Palin's former staff requests another delay in e-mail release

Sarah Palin’s former staff has requested another delay in releasing e-mails from her time as governor of Alaska.

Several news organizations requested the information more than two years ago, just after the relatively unknown Palin was chosen as the 2008 vice presidential nominee.

But staff in the Alaska governor’s office have asked for their 15th delay, this time for another five months, which would put the release date at May 30, 2011.

MSNBC, one of the news organizations that requested the e-mails, notes that if the delay is approved, the request will have been pending for 986 days.

Palin was governor of Alaska for 966 days.

Officials said there are about 25,700 e-mails, which include anything sent to or from the governor or her husband, Todd Palin, either from their government or private accounts, to the government accounts of 53 staff and aides.

The requests were made by several news organizations, including NBC News, MSNBC.com, The Associated Press, Mother Jones, Pro Publica and the Juneau Empire, according to The New York Daily News.

Some of the e-mails could be withheld because of public record exemptions. State regulations allow the attorney general to approve a delay if the released information would hurt the office of the governor.

The AP notes that, under a new plan, the Alaska Department of Law will assign two people to review the records full-time at a cost of around $120,000.