In the Hall

Last week, Seattle Times reporter Emily Heffter wrote that
she was “physically dragged… away from” a closed-door meeting
in city council member Jean Godden’s office by Godden aide Tom Van
Bronkhorst.

“The state’s Open Public Meetings Act requires that meetings of
public governing bodies be open. The law applies to their
votes—but also discussions and deliberations leading up to
votes,” Heffter wrote.

However, according to accounts from several people close to the
meeting, Heffter wasn’t “dragged” at all. According to those accounts,
Heffter told staffers, “My editor sent me down here to get kicked
out,” after which Van Bronkhorst looped his finger under her purse
strap and gestured that she should leave. Although Heffter was
reportedly cooperative, before leaving she reportedly asked if she
could be “kicked out” again, this time by Godden herself.

Neither Heffter nor her editor, Jim Simon, has responded to requests
to comment on the discrepancies between Heffter’s stories and City Hall
staffers’ accounts.

However, in her attempt to manufacture outrage against the council,
Heffter failed to mention several pertinent facts.

First, the meetings did not constitute a quorum of the city
council, which could trigger the state’s Open Public Meetings Act.

Second, as a City Hall reporter like Heffter surely knows, council
members receive briefings in their inner offices all the time.
Legislation gets drafted in private negotiations every single week; the
subsequent committee discussions take place after everyone has seen the
legislation, passed around their amendments, and determined their
positions.

Third, this year’s budget cuts are relatively minor—between
1.5 and 3 percent for each city department, thanks to a “rainy day
fund” that still contains some $30 million.

Finally, and most importantly, this year’s budget cuts are not
subject to a public vote. Mayor Greg Nickels has the authority to
reduce the budget in the middle of the year with no council input. He
can choose to brief the council, but he doesn’t have to—and if he
does, those meetings don’t have to be public.

Perhaps the fact that Heffter doesn’t appear to be aware of this is
a symptom of the Seattle Times‘ longstanding policy of routinely
rotating reporters in and out of City Hall. Perhaps it’s willful
naiveté. And perhaps it’s just bad reporting—it’s easy to
get kicked out of a meeting, but its hard to develop sources who will
tell you what’s going on behind the scenes at City Hall.

But to demand that council members should hold every single
conversation about policy in public doesn’t serve the public
interest. In practice, such a policy would cause local government
to grind to a halt.

Ultimately, the Times and Heffter got their way: Mayoral
staffers will still brief the council, but only one council member at a
time. It’s hard to see how that constitutes a victory for open
government.