Seybold: FirstNet contractors being selected by DOC/NTIA, not FirstNet management
In addition, exactly what kind of entity FirstNet is—and whether its board members are federal employees—is part of ongoing litigation involving FirstNet board member Paul Fitzgerald, who is the elected sheriff of Story County, Iowa. Fitzgerald, who alleged multiple improprieties by FirstNet board members last April, used his Story County e-mail account to communicate about FirstNet-related topics with other board members and outside parties interested in FirstNet.
After receiving an open-records request last summer, the Story County board of supervisors decided to release 63 e-mails from Fitzgerald’s account that were related to FirstNet or communications vendors. Federal attorneys moved quickly to secure an injunction to prevent the immediate release of the e-mails. Federal attorneys since have requested that a federal court permanently stop the release of the e-mails by ruling that the e-mails are federal documents, because Fitzgerald is a federal employee who was conducting federal business while sending and receiving e-mails related to the FirstNet project.
Meanwhile, Story County’s position is that the Fitzgerald e-mails should be released, because he is the elected sheriff of Story County at all times, so his e-mails are subject to Iowa’s open-records law. Furthermore, Story County has noted that Fitzgerald legally cannot be a federal employee for FirstNet and an elected official for Story County simultaneously, because that would be a violation of the Hatch Act.
Oral arguments in the case involving Fitzgerald’s e-mails were heard in a federal court on Wednesday. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General now is in charge of investigating Fitzgerald’s initial claims that some FirstNet board members had a conflict of interest during the board’s first year of operation.