Here we go again. More foilbles in the Hiett campaign. IT investigating campaign e-mail Jordan Janosek-Albright Contributing Writer IT Systems Security is investigating why an e-mail from the Todd Hiett for Lieutenant Governor campaign was recently received unsolicited by students and faculty. The e-mail, with the subject “Senator Inhofe Endorses Hiett,” was received by many on Oct. 13. The e-mail raised concerns that the Oklahoma State University system was being used to promote campaign propaganda. Eric Maynard, interim security officer for IT said, “The spam filtering system quarantines an average of 1.1 million spam messages per day for the OSU community. “Approximately 86% of all inbound messages are spam.” Hiett, R-Kellyville, is the republican candidate running for Lieutenant Governor. Hiett is Speaker in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla, is one of the two Oklahoma senators in the U.S. Senate. Maynard said the investigation should be complete by this afternoon. Carrie Hulsey-Greene, associate director for OSU communications, said OSU does not have a policy of selling or providing OSU e-mail addresses to third-parties. However, as the e-mail addresses are public record and available online, anyone can add them to mailing lists. William Henley, professor and head of botany, received the e-mail. He said he considered the message spam and was frustrated he received it as he did not give out his address. He said his e-mail is used for official purposes. Sara Pawelka, Hiett’s campaign manager, said, as they are a grassroots organization, they receive e-mail lists from many sources. They receive lists from other grassroots organizations and in the e-mail itself people can sign up friends. She said, when people call or e-mail to have their addresses removed, she purges them from the list immediately. Pawelka said the campaign did not want to clutter people’s inboxes. Read more... Posted at 10/17/2006 11:59:00 AM