This is reprinted with permission from The News & Observer of Raleigh.

The state employs hundreds of public information officers, and most of them spend their days telling the public about air quality, flu shots, escaped inmates, road construction or lots of other governmental activities funded by tax money.

But at the helm of this vast message machine, the emphasis on public information shifts to public relations.

The state's top public information officers -- PIOs -- serve at the whim of the governor or other elected officials. They try to spin news stories to the advantage of their bosses. They sometimes impede reporters' access to records and officials. They coach officials on what to say and baby-sit them during interviews.

They run what amounts to an intelligence network to keep the governor and his top advisers informed about developing news stories that might be embarrassing.

Renee Hoffman, press secretary for Gov. Mike Easley, denies that politics or spin plays a role.

"Our job is getting information to the reporters and the public," she said.

But e-mail messages and notes of meetings of the Easley administration's top public information officers show them working just as hard at controlling the message.

The News & Observer requested notes and messages after Debbie Crane, the former head PIO at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the governor's press office had ordered her and her colleagues to delete their e-mail.

Crane, who was fired in March by Easley for insubordination, said that politics and PR are part of the job.

"Any time you serve at the will of the governor, you are in a political realm, whether you like it or not," she said.

This article is based on notes and messages from Easley's top public information officers. Some provided copious notes and e-mails; others provided little. The N&O and nine other organizations have sued the Easley administration, asserting that the messages are public records that must be maintained.

No Surprises

Around the governor's office, Rule No. 1 appears to be: No surprises.

At periodic meetings, Easley's top information officers talked about reporters who had called their agencies and the questions they were asking. Over a seven-year period, a total of 44 current or former N&O staff members are mentioned in the meeting notes, some of them numerous times.

These conversations have little to do with helping reporters get additional information for a more complete story. The main purpose, as reflected in the notes, is keeping the governor's office aware of pending stories, especially ones that could embarrass or reflect poorly on the administration. Between meetings, PIOs are instructed to call the governor's office about important stories that are developing.

Sometimes the government will use that information to try to blunt the impact of the story by fixing problems as fast as it can, as it did when The N&O uncovered problems in the state agency that regulates drinking water. Agencies occasionally fire officials or force them to retire before the story breaks. Or the PIOs will use that information to plan their bosses' responses, as they did with The N&O's stories on problems in the mental health system.

Sometimes, when a reporter asks questions about something embarrassing, the agency will immediately pre-empt an article by sending out a news release. That makes the agency appear forthcoming while putting its spin on the event.

On April 16, when the federal government notified the Department of Health and Human Services that it would withhold $175 million for a controversial mental health program, the agency made no public announcement. But when The N&O found out about it the next day and asked for the notification document, the information office sent out a news release.

A Three-Week Delay

An exchange of e-mail messages last summer between N&O reporter Michael Biesecker and Keith Acree, the PIO at the state Department of Correction, shows how closely Easley's press office monitors stories.

Last August, Biesecker asked to meet with Dr. John Carbone, chief of the department's mental health section. On Wednesday, Aug. 22, Acree told Biesecker that Carbone could meet with him on Thursday or Friday, or the following Monday. A little later, he sent Biesecker an e-mail, asking what he wanted to talk to Carbone about. Then, the exchange continued:

2:21 p.m.: Biesecker tells Acree that The N&O is examining the effect of mental health reform in North Carolina. He said he had tracked several individuals who were sent to prison for crimes committed soon after their release from state psychiatric hospitals. He asked whether the money the state hoped to save by cutting mental health services was being spent treating mentally ill inmates.

2:31 p.m.: Acree relays Biesecker's interview request to Carbone, suggesting a date and time. Acree trips an alarm bell when he copies Crane, the PIO at the Department of Health and Human Services. Her agency had overseen the failed mental health reform effort.

2:52 p.m.: Crane forwards Acree's memo to the governor's press office -- Sherri Johnson, director of communications, Renee Hoffman, press secretary, and Seth Effron, deputy press secretary. Crane tells them: "See note from keith below, and what N&O said. we have no idea where michael got this alleged data. we haven't given him anything that shows this."

3:28 p.m.: Crane sends an e-mail message to Acree, advising him to "hold up" the interview. "... since this is really a mental health story, our folks would like to meet with yours and talk message, make sure we are together, before y'all talk with Michael."

Biesecker's interview with Carbone was delayed for three weeks, until Sept. 13.

