blog@abn

I've been trying to find out when the Governor's Public Integrity Task Force will hold its meetings, so I can attend and observe. After much calling and e-mailing, I am now told that there will be a public hearing on December 3, time and place to be announced. Since they only have 60 days to produce their recommendations, the Task Force is evidently planning to meet behind closed doors, other than the public hearing. Now, a public hearing is necessary, but that's a chance for us to talk to them. We all know that the important thing to see is them talking to each other. The process of deliberation is what the Open Meeting Law is designed to protect -- so we see what mutual influence (arm-twisting, knee-cracking, horse-trading, info-burying) shaped the products of the group. This Task Force may or may not be technically subject to the Open Meeting Law; but it seems clear that if the subject is ethics, transparency and accountability, its first obligation is to lift the curtain and let the citizens see what we need to see about the job of cleaning up our government.

Deval Patrick's campaign platform was very heavy on ethics, transparency and accountability, and also on civic engagement, which of course is impossible without information and fair access to the public process. This is a fundamental test of his commitment. If his Public Integrity Task Force itself is just another governmental "sausage factory," it won't produce anything more than cosmetics. The ethical cesspool must be drained, as the Boston Globe wrote, and this Task Force can't be a credible force for clean government if it is hiding behind closed doors.

Governor Patrick: tear down this door!


PS No one else on the Task Force has stepped forward to disclose the meeting dates either!  Deep underground!  This does not bode well.