The long quest by journalists and a citizen activist for former Gov. Sarah Palin’s official e-mails may reach its end by late spring.

Recently appointed Attorney General John Burns said in a letter Wednesday to the requesters that he will hold the office of Gov. Sean Parnell to the work plan it proposed in December. That would mean that thousands of e-mails would be released May 31.

The requests for the e-mails of Palin and her husband, Todd, a quasi-official advisor, were made shortly after Sen. John McCain’s stunning announcement that she would be his running mate in the 2008 presidential election.

Under the state’s public records law, the e-mails are considered releasable documents unless they contain private information or are exempt for other reasons. The attorney general can grant delays to another state agency if there are difficulties in obtaining or preparing public records for release, and the governor’s office has so far obtained 16 extensions.

In seeking the delays, the governor’s office has cited the huge volume of material -- 26,553 pages of e-mails -- and the need to review each one twice, once by a lawyer and once by an appointed official, to determine whether it is releasable in whole or in part.

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