By Matthew Eisley and Jane Stancill
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Oct. 06, 2005
Excerpt:
University of North Carolina leaders promised that their
search for a new president would be open. And until it came time to
pick one, it was.But once the search committee got down to evaluating the leading
candidates — and recommending Erskine Bowles — it became so secretive
that legal experts say it broke state law requiring open meetings.The committee violated the law by failing to tell the public when and
where it was meeting to interview the candidates, whom it chose to
shield from view, experts in North Carolina’s open-government laws say.“It doesn’t seem to be in compliance,” said David Lawrence, a professor
at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Institute of Government who literally wrote the
book on government meetings. “You can have the whole thing in closed
session, but the public is entitled to know when and where the meeting
is.”Attorney General Roy Cooper backed that interpretation in a fresh legal
opinion from his top staff, which Cooper sent Wednesday to more than
100 government board leaders across the state — including UNC’s board
chairman.The advisory legal opinion notes that state statutes require public
notice of all official government meetings, including closed sessions
to review job candidates.“I believe that strict compliance with the law is critical to good
government,” Cooper wrote in a cover letter. “… The public’s right to
hear and see public business is of utmost importance, and I hope you
will weigh carefully the need to close a meeting against the people’s
right to know.”[…]
State law allows government search committees to keep information about
job candidates confidential. But it doesn’t allow them to prevent
reporters or other citizens from hanging around outside official
meetings.