Rice U. expert available to discuss Clinton’s use of personal email at U.S. Department of State

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David Ruth
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Amy McCaig
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Rice U. expert available to discuss Clinton’s use of personal email at U.S. Department of State

HOUSTON – (May 5, 2015) – As former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faces heat for using a personal email during her time at the State Department, Rice University political scientist Mark Jones is available to comment on what this means for the political future of this potential presidential candidate.

Jones, chair of Rice’s Political Science Department and a fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said while the current email controversy is creating some uncomfortable days for Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration, it is unlikely to have a profound impact on Clinton’s presidential bid.  

“While Clinton’s decision to use only her personal email violated the spirit of transparency, it did not break the law,” Jones said. “Furthermore, many of Clinton’s most likely Republican opponents have had their own issues withe-mail transparency in the past.” Jones said this creates “a two-edged sword for them.”

Jones said that in all likelihood, Clinton’s end run around the Federal Records Act will be a modest liability for her campaign moving forward. He said the liability is unlikely to be mitigated by Clinton’s selective release of 55,000 pages of emails that have been vetted by her staff.

Jones is a leading expert on Texas politics and has been quoted nationally on presidential politics. He is also an expert on Latin American politics and has authored guest columns on these topics in Texas Monthly and the Texas Tribune.

Media who want to interview Jones may contact him directly at 832-466-6535.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

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Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,920 undergraduates and 2,567 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just over 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life by the Princeton Review and for best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go here.