The Post-Dispatch, the Kansas City Star and the Associated Press sued the administration of Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt to obtain the release of thousands of e-mails. These are e-mails that Blunt’s office originally said didn’t have to be saved, much less released.

The lead to the story the Post-Dispatch ran on Sunday summarizes the pattern:

The administration contended that a fired staff lawyer never offered advice about the governor’s policy requiring public records, including e-mails, to be retained.

But he did.

Blunt’s staffers said the administration did not regularly conduct state business out of public view on campaign e-mail accounts.

But they did.

And the governor’s then-chief-of-staff denied the existence of e-mails showing he had engaged in political activities on state time.

But hundreds of them exist.

Did you read the story? Does it matter to you that there were attempts to rebuff an administration official who argued that the e-mails were a public record? Does it matter that the e-mails themselves contradict public statements by the governor and others in his office?