Closed public meetings ‘corrosive to democracy’

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Hood: Closed public meetings ‘corrosive to democracy’

by Associated Press
Published: September 17,2010
Tags: Freedom of information, public meetings

OXFORD — Mississippi must strengthen penalties against public officials who improperly close public meetings, state Ethics Commission director Tom Hood said yesterday.

Under the state Open Meetings law, officials cannot be fined individually. Instead, the public body is fined up to $100 per violation — and that means the public picks up the tab.

Hood said the current law could discourage people from pushing for openness: “Who’s interested in making the taxpayers pay a $100 fine for what their elected officials did in breaking the law?”

Hood said Mississippi should make individual office holders liable for paying any fines and should increase the penalty to $1,000 per violation, roughly the regional average. Proposals to make both of those changes have failed in the Legislature.

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