All Together Now

Crane's e-mail to Acree highlights a focus for PIOs: Stay on message.

These are excerpts from the notes of meetings of the governor's press office with the top PIOs of various departments telling them what message the governor's office wanted them to deliver:

-- On the budget shortfall: "Say, 'Yes, we can cover it.' Govs agenda is moving forward. He had plan and goals; team hit ground running..."

-- Regarding government services in a tight budget year: "Remind reporters how efficient, stream-lined we've been over the past 18 months."

-- On problems in the juvenile system: "We inherited a neglected system."

-- On education: "We're making progress. We can't stop now."

Message Control

One way to control the message is to limit access to state workers. Among the most restrictive is Attorney General Roy Cooper, who authorizes only three people to speak to the press: himself and his two PIOs.

The Easley administration policy varies from agency to agency. The policies at Health and Human Services and Environment and Natural Resources encourage their employees to talk to the media. The Department of Administration requires that all press calls go through a PIO, who will answer the questions or route the reporter to a bureaucrat. Some, like the Office of State Personnel, allow only the PIO to respond to the media.

Notes of one of the meetings of the Easley administration's top public information officers say: "All press calls though PIO? Be aggressive!"

Easley's PIOs are aggressive in defending him, too, and prepping him for his infrequent encounters with reporters.

In late February, after The N&O began publishing a series of stories on failures in the mental health system, Easley's team spent long hours preparing the governor for one of his rare news conferences.

They listed questions he might be asked, including these zingers:

"You have said that your administration opposed the 2001 mental health reforms that passed the General Assembly. State Rep. Insko said, 'No one in the department ever told me they opposed it.' Who is telling the truth here?"

"What were people in your administration thinking when you cut addiction and other substance abuse treatment spaces at hospitals without making sure there was the needed outpatient space and services elsewhere?"

The governor, or one of his advisers, devised a solution to embarrassing questions: Limit questions from the three N&O reporters to one each, and then duck out a side door to avoid reporters waiting by his car.

Monitoring Interviews

PIOs sometimes attend interviews, but they are not there to add substance. They're there to gather intelligence for the governor's press office, prepare other officials who may be interviewed later and, sometimes, terminate the interview as quickly as possible -- as a PIO has done for Dan Gerlach, one of Easley's senior advisers.

Sometimes they record the interview and type up a transcript, or hire a private company to transcribe the interview. Sometimes they just make a list of the questions.

Using the transcript of a previous interview as a guide, PIOs can tell officials what questions they are likely to be asked and suggest answers. Sometimes the boss is given what PIOs call "talking points," the message the Easley administration wants them to deliver.

On Jan. 14, Crane, the PIO at the Department of Health and Human Services, sent e-mail to the top three PIOs in the governor's office, reporting key points of an N&O reporter's interview with two top officials in her department. She said the reporter had a premise about how Medicaid expenditures have expanded because of mental health reform.

"Our folks explained that we think if people are getting the appropriate services then some of the cost overruns will be reduced in terms of saved hospitalizations and other more intensive care," Crane told the governor's office. "But, [the reporter] told me after the interview, he isn't buying that. Dempsey is aware of this premise and he is working to address it when he has his interview."

Dempsey Benton is secretary of the department.

Charge 'Em More?

At an Aug. 7 meeting of the top PIOs, Margaret Jordan of the Office of State Personnel said that she had been asked for a list of state employees and that she had been told by her agency that it would cost $50 to produce those records.

"Margaret suggests that is a lot of information and the $50 cost won't really deter others from asking for the same information," according to notes kept by Sondra Artis, who works in the governor's office. "Perhaps a higher charge for the information?"

Charging anyone a higher fee to deter them from getting information is against North Carolina law, which holds that the public can be charged only the cost of reproducing the documents.

Jordan said in an interview that state employees are uncomfortable when companies acquire their names and salaries. She said she had merely noted that a $50 fee wouldn't deter such public record requests.

"I was not suggesting that we charge a higher charge," Jordan said. "I don't know if Sondra was writing down her thoughts or what."

Government agencies can get inventive when it comes to denying access to public records.

Last year, the Transportation Department PIO office tried unsuccessfully to charge The N&O to look at driving records. There is no state law requiring anyone to pay just to examine a record.

That didn't stop the inquiry, but it slowed the newspaper and forced it to spend money on attorney's fees.