Pawlenty's administration cites a 40-year-old Minnesota Supreme Court decision to justify retaining only records of final decisions -- not e-mails or paperwork detailing how decisions were made…Under that policy, many of the e-mails about the Interstate 35W bridge collapse could have been destroyed had they not been ordered preserved by the attorney general.

On a side note, his behavior is similar to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, who infamously released his records in 2003 on the condition they stay sealed for a decade. We didn’t realize that the former Vermont Governor was a fan of Andy Warhol.

Still, the best was a letter G-Paw’s talking head, Paula Brown, sent out to staff explaining the need to delete. She wrote that trashing emails “helps us maintain efficient use of our technology resources, control overhead costs, work more efficiently and reduce clutter."

Dang. That quote smells like Nixon aftershave, a scent worn by Bill Clinton, and most recently, the entire executive branch. But Brown does have a point: state archives are sooo boring, and their upkeep is spendy. Plus, all those papers and books smell funny, like the bed sheets in your cousin’s basement. So following her logic, the G-Paw administration is helping out the state. Thanks, guys!