Texas CPS Commission muzzles public at meeting
This is quick and dirty. More later. Just heard from an attorney who attended the Texas Permanent Commission meeting today, in Austin. Says that the room was packed. The meeting ran from about 10 to 2 pm. People came from as far as Houston. Willie Jessop was there, as well, with a number of FLDS people.
The Commission’s rules provide for public comment at the end of each meeting. Many people completed comment cards at the beginning, indicating a desire to speak and disclosing the general topic that they wished to address. But . . . (drumroll) . . . the Commission adjourned the meeting with out allowing any public comment!
Clever, huh? At the meeting where they should expect people to vent the most, they muzzle the people of Texas. That’s your Texas Supreme Court, folks. Enjoy them!
4 comments
Rules! Rules? We don’t need no steenking RULES.
Commission? No, Commissariat. Ruled by the Commissars. Show trials coming up.
This has become a common tactic locally - zoning meetings, county commissioners, city council. They have all moved citizens’ comment time to the END of the meeting. And then decide it is too late to stay for comments. So they adjourn.
Texas obviouly needs to implement a version of California’s Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (and probably the Ralph M. Brown Act also) for itself. in California those acts prohibit governmental bodies from failing to hear public comment on each agenda item (and the agenda must be published 72 hours in advance or more (in a 24/7 publicly available place - in other words they can’t lock up the agenda notice during the 72 hours).
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