KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ A St. Louis County attorney filed a lawsuit last week accusing Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens and his staff of engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to violate Missouri's open records laws by using an app that deletes text messages after they've been read.
Ben Sansone is asking a Cole County judge to prohibit Greitens from using the app and to require him to reveal the names of all staffers who have used it.
Last month The Kansas City Star revealed that the governor and his senior staff use the Confide app, which also prevents someone from saving, forwarding, printing or taking a screenshot of a text.
Sansone, who serves on the board of aldermen for the St. Louis County city of Des Peres, said he was traveling Tuesday and referred questions from The Star to his attorney. In his lawsuit, Sansone said use of the app by elected officials and government employees is "illegal and constitutes an ongoing conspiracy to violate the Missouri Sunshine law and Missouri state and local records law, not to mention a significant affront to the open government and democratic traditions of Missouri and the United States."
The governor's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced last month that his office would investigate whether the governor and his staff were illegally destroying public records by using the app.
Use of the app raised concerns among transparency advocates who worried it could be used to subvert Missouri open records law. Because the app is designed to eliminate a paper trail, it is impossible to determine whether the governor and his staff are using it to conduct state business out of view of the public, or whether they're using it for personal and campaign purposes.
In addition to asking a judge to issue an injunction to stop the governor and his staff from using Confide, Sansone is asking for a fine to be imposed.
