February 28, 2012
by J.D._Sumner
There are times when one has to really look hard to find something blog-worthy in government. Let's face it. Unless it's scandelous or felonious few tend to pay much attention at all on how their local and state government operate.
This is not one of those times.
Monday, members of the Georgia House's Judiciary subcommittee convened to discuss, among other things, a bill that retool's Georgia's Open Government laws.
These are the laws that, in all honesty, allow you, the constituency, to know what the heck is going when the people you elected meet.
The laws also government what access you as a member of the public have to documents, e-mails, maps, recordings and videos created by your elected and appointed leaders.
So how ironic is it that, as the meeting prepares to start to discuss how "open" government in the state of Georgia can be, that the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Wendell Willard, a Republican from Sandy Springs, offers a motion to ban all cameras from the meeting. The motion passed with only one dissenting vote --- Rep. Roger Bruce, an Atlanta Democrat, who reportedly said he believed tossing photographers out of the meeting violated the first amendment provisions in the U.S. Constitution and could not support the measure.
Willard justified his motion by pointing to a hearing last week in which the committee heard testimony related to a bill handling employee discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Video of that testimony was posted on the popular video website YouTube with viewers posting derogatory comments criticizing and threatening the witness.
To further push the irony train down the tracks, the changes to the "Sunshine Laws" that the committee passed does little to tear down the Georgia General Assembly's massive exemption to the laws on itself.
You heard that right folks.
The people who decide how much access you have to your own government, have a blanket exemption to the law preventing you, me, or anyone else from demanding that they keep their proceedings open, honest and transparent.
The mere fact that this committee could vote to toss out anyone based merely on the fact that there might be criticism of a person or provision of the law is an abomination to a free and Democratic society.
In 1822, President James Madison said, "A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps, both."
The public relies on it's constitutionally-protected messengers, the press, to watch its government. To report what action is taken and what impact it might have on them.
Rep. Willard's actions Monday, and those of the committee, are paradoxical to the idea that the government operates only at the whim and pleasure of its people and is, perhaps, the purest example why all levels of government, not just your city commissions and county commissions, should be answerable to the people.
Comments
Justice4Moma 1 year, 2 months ago
If we had more camera's in some of the meetings that go on in Albany i think it would help us not only to know what is going on,but to make the ones that are OUR leaders know that they are being taped for the PEOPLE.It s a shame but some of our leaders protect there own(other Govt people)We vote them in,and WE can take them out of office's that they hold and put other people in there.Maybe they will be worse,maybe better.But We The People are the ones who should know at all times what is going on with the people we elect.And if those people do not want to be on camera,then they should have not run for office.Alot say they were handed alot of toubles from people who left office before them.Hey you ran for it,you got it.So make it work.You did not mind being on camera when you ran for what ever office you hold,so why put the cameras away once you get in where you wanted to be?Do you have something to hide.If we had more cameras in the court rooms i think it would change alot of things.Show people what the out come for stealing would be.Just maybe it may stop some stealing,or murders,or gang s.Put the faces out there for people to see.
agirl_25 1 year, 2 months ago
Wasn't there a time a few years back when the county meetings were telecast and didn't I hear that other municipalities actually taped them to study how NOT to conduct meetings....hahahahaha..excuse me I am laughing so hard......but it seems to me this was during the reign of the little bantam rooster (you all know who I mean) and the rope-a-dope (wink wink) who finally got defeated (neither one knew what was going on and needed to go back to 7th grade and take basic civics classes). I remember I used to love to leave the country and come into the big city to visit and have the opportunity to see them in action on TV.
agonized 1 year, 1 month ago
I think the meetings were telecast on the local access channel that sometimes has classes from Darton or ASU or events from there. What I heard was that the telecasts were shown to businesses thinking of locating here. Whether that's actually true or not, I don't know, but they really were funny back then, mainly because I didn't live here. They were even worse live.
agirl_25 1 year, 1 month ago
Yes, I had heard they were shown to reps from some businesses thinking about locating here and the meetings were used for comedy relief. A friend of my son-in-law's was in Albany years ago on business and happened to see one of the meetings and could not believe his eyes, taped one of the sessions and took it back to Birmingham, and then off to San Francisco, where you can imagine they had a blast looking at it. I would have given my first born to watch one live...hahaha....(just kidding, son).....
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