Public secrets: Maine lawmakers flout open meeting law to hash out budget details
Bangor Daily News
June 10, 2015
Sig Schutz is quoted in this article which discusses Maine's Freedom of Access Act.
Excerpt:
Schutz, a partner at the Preti Flaherty law firm, said closed meetings of full committees, subcommittees and the “chairs and leads” are “pretty clearly against the spirit of the (FOAA) act and quite probably against the letter of the act.”
Like Leary, he said there is no exemption in FOAA for sensitive topics or because lawmakers “are too chicken to do their business in public.”
When it comes to performing their official duties, Schutz said, “Public officials have no privacy rights.”