The Jefferson County Recording Fiasco - Episode 1, Spoiler Alert
Channel: Matt Ready
Date: 09/02/2020

In this video, Matt Ready breaks down the 2014 incident point by point.  Painstakingly demonstrating how each argument used during the meeting to dissuade recording is fatally flawed.  I am recording.  "A lawyer says you should not."  I am recording.  "but a lawyer says you should not."  Is the lawyer here?  "No, but we talked to one."  I am recording.  "A lawyer says you shouldn't."  give me the name of the lawyer.  "If you talk to him you have to pay him.  also, he doesn't answer questions from anyone except the board majority and board chairperson."  I am recording and this is just the first clearly demonstrated why this is necessary.  "You are violating your oath to abide and comply with the fiduciary opinions of the board majority."  That is nonsense.  The commissioners oath of office is : "I Matt Ready do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution and Laws of the United States and the Constitution and Laws of the State of Washington, and that I will faithfully and impartially perform and discharge the duties of the office of:  Public Hospital District No. 2, Commissioner, Position No. 3, In and for Jefferson County, Washington, according to law, to the best of my ability."  So you see, my oath is to the constitutions and to the duties of the hospital district.  One of my duties as Hospital commissioner is to help the district fufill its ultimate mission- which is to serve the healthcare needs of the people of the district.  I do not believe that duty can be achieved well without an accurate record of what the leaders of the district say in their public commission meetings.  It is therefore my duty as commissioner to make sure those meetings are recorded.  I do not see how it can possibly be in the interests of the people of any democracy to not have the leaders held accountable for exactly what they say and do in exercise of the power vested in them by the people.  This self righteous argument that a commissioner should turn off a personal recording device because the majority of the elected body tell him/her to turn it off is insane.  The information exchanged verbally by commissioners and all participants at a public commission meeting belongs to the people.  As I wrote in my letter to the board chair in 2014:  ...the open public meetings act declares, “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.” I need to know exactly, word for word, what is said during our public meetings.  The board does not have the authority to decide what is “good for [me] to know and what is not good for [me] to know.”  Response, "Well we have a lawyer who says you should not record the meeting."  What lawyer?  Show me his/her written opinion on the matter. "What?  Just be quiet."

7 years of this conversation and counting...sigh