Dean excuses private meetings of public body

You can tell Nashville Mayor Karl Dean is a protege of Gov. Phil Bredesen.

A protest by a local environmentalist against private meetings being held by the mayor's special environmental committee met with a simple dismissal today by Dean, showed exclusive reporting by WKRN Channel 4.

The committee makes recommendations to the mayor. That makes it part of the state's Open Meetings Law, which requires a public posting of such meetings ahead of time if two or more people meet on public business. But the meetings are not being posted beforehand, denying the people of Nashville the opportunity to listen to these meetings and participate.

Dean, as the former head of the Metro legal department, knows better. But he is like Bredesen, who has conducted the people's business as governor over e-mail and then denied the correspondence to public scrutiny.

Dean increasingly is a disappointment as mayor. His Predators' deal was a big loser for taxpayers. Schools here continue toward state control. The mayor in his first year in office did nothing to make a difference and couldn't initially come up with an opinion over a controversial school resegregation, rezoning plan. The guy really seems overwhelmed.

Secret meetings that are supposed to be posted for public attendance are an affront to the need for transparent government. Dean knows that. But something always seems to happen between what he knows is right and what he actually does.