A prime example of this can be found in Joe Hadsall's article in this morning's Joplin Globe, which indicates the Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors met in closed session to choose the members of the search committee which will look for a replacement for former University President Julio Leon.
The Board is headed by a lawyer Dwight Douglas, who apparently can't understand plain English. We always hear about boards and councils going into closed session to discuss "personnel," but there is no blanket exception for personnel. It is strictly limited to hiring, firing, promoting, or disciplining.
None of those exceptions apply in the case of choosing an unpaid search committee. The members of the committee are not paid personnel, they are advisors, therefore, they do not fall under any exception. Considering the culture of secrecy that has developed at my alma mater, I would have thought Douglas and his fellow board members would have wanted everything out in the open to help ensure public trust. Douglas sees it differently, according to the Globe article:
“We needed to have a frank discussion about the composition of the committee, and we did not want to discuss names of prominent people who we had not had the opportunity to visit with,” said Douglas, a Neosho lawyer. “We feel like it was a correct use of the Sunshine Law.”
Apparently, frank discussions are something that should not be held when the public can listen in, according to Douglas' philosophy. Unfortunately, as the public has discovered time after time over the years, he is one of many in government who feel the public does not need to know the public's business.
7 comments:
The bias of the Joplin Globe is obvious in this headline. As I read the story two lawyers involved in the matter say the sunshine law was not violated. One lawyer not involved or knowing the details speculates that the law was violated. The two lawyers that were involved say the naming of the committee was a personnel matter within an even broader personnel matter, the lawyer who was not involved says naming committees is not covered, even though deciding who serves on a committee is an obvious personnel question. Even with the Globe`s bias the headline should have read by 2 to 1 lawyers say there was no violation of law. My opinion is that the naming of the committee is a personnel matter and its purpose to select presidential candidates is a personnel mater and that it clearly is precisely the kind of matter that is exempt.
Um, since when do lawyers interpret the law? And I really thought that honor still went to the judges...maybe with an issue of legality maybe there should be, I don't know, some sort of "ruling" on how the law applies in this case. Call me crazy.
This board has a long history of flaunting the Sunshine Law and its about time someone issued a challenge. Lets hope the Globe dogs MSSU throughout this process.
“In this case, they don’t have an employee to hire, fire or discipline,” Davis said. “They don’t have an individual in mind. The personnel exemption in the Sunshine law is straightforward.”
Bingo.
“We were more focused on representing groups than people,” he said. “But, we also wanted to pick people who had demonstrated a long-term commitment to Southern. I think we have a high-quality committee.”
The loophole exists to protect individuals not groups. The board should have met in open session to discuss what special interests they wanted to serve - I mean what groups they wanted to be involved. Then, maybe, they could've justified closing the meeting to discuss picking specific indviduals from those special interests - whoops, I mean groups.
MSU and MWSU selected committees in open session. Why couldn't MSSU?
MSSU didn't sign the Attorney General's pledge on loans. Maybe Nixon should take some political revenge by investigating this matter. Its not like he will get any votes from Southwest Missouri anyway.
Here's another Sunshine Law Violation the Board of Governors has committed: Not giving notice of the time, date and place of each meeting. Even if the meeting can be closed legally, you still have to give the public at least 24 hours notice that you will be holding a closed meeting, and the reason why. The board had several meetings the past two months discussing what to do about Dr. Leon. These meetings were largely by telephone, but they were still meetings.
Dwight Douglas can't insist that the board didn't meet anytime between June 22 and August 17.
Here is another thought:
Every scheduled meeting is preceded by a "luncheon" for the board that is not open to the press.
Even if all they discuss is the weather and the food served, it stinks to high heaven of secrecy.
It is my understanding that even the student representative to the board is not invited to this luncheon meeting.
There was no violation of the sunshine law. The sole function of a search committee is to provide input on the hiring of a new official. Since the board has the greater power to conduct its hiring process through a variety of mechanisms (and ultimately has the power to choose whom to hire), it also has the lesser power to employ a search committee in order to decide whom to hire. The board's greater power to hire and fire in closed session includes its lesser power to seek advice about hiring and firing in closed session.
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