Earlier this week Scott Yost of The Rhinoceros Times in Greensboro heard about a meeting that U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, D-NC, was holding with U.S. Treasury officials and city and county officials in Greensboro. It was billed as a private, by-invitation-only meeting, and a note on the invitation from Miller’s office stressed that point by adding: “Note: this is a non transferable invitation.”
It occurred to Scott that if a quorum of council members or commissioners attended, then it had to be an open meeting. But it wasn’t. Here’s Scott’s account.
After the meeting, he attended the press conference, along with all the other reporters who, to their shame, had meekly accepted the restrictions put on them by Miller and the Obama Treasury official. Here’s what happened when he tried to ask a question:
I waited my turn to ask a question and, as soon as I began asking the two men the rationale for closing the meeting, a couple of aides began talking over my question in raised voices, trying to drown out my question.
One female official called out loudly to the group of reporters as I was trying to ask my question, “Do we have any more questions on regulatory reform?”
I’ve been going to press conferences for seven years and, in all that time, never once, have I had anyone shout down my question before it could be asked – nor have I ever seen it done to any other reporter.
