LINCOLN- While on the gubernatorial campaign trail, Gov. Jim Pillen occasionally joked about phone conversations being exempt from public disclosure. Now, at least in recent months, his office seems to have taken small, unprecedented steps to shield his communications. Recently, a Nebraska-based transparency advocate organization requested access to four emails that the Governor had sent, but were met with denials from his office for reasons relating to "executive privilege."

When asked, around six other current officials and transparency advocates couldn't recall any instances in the past when a Nebraska Governor invoked executive privilege to deny access to records. One press freedom advocate in Nebraska described its novel use in Nebraska as "disturbing." Former Gov. Dave Heineman, who served in Nebraska between 2005 and 2015, said he was unfamiliar with the concept of executive privilege relative to governors' emails.

"When you're the governor, you're a publicly elected official and your records are subject to freedom of information requests, and we routinely complied with those," said Heineman, "I think that's important, because the public has the right to know what a governor is doing and the kinds of emails that we get." Echoing this sentiment, Jack Gould, a board member with the government watchdog group Common Cause Nebraska, said this is the first time he had heard of a Nebraska Governor invoking executive privilege to deny access to records.

For the full article click HERE