Campaign finance board’s secret email votes could set dangerous precedent
It's been more than a week since the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance Board voted secretly by email to reduce the civil penalties against a Memphis state representative by more than $44,000 in a last-minute decision to try to clear him to file for re-election. The vote appears to violate the Open Meetings law, which says: "All votes of any such governmental body shall be by public vote or public ballot or public roll call. No secret votes, or secret ballots, or secret roll calls shall be allowed." [T.C.A. 8-44-104(b)] State Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis, had accumulated $65,000 in civil penalties for failing to file campaign finance disclosures over several [...]