Archive for the ‘Open records act’ tag
Smith County Vs. State Of Texas Attorney General
In a move that strikes everyone as being bizarre, Smith county commissioners are filing suit against the State Attorney Generals office in an attempt to keep the Smith county jail plans a secret.
Their reasons? Ostensibly, to keep the jail details from falling into the hands of criminals who might be planning some future jail break! The facts are a little more complicated.
If, as attorney Ken Good believes, “A fully completed and detailed architectural drawing submitted to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards before the plan was even made public would demonstrate that Judge Baker and Commissioner Fleming violated the law.” , it would mean that the county commissioners involved had in fact, violated the open meetings act, and would be subject to civil and criminal penalties. This would seem to be the real reason for filling suit against the AG.
Attorney General Says No Secrets On Tyler Smith County Jail
A.G. Says they must supply the Docs
Commissioners can’t keep their jail plans secret!
So Says the Texas Attorney General, the “What Part of No” committee revealed today. My question: What made them think that they could make plans in secret, violate the open meeting act, then violate the open records act, and get away with it? Do they think that their positions make them above the law? That is precisely the arrogant attitude that we have spoken of so many times before, and the reason that if you do a Google search of the term “official arrogance”, you will find the them mentioned at number 6, and still holding strong in that position for almost a year!
What other secret meetings were held?
The jail issue was being watched pretty closely by a lot of people. What other secret meetings went on under the radar? It is a fair question! If their arrogance is such as to make them think they could get away with keeping something that is this public a secret, what would have prevented them from carrying on other illegal activities in secret?
Related Questions
Related rumors have it that the finances of the “Finally a Jail We Can Afford” committee, are coming from people who may have a direct financial stake in the building of the new jail! It would be nice to know more. All in all, it sounds like just a regular old day of doing business in and with Smith county. You know, secret meetings, questionable dealings, etc.
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Interesting cases: Does the 4th amendment protect an individuals right against unlawful search and seizure if the unlawful search was done by a bungling boob, and not malevolently?
