Open government in a social media age

Imagine Tom Henderson, 83, Position 8 council member for Port Arthur, up in his council chair while the mayor is speaking, thumbs flying over the keyboard of his smart phone. Could Henderson be putting together by text a secret coalition of council members to ram through a pet project at the very moment the mayor is speaking against it?
That example may be a little far fetched, and I hope Councilman Henderson will excuse my use of an image of him wildly texting to get a point across. But the issue, if you think about it, is real. Open meetings laws are designed to protect the public from back room deals on issues of public interest and funded with public money.
Whenever a quorum of a governmental body gets together and talks about public business, a notice of a meeting must be posted and the topics they will discuss must be listed. Open government one of the main things that makes our democracy different from the democracy in, say, Iran.
But what if Councilmember A texts a group consisting of Councilmembers B, C, and D and lobbies for an issue? Or what if he puts on his FaceBook his arguments for a project, and has his status set so only other council members can see it? A lot of issues relating to doing the public’s business in the open can come up with the new technology available to elected officials.
A bill by Rep. Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi would ament the Texas Open Meetings Act to make it an offense to transmit an electronic message during a public meeting, according the a report by the Associated Press. Hear that, Tom? Hunter was apparently involved in a “spat” during a city council meeting involving two members texting each other.
The Texas Legislature, if they’re not too busy dealing with the non issue of sanctuary cities or making unconstitutional abortion laws, should do something to protect the public’s ability to stay informed about the business of the governments we pay for. Maybe we should text our representatives about that.
Window to the Newsroom is written by Roger Cowles, editor of The Port Arthur News. Contact him at rcowles@panews.com.