The Tennessee Capitol Hill Press Corps met this morning with House Republican Caucus Chair Ryan Williams over his decision last week to boot The Tennessean's Joel Ebert from the first meeting of the caucus since its Nov. 17 elections. In attendance were WPLN's Chas Sisk, the chair of TCHPC; Tom Humphrey of the Tennessee Journal; the Chattanooga Times Free Press' Andy Sher; Ebert; and this reporter.
It was a cordial meeting, as far as such things go, and it ended on a hopeful note, but it also seems fair to say that Williams didn't really seem to understand why, exactly, we were so het up over one little ole' closed meeting. As Ebert reports:
Defending last week's decision, Williams, R-Cookeville, said he has every intention of giving the press every opportunity to be in the meetings but added, "I do believe there is a time and a place where we have to have the ability to communicate personally with one another." ...
On the question of holding closed meetings in general, Williams said he believes there's a "huge difference" between when lawmakers are in session and when they are not, as was the case with last week's meeting.
"Once the doors of the General Assembly are open...I believe that it changes," he said. "When you're in session you can effectively transact business." ...
The East Tennessee Republican argued that last week's caucus meeting would not have allowed the Republicans to "transact business" — it appears he meant taking some sort of vote or other legislative action beyond discussion — and was more focused on the state's budget surplus and some talk of the fires that ravaged Sevier County.
But, as Ebert notes, the business transacted in the Legislature goes far beyond session. And with a supermajority of Republicans, whether or not the actual supermajority 66 votes are present, it's worrisome that discussions of TEMA protocol and the state's rainy day fund surplus — two of the main topics of discussion at last week's meeting, per Williams — need to be discussed behind closed doors. It was a discussion of "family business," Williams kept saying as justification for shutting out reporters, but the operations of state agencies and the state budget are of interest to all Tennessee taxpayers, not just GOP caucus members.
Yet, again and again, he kept returning to "family business," implying his caucus members wouldn't feel comfortable talking about certain things in front of the press. What things? Williams wouldn't specify.
"Our members want the forum to be able to communicate, much like your family would at your Thanksgiving dinner. We want to be able to communicate the same way," Williams said.
But elected officials, ones whose salaries are paid by taxpayers, are not "family," nor should they be treated as such, even by each other.
The meeting ended with Williams agreeing that all caucus meetings during session will be open, but if the caucus determines the need for a closed-door meeting, it will give the press 24 hours notice. He promised no legislation would be discussed during closed meetings, and that if at a meeting a motion is made to close the meeting, there would be a full vote of the caucus present as to what should happen.
Williams made no promises about meetings held outside of session. Nor did he seem enthusiastic about the House adopting the same bylaws as the Senate Republican Caucus has, which require that caucus to abide by the state's open meetings laws.
Still, whatever came out of today's meeting with Williams is a sight more promising than that of the House Democratic Caucus, which doesn't even bother with the pretense of open meetings most of the time.
