Dear Gov. Lee, Lt. Gov. McNally, and Mr. Speaker Sexton,
Tennessee has already seen the movie you are producing and directing, and trust me, it doesn’t end well for you. Now maybe not you personally. It may take a few years, maybe even a decade, but eventually it will happen.
You see, you are directing and producing the sequel to Kovach v. Maddux. The circumstances and the times are different, but the plot line is the same: Elected officials acting as if the public and the press shouldn’t be meddling in the public’s business; just leave it to the pols.
Those names may not be familiar to you. I’m told the teaching of Tennessee history isn’t what it used to be, and Kovach v. Maddux was decided in 1965. Bill Kovach was a legislative reporter for The Nashville Tennessean, and Jered Maddux was the lieutenant governor. Back then, legislative committees routinely went into secret sessions. Don’t you wish you could do that? Well, The Nashville Tennessean decided to challenge the practice.
So, when a Senate committee voted to go into secret session one day, Kovach refused to leave while the other reporters complied. What was the committee to do? Asking him again didn’t work. They couldn’t find a sergeant at arms to hustle him out. (Not like these days when there appear to be state troopers aplenty!) So, they adjourned.