Push Is On to Close Some Doors On Open Meetings -- Sunshine Revisions Would Allow More Private Talk

Summary

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NASHVILLE - Early this year, the Knox County Commission gathered in public to rubber-stamp the appointments of 12 top county officials mostly selected earlier behind closed doors, a jury ruled this month.

The new appointees included the son of one term-limited commissioner to her seat, the wife of another commissioner to replace him, the father of another to a different seat and one commissioner to be county clerk.

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Push Is On to Close Some Doors On Open Meetings -- Sunshine Revisions Would Allow More Private Talk

After a 3-week trial, the citizen jurors unanimously ruled Oct. 2 that their local government grossly violated Tennessee's Open Meetings Act, also known at the "Sunshine Law."

But the Knoxville case - hailed as a huge victory by open- government advocates - ironically is fueling the biggest push to revise the Sunshine Law since its enactment in 1974. Those advocates s...

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