Now, on to the exotic animals.

On Oct. 18, Terry Thompson let dozens of exotic and endangered creatures out of their cages and then committed suicide. Muskingum County authorities were left with choosing between public safety and saving the animals, and they chose the former.

Much attention was paid to an executive order banning ownership of exotic animals that Kasich allowed to expire. Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, had issued the order.

After the tragedy, Kasich was quick to note the state had a task force working on the issue. The task force met on Monday. However, the public was not allowed in. In fact, the public wasn’t told when or where the meeting was being held.

When reporter Alan Johnson pressed for access to and the location of the meeting, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said:

“Today’s meeting of the dangerous wild animal task force — like the previous five — is a meeting of stakeholders invited by the director to give him advice on this issue. As you are aware, the group wasn’t created by law, isn’t required to meet or take any action, and has no official power or policymaking authority. As this group isn’t a public body, there’s no legal difference between its meetings and any other the director would hold with interested parties he invited to ODNR to share their thoughts with him on key issues.”

In other words, take a hike, Ohioans.

We disagreed and appealed to the governor’s office. (ODNR’s director reports to Kasich.) We were told that the ODNR staff had consulted with the attorney general’s office, and that the governor’s office was “comfortable” with the meeting being closed. DeWine can’t say, legally, what advice was given because of attorney-client privilege.

DeWine did note that a task force he created to advise him has had public meetings, even if they’re not legally required. “There’s a question to what the law is, and there’s a question to what the policy is,” DeWine said.

Maybe journalists are the only ones uncomfortable with this being private. If you have a thought on the policy of keeping these discussions private, pro or con, let the folks at ODNR know. Here’s a number: 614-265-6565.

We’d love to know what you think of all of this, too. When we fight for access to information, which we do frequently, we do it on your behalf. It would help us to know how much you value this service.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/insight/2011/10/30/we-oppose-secrecy-in-your-interest.html
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