West U stands for open government
Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin’s latest lawsuit is a frontal assault on the Bill of Rights. He wants the federal court to toss out the Texas Open Meetings Act because his clients, who are elected officials, don’t get to discuss public business while they are drinking whiskey in a smoke filled room. For 42 years, the Texas Open Meetings Act has been the law in our state. And for good reason – the law lets Texas citizens watch their government spend their tax dollars.
I am proud to report the West University Place City Council voted 3-2 on Monday night to resolve our support for the Texas Open Meetings Act. One councilmember suggested that my inclusion of this resolution on the city council agenda was a “political gimmick.”
It was no gimmick, it is very serious: Four Texas cities, Pflugerville, Alpine, Rockport and Big Lake, along with 15 elected officials, filed a lawsuit in December to overturn the Texas Open Meetings Act, claiming that being prohibited from meeting as a majority, in private, is a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech. That’s preposterous. We need more transparency in our government, not less.
A very small number of elected officials in Texas claim the Texas Open Meetings Act impedes their Freedom of Speech. They have it backwards – open meetings enable the freedom of speech. We can say anything we want. But when we are meeting as a quorum, we have to say it in public. We want public discussion to take place in public. Is that unreasonable? It is the taxpayers that pay the freight. We need to maximize the involvement of taxpayers in the decision-making of our government.
Steve Segal and Bob Fry voted with me in reaffirming West U’s commitment to open government. Mayor Kelly says he is committed to open government. His reason for voting against the resolution was that “there is no good reason at this time for West U to throw itself in any manner into the expensive legal fight (There was no cost for passing the resolution).” Councilmember Chuck Guffey voted against the resolution because he was against the possibility of criminal penalties for violators.
However, the West University City Council is unanimous in this resolve - Elected officials should not participate in closed meetings to discuss and resolve public issues.
If you want to make your decisions in private, don’t run for public office. I speak for the Mayor and all of my fellow council members when I say, we are honored to serve the City of West University Place, and our commitment to an open and transparent government is unqualified.
