Don't bother checking the archives, or unwrapping that fish. You didn't miss it. The committee members closed the hearings. And by denying access to the public and your emissaries in the news media, they denied your right to know.
The committee could have waived the House rules that require closed sessions. But members, who hold hearings so infrequently that they're reportedly at a loss about how to conduct them, chose to keep the public in the dark about the shady antics on Capitol Hill.
And Hughes and Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Holladay, who is accused of leaking false information to the press about the allegations against Hughes, could have taken the committee to court to open the hearings. But they want resolution before the Nov. 4 election, and court action would delay the proceedings.
There's little doubt in our mind that the state's Open and Public Meetings Act is being violated; that a court would rule that the hearings should be accessible to the public and the press. After all, these are public officials conducting the public's business on the public's dime. And the few exceptions in state statutes that allow official meetings of government bodies to be closed do not, from our reading, seem to apply.
But, despite pleas from Riesen, Hughes and their attorneys, the committee voted to keep the proceedings closed. They decided to follow the House rules instead of Utah law.
That's unfortunate. Good governance requires transparency and openness, an informed electorate. When the committee closed those doors, they slammed them in your face.
Worse, the members of the public lose the right to hear the evidence and reach their own conclusions. To determine if the committee acted justly. To judge if the system works.
And Hughes, Riesen and the Legislature, no matter what the outcome, will still be shrouded in suspicion. If the accused are found to have crossed ethical boundaries, people will ask: "Were they railroaded?" If they are cleared of the accusations, people will ask: "Were committee members protecting their own?"
The Legislature needs to rewrite the rules to require open ethics hearings. Better yet, it needs to approve legislation to empanel an independent, nonpartisan ethics commission to publicly hear ethics complaints.
