Despite the state’s open meeting law, discussed in this News & Observer blog by Dan Barkin, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand prevented reporter Dan Kane from getting into what was clearly a state budget meeting yesterday. From the Barkin blog:
Tony Rand is a clever and skillful legislative mechanic, and maybe he has calculated the costs and benefits of secret meetings, and thinks he comes out ahead. Maybe he thinks you just can’t make the omelet without breaking a few eggs, and everything will work out in the end. Maybe he is right.
But he didn’t do anything for the legislature’s stature yesterday, and as cynically and dismissively as some Jones Street barons may regard the principles of openness, it’s not a bad thing for the General Assembly’s leadership to think about their historic role from time to time.
Tony Rand thought he was just closing the door on Dan Kane. Actually, he was shutting the door on all North Carolinians, because we all have a stake in the $21 billion budget. It just looked like Dan Kane.
