Feb 21, 2008
Transport panel dines: 'We're not ... meeting' 
Social gathering need not be open
David Ingram - Charlotte Observer

 
A high-profile panel studying North Carolina's transportation needs was scheduled to dine in private Wednesday night at the exclusive home of one of its members. 
The dinner, on private Figure Eight Island near Wilmington, was to feature a catered buffet and a flamenco band. 
 
The event highlights a rarely publicized exception in the Open Meetings Law that allows government bodies to have a "social meeting," closed to the public, where no business is discussed. Citing that exception, organizers prohibited the media and the public from attending the dinner, and they left it off their publicly available agenda. 
 
"We're not having a meeting. We're having dinner," said Brad Wilson, chairman of the 21st Century Transportation Committee. "It's a social event." 
 
Two lawyers familiar with the Open Meetings Law told the Observer Wednesday that the public could rely only on the word of committee members that they would not discuss public policy. 
 
"It invites people to skirt the law, even though they'll be well-meaning and well-intentioned," said Hugh Stevens, a First Amendment lawyer in Raleigh. 
 
The host for the dinner is Lanny Wilson of Wilmington, a developer and major Democratic fundraiser. Wilson said he could make no guarantees. 
 
"If I said it wouldn't come up, that wouldn't be true," he said. "But it's not an organized meeting. There's no agenda." 
 
Leaders in the General Assembly created the 21st Century Transportation Committee last year. It has a broad mandate, examining how the state should expand its road and transit systems to respond to a burgeoning population -- and how to find the money. The committee could make a preliminary report by May. 
 
Hearing local concerns 
 
The committee was scheduled to meet in Wilmington on Wednesday and today so it could hear local concerns. It met in Charlotte last month. 
 
Lanny Wilson said he and his wife offered to host a dinner for the committee as a gesture. He is a committee member appointed by Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat. He also serves on the Board of Transportation, which approves all road projects. 
 
"I've always found it important to get to know people," Wilson said. "And if you get to know them, you get a different perspective on their background." 
 
He said he did not know how much the dinner was going to cost. 
 
"It's saving the taxpayers money," he said, "because me and my wife are footing the bill." 
 
The dinner was to be held at the Wilsons' home on Figure Eight Island, a private barrier island north of Wilmington. Visitors cannot get to the island by land without a pass. 
 
In an attempt to control erosion, some island residents are lobbying the General Assembly for an exception to a state ban on hard structures such as jetties. Lanny Wilson said the dinner has nothing to do with that debate. 
 
Is policy made? 
 
Such private dinners could be more common than many people realize. 
 
Some members of the 21st Century Transportation Committee went to dinner at Bentley's on 27 last month in Charlotte. Lanny Wilson said he has also hosted the Board of Transportation and the N.C. Turnpike Authority. Brad Wilson said the UNC system's Board of Governors, which he once led, often has private social gatherings. (Brad Wilson and Lanny Wilson are not related.) 
 
The danger is that a gathering billed as a social event could give leaders an opportunity to decide policy, said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. The Raleigh-based group lobbies for greater transparency in government. 
 
"We never know what's discussed or what might be decided," Phillips said. 
 
Ethics clearance 
 
Two Charlotte-area committee members -- Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat, and Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat -- doubted Wednesday that they would go to the dinner because of scheduling conflicts. 
 
Carney said committee members had discussed whether it would pass muster with new N.C. ethics laws that treat food as a gift. 
 
"Some people were questioning, 'Can we do this?' I think that's a good thing," she said. 
 
The State Ethics Commission gave an advisory opinion clearing the dinner, Brad Wilson said. 
 
"Everything we're doing is transparent," he said. "I hope people won't draw the wrong conclusions about the way we're conducting our business, but if they do, I don't think there's anything that we can do about it." 
 
What the law says 
 
Most gatherings of government councils and committees are public. But here's one exception, according to G.S. 143-318.10(d), part of the state's Open Meetings Law. 
 
"However, a social meeting or other informal assembly or gathering together of the members of a public body does not constitute an official meeting unless called or held to evade the spirit and purposes of this Article."  
 
 
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