Regents opt for the comfort of closure

Conducting the public's business in front of the public can be so constraining and uncomfortable. Sometimes, you simply have to close the doors in the interest of sweet freedom. From The Register of Des Moines:

An Iowa Board of Regents committee tasked with eliminating $150 million in tuition-funded scholarships is meeting behind closed doors because it encourages the free exchange of ideas, board President Craig Lang said in a statement today.

Lang called the committee's goal – to present in September a plan to phase out the practice of tuition set-aside - ambitious both in its goal and timeline.

“Given the magnitude of the Committee's charge and the ambitious schedule, the Board believes the non-public nature of the meetings is an important element in facilitating the Committee's work. This encourages the free exchange of ideas and open discussion to ensure the very best results in meeting the Board's stated goals in a timely manner,” Lang said.

Given the magnitude of this load of bull, I'm almost speechless.

This is the most lame and tired of all the lame and tired reasons used to close meetings. Doing public business in public is so scary and, well, public. Just pay your taxes and tuition, citizens. We'll let you know when we're finished thinking freely. Rest assured, secrecy always yields the very best public policy results.

The governor's office, according to the article, says the governor trusts the board to make the call on this. So much for Gov. Transparency.