Let the sun shine under the dome

The Union-Recorder

February 01, 2008 11:43 pm

— On Friday, a caucus of state lawmakers re-elected Raybon Anderson to Georgia’s Department of Transportation Board of Directors by a secret-ballot vote of the 28 legislators who represent our 12th Congressional District.
Anderson, a Statesboro resident, snared a five-year term in a taut, second-round vote of 15-12 with one caucus member absent. The one-time Bulloch County Commission chairman was first elected to the Transportation Board in 2005 to succeed Jon Burns of Effingham County after Burns resigned his seat upon winning election to the Legislature.
Former Milledgeville Mayor Floyd Griffin also was a candidate for Anderson’s seat. While we took no position on whether Griffin should have earned the post, the clandestine nature of the Legislature’s caucus vote that pushed him aside troubles us.
Open government is, well, open. The Legislature must embrace transparency in each and every vote it takes. It shouldn’t hide behind a veil of secrecy that provides convenient cover for lawmakers who might not vote for candidates their party leadership favors. How else can the electorate hold them accountable should they cave to sophomoric political power plays and elect potentially unqualified candidates?
When our own City Council and County Commission vote to appoint residents to boards and commissions they do so in the open. Why should there be an exception for the Legislature in how it elects members to the state Transportation Board?
After all, every other official vote our legislators take is in public. Perhaps the election of state Transportation Board members should be left to the public. But since the Legislature would have to initiate action for such a change that’s about as likely to happen as a crisp snowfall on a hot summer night.
As for Griffin, we applaud him for trying. Had he prevailed it would have been the first time Milledgeville and Baldwin County saw a representative on the board.
A former two-term Democratic state senator and most recently a two-term mayor of Milledgeville, Griffin was far from the favored candidate, claiming just five votes in the first round of balloting. After a nomination from state Rep. Bobby Parham, D-Milledgeville, put him in the running for the seat, Griffin just couldn’t muster enough support to wipe out the competition.
“Milledgeville has never had someone serve on the board,” Griffin told The Union-Recorder last month when he made public his bid for the seat. “We should be doing everything we can.”
On that point, we agree. A Baldwin County resident on the state’s Transportation Board certainly would help steer more than a handful of road projects to completion.
One lawmaker whose vote Griffin didn’t carry was state Sen. Johnny Grant, R-Milledgeville. Grant voted for Anderson, with whom he’s had a good relationship over the past two years, he said last month.
But at least we know on which side Grant and Parham stood. Now we only wish the two would convince their peers that secret-ballot voting isn’t what’s best for the public.