Richard Hailey
The Sunshine Act trial started its second week the same way it ended the first, with jurors watching video tape of the Commission in action. Today's tapes, however came from the infamous Jan 31st meeting, where much was done and little was said.
Publicly, that is.
As the video played, two things were clear. First, there was no discussion or debate about the merits of the candidates for a particular job. It was as if the discussion and debate had already taken place. In fact, early in the proceedings, Chairman Moore remarked that he saw nothing in the agenda to indicate any close votes. An unidentified voice, presumably one of the commissioners,responded, "Do you know something we don't?" Second, the recesses went on far longer than Chairman Moore anticipated. The 5 minute recess lasted for roughly 24 minutes, while the 2 minute recess went for 14.
Also intriguing was the fact that after the first recess, Commissioner Jordan changed her vote, switching from supporting Davis for the previous 6 votes to supporting Trammel.
Without deliberating, according to the theory advanced by County Law Director Owings.
The trial will continue this afternoon, finishing up the video, and then reviewing audio from some of the commissioners during the recesses. Any updates will be available here.
Posted by Rich at September 17, 2007 12:08 PM | TrackBack