City is looking for legal advisers on regulating Entergy New Orleans
When is a public meeting not a public meeting? When the public officials holding it ask the people most interested in the outcome to leave. The New Orleans City Council's Utility Committee met this week to hear from four law firms or groups of firms interested in landing the lucrative contract to be the council's legal advisers on regulating Entergy New Orleans.
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View full sizeNew Orleans City HallA couple of dozen lawyers from the firms assembled in the council chamber, ready to make oral presentations to back up the voluminous written documents they had already submitted, but Chairwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell asked them all to leave until each group was called to make its case.
She said the purpose was to be fair to all the groups, so that those coming later would not have the advantage of hearing the council members' questions and their competitors' answers.
So all the lawyers marched off to a meeting room on a different floor of City Hall.
The first problem was that they had a right to remain at a public meeting. The second problem was that the session was being televised and carried live on the council's website, so anyone who wanted would have found it easy to watch and listen. However, it seems that all the lawyers obeyed the spirit as well as the letter of the council's wishes, not taking the opportunity to eavesdrop on the proceedings.
In the end, the committee ruled out one of the four applicants and sent the other three proposals on to the full council for a decision.
Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3320.
