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Mike Moser State government reeks of hypocrisy The public's right to know is rapidly eroding,
even as you read this column, and it occurs to me that maybe
no one cares anymore. At least, there seems to be very few folks
these days expressing indignation at what is happening in our
state and even in our community. Earlier this week the Tennessee Attorney General's
office beat its chest and proudly proclaimed its victory over
the public and members of the news media when the Tennessee Supreme
Court refused to hear an appeal of a lower court's decision that
the Tennessee General Assembly does not have to conduct all of
its business in public. Chalk one up for the fat cats and their smoked-filled
back rooms where deals that govern our lives are cut outside
the public arena. The cigar smokers must be collectively chortling
over that one. After all, they made the laws that the courts
upheld that give the legislature the privilege to meet in secret.
Oh yes, by the way, they also make the laws that say school boards,
county commissions and city councils can't meet in secret. So
how do you spell state government? H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y. To celebrate their victory, Democrats in the
legislature killed a series of bills that would have opened information
about fundraising practices. The proposals would have also required
that all legislative committees and subcommittees record votes
by roll call as opposed to voice votes, and would have required
all meetings to be held in public. Given the dubious credit for killing the bills
are House Democrat leaders Speaker pro tem Lois DeBerry, House
Democrat Caucus Chairman Randy Rinks, Rep. Ulysses Jones and
Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. So many bills are discussed and killed behind
closed doors and legislators are not being held accountable for
their actions. Is it any wonder they can't convince the masses
that we desperately need tax reform in Tennessee? On the local level, we have a rather hard-line
interpretation of state law governing records involving juveniles.
Other than accident reports, everyone knows
that juvenile arrest reports are by law confidential unless a
judge opts to make that information public. We are not out to make anyone look bad. We
are not angry with anyone in the school administration. We just
believe with all our hearts that parents have a right to know
what kind of environment parents are sending children into on
a daily basis. Chief David Beaty has sought legal advice
from the city attorney and has been told in the past that all
juvenile records, regardless of their nature, are closed records.
I understand his position. On the other hand, I contend that incident
and offense reports are not included in the closure law. Nearly
every newspaper in Middle and East Tennessee report from police
records criminal actions of juveniles. We did until recently.
Now we don't. That is why you have not read about students
being arrested for possession of methamphetamines at the high
school. It is also why you have not read about numerous theft
incidents, some assaults and other actions that are taking place
at CCHS. We recognize that the percentage of students who do
get into trouble is probably less than 10 percent, and probably
reflects the percentage rate among adults who are arrested in
the county. But you cannot pretend these things don't happen. Such a policy leaves all the reporting to
rumor mongers and second-hand news artists who, by the time they
get through telling and retelling the story, it bears little
resemblance to what really happened. Discussions with the Tennessee Press Association
attorney have been held but the cold, hard facts are there are
many fires damaging freedom of information and the association
has to pick and choose its fights carefully. In both cases there is a feeling that state
and local agencies can better judge what the public needs to
know than the public. In the case of the legislature, I think
they feel we are not smart enough to receive and digest some
information. They know better what information we need to know
than we do. Or maybe there are other reasons they want to act
in secret. In the case of the city police department there is protection for the department by taking its attorney's advice. Police are acting in good faith. We just do not agree on this issue and we really wonder if anyone else cares. |