Report from Commercial Appeal-Rick Locker
The TML, Tennessee School Boards Association, the association of county governments and others have presented wish lists for new exemptions to the meetings and records laws -- including closed school board meetings on job performance of the schools superintendent and other "sensitive issues."
But the study coincides with a time of scandal and other concerns about government across the state, including the federal government's "Tennessee Waltz" corruption investigation. In Memphis, one city councilman is under indictment, as is the former president of MLGW, and the FBI continues its work.
Oped in Daily News Journal
A subcommittee of the state's open meetings panel voted recently to allow members of an elected body to gather and discuss public business in private as long as fewer than a quorum are present.
To me, that's nuts. Why is transparency so threatening to some officials? The public's business should always be handled in the open, the legal exception being to allow elected officials to discuss ongoing lawsuits with attorneys in private.