Legislative meetings should be broadcast online
Posted 1/16/2008 04:06:00 PM
C-SPAN allows you to watch Congress live on television and the Internet any time the House and Senate are in session.
Locally, you can watch meetings of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners, Las Cruces City Council and Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education on the city’s public access channel. You can watch the council’s meetings online by clicking here, and the commission’s by clicking here.
The county just recently implemented its system, and it didn’t cost very much. Broadcasting over the Internet is especially cheap.
So there’s no good reason why the state Legislature can’t implement a similar system in
Lawmakers have $75,000 to do it, but recently decided against spending the money on such a system. Though there may be some technical hurdles to making it happen, there’s no good reason for the Legislature to scrap a plan to broadcast its meetings online. In the Internet age, the Legislature has taken a step in the direction of the Stone Age, a step that is counter to democracy.
The only reason I can come up with why lawmakers don’t have the will to get this done is that they don’t want their meetings broadcast over the Internet. They don’t want to give people around the state that level of access to their meetings. They don’t want to make it easier for others to see what they’re doing.
It’s the same reason the Legislature won’t open conference committees to the public – a proposal that has repeatedly been blocked in the Senate.
In government, there’s only one question that should be considered when making decisions about public access: Would this proposal increase the public’s ability to understand and participate in its government?
Live Internet broadcasts from the House and Senate chambers absolutely would accomplish that goal. Lawmakers should reconsider their decision to scrap this plan.
Labels: Legislature, Open government
3 Comments:
It is the practice in New Mexico to hide things that are not open to the light. It has been that way for 75 years and will continue until the people get fed up with being treated like mushrooms which are kept in the dark and bed manure.
All Goverenment should be open to the people in any new and forward context. Putting in on an on line feed is as Heath says relatively inexpensive and would keep the people better informed about what goes on in the State Senate and the State House.
This could even be extended to the Governor's Office as well, unless he has something to hide.
I agree with Mr. Pruitt. These are elected officials making decisions for the constituents who voted them into office and we have a right to know what they are doing or not doing up in Santa Fe!
Obviously the legislature maintains decision-making abilities acute enough to understand how truly amateur our representatives can occasionally be. I don't doubt that they desire to insulate themselves from the minefield that is internet broadcast in an attempt to maintain some sort of dignity through obscurity.
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