I caught this OC Register article via Orange Juice. While the focus of the story is the "Renaissance Plan" for developing the city's downtown, this paragraph caught my eye:

Monday's meeting of the City Council was the second in as many months held without the usual television cameras broadcasting the discussion on the city's cable channel. City leaders have said the off-camera but public meetings foster a more open and in-depth conversation about big issues facing the city, such as transportation or development.

That is one of the most flatulent rationalizations I have heard in a long, long time. Councilmembers are public officials, for crying out loud. If they cannot conduct public business in the plain sight of constituents watching from home, they ought to re-consider whether they belong in elected office. 

Let me get this straight: councilmembers spend hundreds of hours during their campaigns talking to total strangers and asking for their vote, yet they have difficulty engaging in "a more open and in-depth conversation about big issues facing the city" because total strangers are watching them on a camera?

Lame. Mondo lame.

There is no excuse for not broadcasting council meetings. The technology is readily available. Anaheim, Irvine and Newport Beach, for example, all broadcast their meetings live on the Internet and on cable TV. You can even view archived council meetings, and click on a specific agenda item and be taken to that part of the video.

Government ought to be as open and transparent as possible. Modern technology continually makes it easier for citizens to know what their elected officials are up and watch and listen to them in action. Santa Ana government officials need to stop hiding behind lame excuses and turn on the cameras.