The leader of the Chattanooga Tea Party said the city did not release all of the emails between him and Mayor Ron Littlefield.
The city did release some emails between the two at the request of several media outlets, but Mark West said it was not all.
He told Chattanoogan.com, "You indicate in your story that 'Chattanoogan.com obtained the emails through an open records request with city government.' Unfortunately, if what you published is all that you received then there has been, at a minimum, a material oversight by the city or worse, Chattanoogan.com has been grossly misled, deceived or duped by someone at the city.
"Mayor Littlefield knows that what was released is 'not' the complete history or content of the emails that were exchanged between he and I. To be clear, there were two more emails from the mayor to me and one lengthy response from me to the mayor addressing his harsh and misinformed statements. Further, my response clearly outlines why there was never a meeting.
"Why the mayor chose not to release those other three emails to you I do not know. Perhaps you could ask him. But to be clear, your assertion that 'there were no further emails from West to the mayor' is incorrect. I'm sorry that someone at the city kept this info from you."
Richard Beeland, spokesman for Mayor Littlefield, said, "Those are all the emails on the city server. The Mayor may have used his personal email account to respond to Mr. West."
City Councilman Andrae McGary, who is a potential candidate if there is a new mayoral election, said he also requested the email exchanges between the mayor and Mr. West.
He said in an interview on WGOW Talk Radio that he was dismayed when he learned he did not get them all.
He said, "If a councilman cannot get the information, there is no wonder that members of the public cannot."
Councilman McGary is the host of the afternoon "Live and Local" show on WGOW Talk Radio.