Boston Posts Deleted E-Mails To City Web Site

You can now read about 5,000 e-mails that were deleted from the City Hall computer of a top aide to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. The city of Boston on Thursday posted scans of the e-mails on its Web site.

The e-mails, and thousands of others that are still missing, are the subject of an investigation by the offices of Secretary of State William Galvin and Attorney General Martha Coakley into whether a top mayoral aide’s routine deletion of his work e-mails violated state public records laws.

The aide, Michael Kineavy, announced Tuesday that he would take an unpaid leave of absence because he believed his presence was becoming a “distraction.”

A spokeswoman for Menino said Thursday the e-mails posted on the city's Web site were culled from the computers of other city employees, and include messages that were sent both from and to Kineavy, including those he was copied on.

The contents of more than 100 e-mails were withheld for privacy reasons.

On its site, the city describes the posting of the e-mails as an "unprecedented step," in response to a public records request and a request from Galvin.

Menino has said the administration is continuing to cooperate with the secretary’s office.