April 11 (Bloomberg) -- Some White House e-mails dealing with government business may have been lost after they were sent through private accounts set up by the Republican National Committee, a Bush administration spokesman said.

``Some official e-mails have potentially been erased, and that is a mistake that the White House is aggressively working to fix,'' Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel said today.

The disclosure drew criticism from Representative Henry Waxman of California and other congressional Democrats who have been raising questions about whether Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's chief political adviser, and other administration aides have used the private accounts to circumvent requirements for preserving official records and to avoid disclosures.

Stanzel blamed the loss on staff confusion about the law requiring all official White House business to be preserved, as well as aides failing to switch to their official e-mail accounts in the midst of sending messages. That explanation drew skepticism from Democrats.

``This sounds like the administration's version of the dog ate my homework,'' Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said. ``Just when this administration is finally subjected to meaningful oversight, it cannot produce the necessary information.''

`Deeply Disturbed'

The Vermont Democrat, whose panel is investigating the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys last year, said he was ``deeply disturbed'' by the situation.

Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, called it ``a remarkable admission that raises serious legal and security issues.''

Some of the e-mails turned over to Congress in the probe into the firings came from non-government e-mail accounts. Stanzel said none of the e-mails related to U.S. attorneys investigation have been lost.

Twenty-two White House employees have non-government e-mail addresses to handle businesses related to fundraising and other political activities. It is illegal to use government resources for political purposes.

The unaccounted-for messages were sent before 2004. After 2004, the Republican National Committee began excluding communications from White House staff from automatic purges that occurred after 30 days, Stanzel said.

Retrieval Effort

The White House counsel's office is trying to retrieve the missing e-mails. Stanzel said the policy on e-mail preservation has been clarified for both White House and RNC staff. He also said Bush has been informed of the situation.

The disclosure of the missing e-mails follows requests from Democrats in Congress for records regarding communications sent through the Republican National Committee account.

Leahy and Representative John Conyers of Michigan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote White House Counsel Fred Fielding on March 28 asking that he take steps to preserve any e-mails written by White House personnel from non- government e-mail addresses.

``We hope you agree that such sleight of hand not be used to circumvent and compromise the comprehensiveness of our investigation,'' the two lawmakers wrote.

Waxman on April 4 wrote a letter to RNC Chairman Mike Duncan requesting ``e-mail communications stored on Republican National Committee servers that relate to the use of federal agencies and federal resources for partisan political purposes.''

Waxman cited e-mails his office discovered while investigating the head of the General Services Administration regarding contracting practices and the use of government resources for political purposes.

He requested all e-mails sent to or received from Rove, as well as his deputy, J. Scott Jennings.

To contact the reporter on this story: Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington at hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 11, 2007 19:21 EDT