It was the early 1980s, I cannot be more exact than that. As morning news anchor and reporter for WCSI Radio in Columbus, Indiana, part of my regular beat was to cover Bartholomew County Government. One meeting of the County Council was quite controversial.
It was so long ago I cannot remember the exact issue involved, but the council was set to vote on a matter that would adversely impact a relative of one council member. That council member planned to vote in favor of the measure, but didn’t want his relative to know.
That one council member asked the council president if the vote could be done secretly…in other words, each council member would write their individual votes on a piece of paper, hand the votes to the council president, and he would then announce the result of the vote (8-1, 9-0, for example) but there would be no record of how each council member voted, just a record of the vote result.
The measure passed (don’t recall the vote numbers), no one objected and the meeting moved on. When I wrote my story, I quoted language in the open meeting law in place at that time, and noted the manner of voting in this instance did not appear to be consistent with state law.
The local newspaper, The Columbus Republic, decided to press the issue. The print edition each day, for many consecutive days, had a different story about the “secret vote” by the Bartholomew County Council. You could say the editorial staff of the Republic made this their own personal crusade.
At the next county council session, the council attorney blasted the newspaper in public. The Republic reporter sat next to me in these meetings and what she said in response to me will not be quoted here. It was all finally resolved, as I recall, with a council vote the traditional way, with members on the record.
Why do I bring this up now? Indianapolis Star reporters Brittany Carloni and Kayla Dwyer published a story, last updated March 1st, about an amendment tacked onto a piece of legislation at the Indiana General Assembly that was supposed to only deal with how local governments should handle disruptions in public meetings. The amendment was introduced by Representative J.D. Prescott, (R)-Union City,
The Star story says this amendment “would require the public access counselor to only consider the exact text of Indiana’s access laws or applicable court cases when issuing advisory opinions.”
Public Access Counselor Luke Britt did not comment on pending legislation, which is what an official in his position is required to do. Prescott did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.
But State Senator Aaron Freeman (R) Indianapolis, had a lot to say to the Star journalists. He accused Britt of of taking “some liberties” in interpreting the state open meetings law.
“I think certainly it’s fair to say there’s been some very liberal interpretations of the statute,” Freeman told the Indianapolis Star.
I only know what my experience has been. I have never met or spoken with Luke Britt but I have read many of his decisions. I do not believe former Governor Pence or Governor Holcomb would appoint, then re-appoint, some radical liberal to a job such as Public Access Counselor.
There was a squabble between the local school board and Television Station WTHR’s investigative news team a few years ago. That case went all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court and WTHR won a unanimous decision by the justices, backing Britt’s advisory opinions.
My experience in reading Mr. Britt’s writing is that he is not liberal or conservative, he is just trying to honestly and fairly interpret a law that doesn’t answer every question that arises.
Britt may have been silent on all this, but the Star quotes a number of what the reporters describe as “government transparency advocates.” They all agree that Prescott’s amendment, passed in House committee, would gut the Public Access Counselor by limiting any opinions to the exact language in the statute.
I have been in and out of journalism since 1973 and firmly believe watering-down our open meetings law is a very bad idea. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail in the end.
The Star story can be accessed at this link, but you may need a subscription