Hattiesburg American on MDOT Secret Meeting: "how many other times have they violated it?"

The Hattiesburg American has chimed in with criticism of the alleged violation of Mississippi's Open Meetings Law by MDOT Commissioners Wayne Brown and Bill Minor.

[T]he Mississippi Ethics Commission has been asked to investigate. There was a quorum with two of the three commissioners at this dinner/meeting and they were talking about a highway project. It doesn't sound like a social meeting to us.

If it looks, sounds and quacks like a duck ...

Minor, Wayne Brown and Butch Brown have 14 days from the date of Hall's complaint to respond.

Unfortunately, even if they are found guilty of violating the open meetings law, the penalty is less than a slap on the wrist. It's a $100 fine. And the question must be asked, if these officials violated the law on this occasion, how many other times have they violated it?

Until Mississippi takes open government seriously - meaning real penalties for those who violate the open meetings and open records laws - the good old boys that have run this state for generations will continue to be in charge.

If they are found guilty of doing business in secret, hopefully the voters of Mississippi will do more than give them a slap on the wrist.