Newscoma

Most days, I’m not a Gov. Phil Bredesen fan, I’ll be honest. He’s just way too Republican for me to be a Democrat. But, I gotta give the guy credit for taking up for the Sunshine Law of this state.

The governor said he had to change his view on the issue of open government when he first made the transition to government from the business world.

“I was flabbergasted and appalled at how you had to do business,” he said. “It just seemed to me almost impossible to hire people and do business.”

But over the years, Bredesen said he’s come to embrace the open government rules.

“I’ve come to realize you can work in this environment,” he said. “Yes, it has a substantial load attached to it in terms of how efficiently you can make decisions … but in the end government just works better if you come down on that side of it.”

And, I also believe that although government should run efficiently, it shouldn’t be convenient for the few in charge. That’s why it needs to be done where the public, which is the boss because it’s our money paying the bills, knows what’s going on.

I have heard from elected officials in my little sphere of the world for years the old “but we are friends” or “we go to church together.”

Well, just follow the rules and don’t talk about government business. Talk about your cats, your wife, the latest gossip on the street, Britney Spears, or the presidential election. If you were clever enough to get elected, then you should be clever enough not to follow those lame excuses and bring them up in defending the weakening of the law.

We follow the rules as private citizens.

This entire situation still just makes me shake my head .