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Senate wants closed-door hearings for talks on terrorism threats
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Exactly what is it they don't want us to hear?Josey
Senate wants closed-door hearings for talks on terrorism threatsBy Mark Silva Tallahassee Bureau Posted October 24 2001 TALLAHASSEE ? A fear of terrorism has prompted the Florida Senate to issue a barrage of legislation and new rules that threaten the openness of Florida's exceptionally public government.The Senate Rules Committee today is ready to approve new rules permitting the Senate president to close any meetings in which "possible acts of espionage, sabotage, attack and other acts of terrorism" are discussed. The full Senate could approve these door-closing rules Thursday, although leaders insist they will invoke them only in "a perfect storm" of terrorist threats.The new rules would even make records kept and votes taken at any secret sessions confidential.A more cautious House, for now, is putting the brakes on farther-reaching laws that the Senate proposes, enabling state police to seal public records in pursuit of terrorism. House Speaker Tom Feeney insists that a two-week special session is no place to start closing records and meetings.All this is a measure of the post-Sept. 11 alarm-ringing in Florida's Capitol, where metal detectors greet visitors at doors that once swung freely and armed guards stand sentry for the governor.The rules to be debated today are a "scary thing, and not taken lightly," said Senate Majority Leader Jim King, R-Jacksonville.A Senate committee this week endorsed a dozen security-driven bills enabling the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to seal public records in the hands of other agencies for one week, and judges for another two weeks, plus other new exemptions to the public records law."There's a paranoia that's clearly obvious when you take all of these proposals and put them together," says Barbara Petersen, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, which watches open-government issues for media. The Senate's rush to secrecy is not only unconstitutional, she maintains; "It creates a sense of fear. What is it they don't want us to know?"John Kennedy of the Tallahassee Bureau contributed to this report.Mark Silva can be reached at msilva@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420 5034. http://www.sunsentinal.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fsecrecy24oct24.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Senate wants closed-door hearings for talks on terrorism threatsBy Mark Silva Tallahassee Bureau Posted October 24 2001 TALLAHASSEE ? A fear of terrorism has prompted the Florida Senate to issue a barrage of legislation and new rules that threaten the openness of Florida's exceptionally public government.The Senate Rules Committee today is ready to approve new rules permitting the Senate president to close any meetings in which "possible acts of espionage, sabotage, attack and other acts of terrorism" are discussed. The full Senate could approve these door-closing rules Thursday, although leaders insist they will invoke them only in "a perfect storm" of terrorist threats.The new rules would even make records kept and votes taken at any secret sessions confidential.A more cautious House, for now, is putting the brakes on farther-reaching laws that the Senate proposes, enabling state police to seal public records in pursuit of terrorism. House Speaker Tom Feeney insists that a two-week special session is no place to start closing records and meetings.All this is a measure of the post-Sept. 11 alarm-ringing in Florida's Capitol, where metal detectors greet visitors at doors that once swung freely and armed guards stand sentry for the governor.The rules to be debated today are a "scary thing, and not taken lightly," said Senate Majority Leader Jim King, R-Jacksonville.A Senate committee this week endorsed a dozen security-driven bills enabling the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to seal public records in the hands of other agencies for one week, and judges for another two weeks, plus other new exemptions to the public records law."There's a paranoia that's clearly obvious when you take all of these proposals and put them together," says Barbara Petersen, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, which watches open-government issues for media. The Senate's rush to secrecy is not only unconstitutional, she maintains; "It creates a sense of fear. What is it they don't want us to know?"John Kennedy of the Tallahassee Bureau contributed to this report.Mark Silva can be reached at msilva@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420 5034. http://www.sunsentinal.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fsecrecy24oct24.story?coll=sfla-news-florida