STATE oF ALABAMA

OFFICE oF THE ATToRNEY GENERAL

LUTHER STRANGE
ATTORNEY GENERAL

July 6,2016

5OI WASHINGTON AVENUE

P.O. BOX 300t52
MONTGOMERY, AL 36I30.OI 52
c334) 242-73OO
WWW.AGO.ALABAMA.GOY

Rep. Victor Gaston

Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives
State of Alabama
l1 South Union Street
Montgomery, AL 36130-2950

RE:

Use of electronic mail

in the Ollice of the Speaker of the House

Dear Acting Speaker Gaston:

The purpose of this letter is to request that the Office of the Speaker of the House change
its current policies and procedures with regard to the use of electronic mail for official state
business.

During the investigation of Mike Hubbard, it was determined that Mr. Hubbard purchased
and used a private email server for the Office of Speaker of the House. This private email server
was set up with Brian Crenshaw in Alpharetta, Georgia, a private third party vendor (not the State
of Alabama). As a result, Mr. Hubbard and his staff no longer used the official state email server
with the domain "@alhouse.gov" and, instead, used a private email server with the domain name
"@speaker.alhouse.gov." In other words, the Speaker and his staff conducted official state
business using email addresses and servers that were private. Such policies and procedures are
inconsistent with the guidelines set forth by the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Additionally, because the Speaker used a private email server, those records were not
available when subpoenas were issued to the Clerk of the House, Department of Finance (ISD),
etc., during the investigation. These emails should have been available, like all state public records,
but were not obtainable through a grand jury subpoena.

Relatedly, Mr. Hubbard conducted official state business on his private email address
(hubbard(@aunetwork.com), which is also inconsistent with the guidelines set forth by the
Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Rep.

Victor Gaston

July 6, 2016
Page Two

Accordingly, I request that you change the policy and procedures for the Offrce of the
Speaker of the House in order to comply with applicable guidelines, rules, and regulations.
Specifically, please move the email server from its current private server back to the official state
server for the Alabama House of Representatives. Also, private email addresses (non-state email
addresses) should not be used to conduct the offrcial business of the Offrce of the Speaker of the
House.
Please do not hesitate to contact me or the members of my staff about this issue

any questions.
Sincerely,

/-uYY{rffiT
Luther Strange
Attorney General

LS/sp

cc:

Jeffrey Woodard, Clerk of the House

Ms. Tracey Berezansky, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History
Dr. Joanne Hale, Acting Secretary of Information Technology

if you have