Wicker app issues full#
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State and federal open records laws facilitate the public disclosure of important government information. It is concerning that a state governor, especially one who has advanced pro-transparency measures in the past, would assume certain communications records are outside of his state’s public records law and independently ensure their deletion. In 2016, the Associated Press obtained access to a trove of the governor’s internal communications with staffers, ranging from complaints about his appearance in photographs to Baltimore Sun editorials criticizing one of Hogan’s speeches and the state’s response to a snowstorm. The revelations led the Post’s editorial board to write that an earlier incident involving disclosures under the law may have prompted the adoption of the app.
The law defines a “public record” as “the original or any copy of any documentary material that is made by the unit or an instrumentality of the State or of a political subdivision or received by the unit or instrumentality in connection with the transaction of public business and is in any form, including … a computerized record or correspondence.”Īs Maryland’s own guide provides, the law covers “virtually all public agencies or officials,” and is broader than the federal Freedom of Information Act, covering all “public” records, not just records of “agencies.” Under the Maryland Public Information Act, any citizen is able to submit a request to review and obtain copies of public records. Hogan claims that he is not conducting public business in his Wickr communications, and therefore the messages are not subject to Maryland’s open records law.
While Hogan declined to comment on his use of the app, his spokesperson described the messages as “political and communications conversations with advisers, many of whom do not work for the state,” discussing “fluid political and media, news of the day conversations.” Larry Hogan was using an application to communicate with his political aides and advisers that automatically deletes messages after 24 hours, despite those records potentially being subject to requests under Maryland’s open records law.Īccording to the Post, Hogan uses a messaging app called Wickr to ensure the messages in a private chat with state employees self-destruct after 24 hours. In December, the Washington Post revealed that Maryland Gov.
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