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Brian Morelli, "Colloton Working With Attorney to Protect Records"

Jim Lewers, "Keep 'Deciders' Accountable"

[Note: This material is copyright by the Press-Citizen, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Iowa City Press-Citizen.]

UI spokesman Steve Parrott said that because Skorton, a cardiologist, was seeing patients while in his role as president, his computer was set up so that when Skorton deleted an e-mail, it was permanently destroyed from UI servers to protect patient confidentiality.

UI record retention policy for the president's office states that "office correspondence of an official nature" must be kept permanently.

A note attached to the policy states that "office correspondence of an official nature" refers to policies, procedures, reports (internal or external), etc. that are used in the administration and management of the department and that should be memorialized."

Parrott said that note allowed Skorton the discretion as to what e-mails to keep.

"That's his personal decision. Maybe he didn't consider it official in nature," Parrott said.

Herb Strentz, a founder and longtime former executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said he was unaware of any law that required correspondence be permanently kept.

He said records are kept based on utility and usefulness in the future.

Strentz had trouble with the explanation that the e-mail had been permanently deleted and said with electronic record keeping it is easier to save things.

"If so, than that is a technology that I am not familiar with. I'd have to take their word for it, but I didn't know e-mails could be permanently removed from a hard drive," Strentz said.

This became an issue when the Press-Citizen filed an open records request Nov. 29 for Skorton's correspondence to or from former University Hospital director John Colloton.

The Press-Citizen was trying to authenticate documents it had received anonymously that appear to be from Colloton to Skorton concerning the Wellmark contract controversy of 2004 and 2005.

UI's response stated no such documents in hard copy or e-mail existed for Skorton. Parrott elaborated that UI still maintains hard copy files of Skorton's, but none involving Colloton.

Colloton, for whom the John Colloton Pavilion at the hospital complex was named, was University Hospitals' director and CEO from 1971 to 1993. He was named director emeritus in 2001. Colloton also has been on the Wellmark Board of Directors since 1974 and served as the board chairman from 1993 to 2000 and as the lead director since 2000.

Skorton was named president of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., on July 1.

Colloton and Skorton have not responded to e-mail or telephone messages.

Former University Hospitals Director and CEO John Colloton is working with one of Iowa's top attorneys to protect his records.

Mark McCormick, a shareholder of the Belin Lamson McCormick Zumbach Flynn law firm in Des Moines and a former associate justice for the Iowa Supreme Court, serves as the attorney for Colloton, who now has the title University Hospitals director emeritus.

The Press-Citizen filed an open records request Nov. 29 for Colloton's correspondence with top officials, such as former University of Iowa President David Skorton, Regent President Michael Gartner and then-Gov. Tom Vilsack.

The request was made after anonymously receiving documents that appeared to be from Colloton and covered topics ranging from the UI president search, the Wellmark contract controversy of 2004 and 2005, and UI and hospital organizational structure.

UI, on the advice of the Iowa Attorney General, denied the request, stating that Colloton is not an employee and has no official duties. UI denied a similar request directed to his secretary.

Colloton maintains an office in the John Colloton Pavilion, has a state provided secretary, uses a UI e-mail account and UI letterhead, and has Lot 1 parking pass, the highest level parking pass on campus.

McCormick said Thursday that Colloton's records are private.

"We agree with the attorney general's determination that Mr. Colloton is not a public officer or employee and that his communications are not public records under Iowa's open records statute, as interpreted by the Iowa Supreme Court. Mr. Colloton's intention and desire is that his private communications remain private," he said in an e-mail.

McCormick declined further comment. Colloton has not returned phone or e-mail messages. It is unclear when Colloton retained him.

Colloton, for whom the John Colloton Pavilion at the hospital complex was named, was University Hospitals' director and CEO from 1971 to 1993. He was named director emeritus in 2001. Colloton also has been on the Wellmark Board of Directors since 1974 and served as the board chairman from 1993 to 2000 and as the lead director since 2000.

Marcus Mills, UI vice president for legal affairs and general counsel, said McCormick has not contacted him.

A response to an open records request made Thursday included a document with three bullet points sent by Colloton to the UI Office of the General Counsel on Jan. 4. It was titled, "Re: Background information relating to John W. Colloton's private correspondence; how the open records act relates to it; and his present emeritus title and status at the U. of I. (12/06)."

