That didn’t take long! Yesterday, I received an email from the State Solicitor, Aaron Goldstein. This was in response to my assertion the Family Services Cabinet Council is a public body, subject to public meetings and FOIA. Which was based on research I did after the Attorney General’s office gave an opinion on my FOIA complaint to the Governor’s office about the council.
The heart of the issue stems around the disbursement of taxpayer funds. I alleged the council did just that based on what is written in Delaware state code. Specifically, §1605 of Title 14. But the State Solicitor did reference that section in his letter to me:
So this round goes to Governor Carney and the AG’s office. I still don’t agree with these glorified “staff meetings” being shut out of the public view, but until the laws surrounding Executive Privilege in Delaware change, the law is the law. Doesn’t make it a good law by any stretch of the imagination! I would think if you are going to all the trouble to make a “staff meeting” an actual council, you would look to see what is already in state code surrounding that very same council and solicit legislators to make changes around that language. But I guess that’s just me.
The Season Of Myths 