Is Pennsylvania’s Governor hiding the people’s business?

Are officials in Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration training employees to dodge public information requests?

That’s the question raised by a letter sent to Corbett by Terry Mutchler, executive director of the state’s Office of Open Records. Mutchler’s letter is revealed in a great story by veteran state capitol correspondent Brad Bumsted in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Mutchler, a former journalist who’s now an official watchdog for public disclosure, wrote Corbett about training being given on a new phone system, which has an instant-messaging feature.

“During several different training sessions for the implementation of the new statewide telephone system, state employees were specifically instructed that certain telephone messages and instant messages on this system are not subject to the state’s open records law,” Mutchler wrote.

Dan Egan, spokesman for the Office of Administration told Bumsted that “if there is incorrect information being conveyed to employees, we are of course very concerned and will take immediate steps to correct it.”

And my colleague Emma Jacobs noticed this New York Times piece about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration leaving few digital footprints.