Coakley enters e-mail inquiry

“We are involved, and we’re reviewing it,’’ Coakley told reporters. “We have talked with Secretary [of State William F.] Galvin. We are working with him, and we’re going to work with him to make sure that we complete this investigation and we take the appropriate action.’’

Coakley, who is a leading contender in a special election for a US Senate seat, had for weeks avoided getting involved in the e-mail issue, saying that oversight of public records is Galvin’s responsibility. Yesterday, facing numerous questions about the matter at a press conference announcing the indictment of a drug ring, she offered no explanation for her change of heart.

The e-mail controversy has become an issue in the Boston mayoral campaign, as Menino’s challenger, Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty Jr., has repeatedly called for Coakley to investigate and denounced Menino’s handling of the e-mails as “wholesale destruction of public records.’’

The investigation centers on the city’s handling of public records associated with a powerful mayoral aide, Michael J. Kineavy. After federal prosecutors had requested copies of some of Kineavy’s e-mails in connection with a corruption investigation and the Globe requested copies of other e-mails in connection with a story about the Menino administration, the city acknowledged that Kineavy had been double-deleting his e-mails every day, making them difficult to retrieve.

State law requires municipal employees to save electronic correspondence for at least two years, even when the contents are of “no informational or evidential value.’’ Penalties include fines of up to $500 or one year in prison.

The secretary of state oversees the public records law, but only the attorney general can prosecute alleged violations, and the attorney general has more investigative tools at her disposal, including subpoena power and a newly opened computer forensics lab.

Coakley’s decision to assist with the investigation presents a potentially uncomfortable political pas de deux between two of the state’s most powerful Democrats. Political observers pointed out that Coakley will now be investigating the mayor’s administration in the heat of his most contested reelection campaign, at the same time she is in the midst of a fierce fight for the first open US Senate seat in the state in 25 years.

“It’s a touchy situation,’’ said Stephen Ansolabehere, a political scientist at Harvard. “Boston is going to be pretty important for the Democratic primary’’ in the US Senate race, he said, and Coakley “is going to want to appeal to as many voters as possible,’’ particularly in the mayor’s urban strongholds.

“This isn’t done lightly,’’ Ansolabehere said of Coakley’s entrance into the investigation. “Especially in this political season, my guess is it’s something she’d rather avoid.’’

Menino, who said he heard about Coakley’s involvement while riding in his car to a schoolyard ribbon-cutting in West Roxbury, said he welcomed the attorney general’s involvement.

“I think it’s great that she’s getting involved,’’ the mayor said after the ribbon-cutting. “We can finally come to finality on this issue. She will look at what we’ve given them and bring finality to the issue, finally.’’

Menino dismissed the politics of the case, saying he was not particularly close to Coakley.

“We’re friends, but we’re not good friends,’’ the mayor said, adding, “I’ve got a lot of friends in this business.’’

Coakley declined to say exactly what her current role is or when it began. Her involvement at this stage was unexpected, because both she and Galvin had repeatedly said that the attorney general would get involved only if Galvin found a possible violation of the law that merited prosecution.

“We understand what our responsibility and commitment is, as does the secretary of state,’’ Coakley said. “We believe that together we will take the action that we need to, to both resolve the factual questions and determine what else will happen. We are involved now, and I’m just not going to comment further on it.’’

Galvin declined, through a spokesman, to answer questions. His only public comment was a statement issued by Coakley’s office: “I appreciate the assistance of the attorney general’s office in attempting to quickly resolve this matter.’’

On Tuesday, Galvin had said that he was growing increasingly frustrated with what he described as the Menino administration’s failure to fully cooperate with his investigation, and said, “we’re approaching some decisions in this area, unless there’s a dramatic turnaround in their response.’’

But Menino reiterated yesterday that he has been cooperating with Galvin.

“We’ve cooperated with them every step of the way on this issue,’’ the mayor said. “Every document they want, we give them. When they send us back an e-mail and ask us, we continue to do it. We want this cleared up as quickly as possible.’’

Several legal specialists said that, despite the politics involved, the investigation will unearth a clear set of facts for Coakley and Galvin to follow.

“When you’re attorney general, you get served up these things out of nowhere, and your ability to control the agenda is limited,’’ said James M. Shannon, a former state attorney general. “In the end, you’re given a fact situation, and you have to take whatever action is required. No matter what you do, you’re going to get shot at.’’

The issue continued yesterday to rock the race for mayor, as Kineavy, the mayor’s chief of policy and planning, began an indefinite unpaid leave from City Hall and prepared to assist the mayor as an unpaid political strategist for Menino’s reelection campaign.

Flaherty’s campaign denounced Kineavy’s role in the campaign.

“It seems disingenuous for the mayor’s top political operative to take an unpaid leave to go and be the mayor’s top political operative and to run his campaign,’’ said Councilor at Large Sam Yoon, who held a press conference with Flaherty on City Hall Plaza. Yoon is campaigning for Flaherty and has been promised the position of deputy mayor if Flaherty is elected.

But Menino rejected criticism of Kineavy’s campaign work, saying, “He’s an American citizen, and he can volunteer on anything he wants to do.’’

Brian Mooney and Matt Viser of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.