Boston attorney general investigates e-mail destruction.

• Position: E-MAIL

In Boston, a records request for information regarding a federal corruption investigation has revealed a possible cover up and illegal records destruction by a mayoral aide.

One year ago, federal prosecutors issued a subpoena for copies of any e-mail mayoral aide Michael Kineavy exchanged with two targets of a corruption investigation, state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson and City Councilor Chuck Turner, according to The Boston Globe. The newspaper, which was investigating Mayor Thomas Menino's role in the corruption investigation, issued a public records request to the mayor's office in April 2009.

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After receiving that request, the city revealed that Kineavy had been double deleting his e-mails each day, in clear violation of state law, which requires public records to be retained for two years. Under the law, city e-mails are public records.

In October, the City of Boston posted on its website scanned copies of nearly 5,000 e-mails sent to and from Kineavy, who has taken an unpaid leave of absence from his job as the mayor's policy and planning chief. The e-mails are from computers of other city employees who exchanged e-mails with the mayor's aide, The Globe said. The city said it would be expensive to retrieve much of...