Open GOP Caucuses

Republican leader misunderstands the spirit of open meetings

Boo to S.C. House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Charleston, for his failure this week to grasp the spirit of the S.C. Freedom of Information Act. After S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster opined this week that the law requires meetings of the House Republican caucus to be open to the public, Merrill, in effect, said he would try to take the caucus private.

McMaster's opinion hinges on an FOIA requirement that meetings supported in whole or in part by public funding must be open to the public. In response, Merrill asked House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, to bill House Republicans for any publicly incurred expenses not already covered by caucus payments to the state. Presumably, those expenses would include rental for publicly owned office space and equipment.

Merrill defended his desire that House GOP strategy sessions be sealed on occasion from public view by noting that Republican legislators never take binding votes behind closed doors and have no desire to do so. In offering this defense for closed caucus sessions, the gentleman either is being disingenuous or misses the point of open meetings.

S.C. residents, who must live with the decisions of the Republican majority, have a vested interest in the process by which legislators reach decisions. It does little good to know what decisions the House majority makes in public sessions when you haven't been privy to legislators' discussions, in caucus, that led to those decisions. If they can't attend or read press reports of those discussions, S.C. residents are deprived of information they need to understand legislators' decisions.

Merrill and the House Republicans should open all their caucuses to the public.