ComputerForensicsDigest.com

The multi-faceted investigation into whether Boston mayoral aide Michael J. Kineavy in appropriately deleted emails in violation of the Massachusetts public records law is generating a small forest of statements from the principal players, but little additional information.

At the top of the list are the comments of Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who first began investigating the possibility of misconduct earlier this fall. He issued a statement yesterday saying that there are sufficiently serious questions to warrant a formal investigation by Attorney General Martha Coakley.

"After a review of the recovered records," Galvin said, "it is clear that some records were deleted inappropriately and without permission. It is the jurisdiction of the Attorney General’s office to make a determination whether there has been a violation of law."

Coakley, who is currently a leading candidate to replace the deceased U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, made it clear that her office will not be able to complete its investigation prior to Boston's mayoral election on November 3.

"It's important to do it. I want to do it quickly," Coakley told the Globe in an phone interview. "I want to do it thoroughly. But we're going to do it on a timeline that makes sense for the fairness of the outcome."

Kineavy, who is currently on unpaid administrative leave, is Mayor Thomas M. Menino's chief policy and planning adviser. Federal investigators and media outlets are particularly interested in his correspondence with former state senator Diane Wilkerson, who is under investigation for corruption. Menino is locked in fierce re-election battle with City Council Michael Flaherty, who has issued his own highly critical statement in anticipation of a Friday press conference.

The email controversy was triggered by a Boston Globe report that City Hall was unable to produce Kineavy's emails in response to a public records request. Under Massachusetts law, all but the most inconsequential emails must be preserved for a minimum of two years. Kineavy had a practice of "double-deleting" emails (deleting them from his inbox and then emptying his mailbox trash). That prevented the City Hall servers from backing up his emails, something that Kineavy said he did not realize.

The missing emails triggered the attention of Secretary Galvin, who ordered City Hall to hire a forensics firm, Stoneturn Group, to examine Kineavy's hard drive. A search of City Hall subsequently turned up another computer used by Kineavy during the relevant time period. That hard drive is still being examined.

Menino, not to be outdone, has also issued a statement on behalf of the City, detailing its efforts to recover the emails, and expressing confidence in the outcome of the various investigations.

"We are confident that the Attorney General will conclude," the Mayor said, "that there was no intentional violation of the law in this matter, that the City has made extraordinary efforts to recover and make public any deleted e-mails and that the City has taken effective steps to prevent future losses of data."