The U.S. Department of Justice has sued to halt the public release of the emails of Story County (Iowa) Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald, after the FirstNet board member criticized his colleagues over the deployment of the nation's first public safety broadband wireless network.

Sheriff Fitzgerald, one of 15 FirstNet board members overseeing the rollout of the network, has said his board colleagues are too beholden to wireless carriers and haven't been following open meeting rules or project guidelines, reports the Des Moines Register.

"In my view, the process thus far employed by FirstNet is killing our credibility," he said at an April board meeting.

The Justice Department is not seeking to quash the release of more than 7,100 of the sheriff's emails to fellow board members and other stakeholders.