Tennessee Coalition for Open Government Archives - Page 2 of 21

16 Oct, 2020

Family members, others shut out of court proceedings in Davidson County

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-16T16:39:13-05:00October 16, 2020|Categories: Open Courts, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: courtroom access, COVID-19|0 Comments

I arrived at the Justice A.A. Birch Building at about 8:15 a.m. this morning to see for myself what others have told me: Family members of people with court dates in General Sessions court are not allowed to accompany their loved ones into the building. It took only a few minutes to witness someone being told by a security guard to wait outside where others like them already waited in the cool morning air. There I found a grandmother who had intended to be a character witness for her grandson, a wife whose husband was there about a restraining order and a girlfriend of a man with a probation violating [...]

2 Oct, 2020

Justice groups, TCOG ask Davidson County judges to allow public access to courts

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-02T12:22:59-05:00October 2, 2020|Categories: Open Courts, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Choosing Justice Initiative, courtroom access, COVID-19, Free Hearts, Judge Joe Binkley, Judge Mark Fishburn, Judge Sam Coleman, Nashville Community Bail Fund, Tennessee Supreme Court|0 Comments

Family members and friends of people with court proceedings have not been allowed to attend court proceedings at the A.A. Birch Building in Nashville, which houses criminal courts and general sessions courts. Citing examples of family members who have been turned away at the door, several criminal justice groups and Tennessee Coalition for Open Government asked Davidson County criminal court and general sessions judges Thursday to modify court plans to allow public access either in person or through video-conferencing. "We are writing today as representatives of a diverse group of public interest organizations, many of which work with court-involved individuals and their families, to respectfully ask that you modify the [...]

28 Sep, 2020

AG’s office did not serve the public interest in seeking loophole to Open Meetings Act

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-09T15:16:28-05:00September 28, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, email vote, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General, Tennessee Open Meetings Act|0 Comments

A Davidson County chancellor took much-needed action last week. She gave public accountability a boost and set the Attorney General’s Office straight on the Open Meetings Act. Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled on Friday that the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance violated the Open Meetings Act by holding an email vote — outside a public meeting and without public notice — to approve a settlement with a lawmaker, substantially reducing his outstanding fines. The finance board did this with advice of the Attorney General’s Office. So what happened here? Earlier this year, the Attorney General’s Office advised the Registry’s executive director how to get a vote — without a public [...]

25 Sep, 2020

Judge: Registry of Election Finance board violated Open Meetings Act with secret vote by email

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-09T15:15:18-05:00September 25, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, cure meeting, email vote, Paul McAdoo, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General|0 Comments

Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled today that the Registry of Election Finance violated the Open Meetings Act when it voted by email outside of a public meeting to accept a settlement to reduce the fines of a state lawmaker. (See final order.) Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle The board's executive director, Bill Young, has said that he followed the process outlined by the Attorney General's Office in coordinating the email vote of the six-member election finance board. In addition to voting outside the public eye by email, there was no public notice of the meeting. The lawsuit was filed by several news media organizations and Tennessee Coalition for Open Government in [...]

25 Sep, 2020

Chancellor to hear arguments in open meetings case against election finance board at 10 a.m. today

By Deborah Fisher|2020-09-25T09:59:17-05:00September 25, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, cure meeting, email vote, Paul McAdoo, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General|0 Comments

Chancellor Ellen Lyle is scheduled to hear arguments today in an open meetings lawsuit filed by several news media organizations and Tennessee Coalition for Open Government against the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. Attorney Paul McAdoo The plaintiffs argue in The Associated Press, et al., v. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance that the election finance board violated the open meetings law when it voted on reducing $65,000 in civil penalties that it had levied against Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis. The penalties had accumulated over two years as Towns repeatedly failed to file campaign finance disclosures required by law. The board took the vote by email to settle the penalties [...]