presumed to be public," Glogovac said after the court hearing. "If it is private, they should have to prove it."

Gibbons flatly refused to release any of his e-mail when the newspaper requested copies of all messages he sent to 10 individuals on his office computer between January and June of 2008.

The newspaper sued the governor. A decision last year by Carson City District Court Judge James Todd Russell rejected Glogovac's proposal to set up a policy to determine if e-mail messages by government officials are public record. Glogovac then appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

Justices gave no indication on their leanings during Monday's 30-minute oral arguments.

Justice Mark Gibbons, who is not related to the governor, expressed concern that under Glogovac's proposal, bloggers and nonmainstream members of the news media might clog up government business by constantly requesting e-mail and cell phone text messages.

A decision on the Gazette-Journal's appeal is not expected for several months.