Torrance County Commissioner Lonnie Freyburger just doesn't get it. At the last county commission meeting he floated a resolution that would prohibit interest holders from recording county commission meetings. The resolution is such an affront to government by the people, of the people and for the people; it is such a blatant violation of the Open Meetings Act, link, which states quite clearly;
Reasonable efforts shall be made to accommodate the use of audio and video recording equipment,
one has wonder how Freyburger could have thought he could do such a thing in the first place.
Nearly as confounding, the County Attorney needs "time to think" about whether such a move would actually violate the Open Meetings Act.
Freyburger was written up in the Journal and his home town Mountain View Telegraph, link, which criticized him pretty roundly and concluded with a Harry Truman quote; if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
Rather than admit to his brain fart; arrogance and ignorance of the law, Freyburger went after the Telegraph and the citizen who raised the ruckus, in an op-ed piece of his own, link. It is apparent from reading his response; ad hominem attacks on a citizen exercising Constitutionally protected human rights, half truths and out of context statements, he has honesty issues on top of everything else.
Consider for example, Edwina "George" Hewitt's admission, link, that; "the only editing done is the use of a stabilization tool on the YouTube site, which makes videos "smoother for viewers. Freyburger wrote; "Ms Hewitt readily admits to editing ...", implying that she readily admits to editing for content, a claim he doesn't substantiate with any evidence.
He tries to re-frame the argument and recast the resistance as resistance against the county creating its own recording . As far as I have learned, no one, least of all those who would make records of their own, objects to the county doing something they should be doing anyway.
An opportunity presents itself; those who believe that the terms of public service, whether and how citizens can record meetings, are the prerogative of the people and not of pols and public servants, have a chance to stand up and defend that belief.
The next meeting of the Torrance County Commission is scheduled for Wednesday next, 9am. Estancia is about an hour away from Albuquerque.
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