First, Colloton is not part of the state government and therefore not subject to open records requests, it states.

Second, he maintains a "module" at University Hospitals where he stores memorabilia. He uses it four to six hours a week for reading and conversing with longtime colleagues. "The module has no desk and does not function in the manner of a typical office," it states.

Third, Colloton is pleased to advise various officials and will continue to with the expectation that it is given confidentially, it states.

The document concludes, "He has no obligation to comment on any of his private correspondence and has no expectation of doing so."

I'm beginning to wonder if the University of Iowa and University Hospitals really belong to the people of the state.

I thought they did, but recent events are making me wonder if they belong to a few powerful people, the "deciders," if you will.

First, the Iowa state Board of Regents met in a weeklong series of rolling meetings on one of the most important issues facing UI -- hiring a new president.

Now the university and the attorney general are shielding records that could shed light on how University Hospitals is run and other important issues.

And to top it all off, regent President Michael Gartner now has regent staff looking into the "security breach" of University Hospitals' Director Emeritus John Colloton's computer (see "UIHC looks into breach of security," Jan. 12, as well as www.press-citizen.com/regents for previous coverage).

Regent Bob Downer confirmed that this most recent example of regent micromanagement is connected to documents anonymously e-mailed to the Press-Citizen nearly two months ago -- documents that appear to be correspondence by Colloton with several top officials, including former UI President David Skorton and Gartner on topics ranging from the UI presidential search to the Wellmark contract controversy of 2004 and 2005 as well as to UI and University Hospitals' organizational structure.

We have tried to authenticate the documents, which are clearly newsworthy, in a variety of ways, including an open records request to UI. The university has denied the request for Colloton's records.

Consider this:

• Colloton has hospital complex office space and use of a university secretary.

• He uses University Hospitals letterhead and a UI e-mail account on some of his correspondence.

• He apparently weighs in on important public issues in correspondence to important people, including presidents of UI and the Board of Regents.

How could at least some of his correspondence not be public?

The answer, according to UI Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel Marc Mills, in consultation with Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, is that Colloton "does not have any public duties at the University and his communications do not memorialize the discharge of any official functions. Rather, Mr. Colloton's e-mail and other documents are personal communications, the examination of which would not 'facilitate public scrutiny' of a government official." By the way, the university has also denied a request for correspondence produced by his secretary.

I disagree with this argument. Maybe I'm just a simple guy who doesn't get how this big-time government stuff works, but there are several things going on here that I just don't understand:

• Why is the Board of Regents interested in the security of documents that originated with someone who has absolutely no public duties? Don't the regents have better things to do? Hire a UI president, maybe?

• Why does Colloton -- the University Hospitals' director and CEO from 1971 to 1993 and for whom the John Colloton Pavilion at the hospital complex was named -- need a UI-provided secretary if he has no official duties?

• And if Colloton -- who has been on the board of directors for the state's largest health insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, since 1974, including serving as board chairman from 1993 to 2000 and lead director since then -- has no UI duties, why is the university providing office space for him?

• And doesn't it seem a little weird that the lead director of a company involved in a heated controversy over a massive health insurance contract with the university has a space on the seventh floor of the hospital?

Let me be clear about several things: We did not solicit the Colloton documents. We do not know who sent them to us, and, at this point, we cannot be sure that these documents are authentic. We also recognize Colloton's remarkable record of public service to the university and the state. But this is about scrutinizing the process in important public decisions.

Regarding our records request, though, we are not interested in e-mails to old friends about an upcoming barbecue -- unless, for example, that barbecue is with five or more regents to discuss the UI presidential search.

Here's one more wrinkle: The university agrees that correspondence Colloton sent to public officials would be open records if the officials retained those records. But the university says former UI President Skorton's e-mail was set up to delete from UI servers as he deleted it from his desktop -- a special arrangement because Skorton, a practicing physician, received confidential patient information.

Amazing.

When I step back and look at this, I keep coming back to these questions: Don't we the people and the taxpayers of Iowa own UI and University Hospitals? Aren't the "deciders" accountable to explain their decisions to us?