An inquiry by the office of Attorney General George Jepsen has concluded without finding any evidence the state computer or e-mail systems were compromised by opponents of the labor concession deal.
The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition had complained that the Yankee Institute, a conservative think tank, had tried to unfairly influent state employees with e-mail blasts.
Jepsen’s office found no evidence that the state email system had been “compromised, hacked or used without authority.”
“We appreciate this full and speedy exoneration by Attorney General Jepsen,” said Fergus Cullen, the executive director of the Yankee Institute. “We regret that SEBAC’s wild accusations wasted his time, the Auditor’s time, and that of their staffs. We all have better things to do.”
SEBAC also offered its thanks to Jepsen for a speedy investigation, but it did not back off claims that there was a concerted effort to mislead state employee with phony e-mails. “We continue to believe that doing so using assumed names for the purpose of disrupting a free and fair democratic vote is immoral, if not illegal,” said Eric Bailey, a spokesman.
In two cases, e-mails critical of the concessions were sent from a Yahoo e-mail address by persons claiming to be state employees. The names appeared to be false, but no security procedures were violated, Jepsen said.
There was other e-mail traffic opposing the concession deal. Some of it originated from IP addresses outside state government, and some of it was sent by state employees on their state computers to other state employees.
“We found no evidence that these emails were transmitted in circumvention of the safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the state e-mail system,” Jepsen said in a prepared statement.
Jepsen declined further comment.