If the board is choosing not to participate for a particular reason, or Jimmy is choosing not to release e-mails for a particular reason, then they should say so. Nothing keeps them from offering that information themselves. It isn't necessary for other people to speculate on whether the deafening silence from the board is justified by a non-disparagement agreement or some other concern about personnel confidentiality.
If that's the case, and it seems unlikely those responsibilities would prevent the release of any information at all, they could simply offer "We understand people would like us to comment about issues X, Y and Z but we can't for reasons A, B and C." Regardless, the board can speak on its own behalf or not and spectators guessing on the motivations behind their choices add no new information and certainly can't excuse the gap into outer space that used to be filled by a person named Patricio.