“You have no right to record a meeting,” said Massachusetts pension fund chief Michael Travaglini to a reporter at the conclusion of yesterday’s Pension Reserves Investment Management Board meeting.
I wish I was making this up.
The PRIM Board is responsible for managing the Pension Reserves Investment Trust fund, with a mission to maximize ROI through investment diversification and achieve cost-effectiveness.
The State House News Service reported last night, duplicated here by the Bedford Minuteman, that Travaglini forbid a reporter from audio recording the public meeting.
Have a look:
TRAVAGLINI: REPORTERS HAVE ‘NO RIGHT’ TO RECORD PUBLIC PENSION MEETING
The executive director of the state’s pension fund, Michael Travaglini, forbid a reporter on Tuesday from audio recording a portion of a meeting of the board of the state’s pension fund, telling the reporter he had “no right” to tape the public meeting.
After the meeting, Travaglini grew emphatic when defending his refusal. “You have no right to record a meeting,” he said, adding that if the reporter disagreed to “take it up with the secretary of state.” He added that he felt he was on “solid footing” with his decision.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general said the specific case could not be addressed without filing a formal complaint but referred a reporter to a section of state law, which reads, “A meeting of a governmental body may be recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder or any other means of sonic reproduction except when a meeting is held in executive session; provided, that in such recording there is no active interference with the conduct of the meeting.”
In a follow-up email, Travaglini wrote to the News Service, “Walking into an ongoing PRIM meeting and plunking a recording device in the middle of the table certainly qualifies as ‘active interference’ with the conduct of the meeting in my mind. And in case you have amnesia, PRIM is not required under any law to be as cooperative with your outlet as we’ve been (agendas in ADVANCE, answering questions PROMPTLY, giving essentially TOTAL access).”
Pension board meetings are public, and the board room is often packed – with officials saving nearly all available seats for colleagues. Reporters and public onlookers are generally relegated to a separate office, from which portions of the proceedings, which govern billions of dollars in pension fund investments and contracts, are inaudible.
A spokesman for the secretary of state said the attorney general’s office is responsible for making determinations regarding public access to meetings. At the State House and within the Executive Branch, reporters regularly record committee hearings and meetings, without objection from lawmakers and state officials.
Digging around the web, I found an October 2006 interview Travaglini held with Boston College’s Center for Asset Management.
“[T]his is Massachusetts, and it’s a very political environment,” said Travaglini. “We conduct all our business in public meetings, and the Globe and the Herald routinely attend.”
I wonder if the state’s two biggest daily newspapers are also chided they can’t use tape recorders.
For full disclosure, it should be mentioned that Travaglini is 1) the brother of a former Massachusetts Senate President; and 2) the highest-paid state official, with a coffer of nearly $400,000.
In other pension craziness, Dan Kennedy shared in recent days that the Essex County Regional Retirement Board seeks to lower the retirement age of police officers from 65 to 60 and public works officials from 65 to 55.
I guess the county board doesn’t realize we’re in a recession.
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s a shame that public officials think that we are under their control instead of the truth of the matter, which is they work for us and we are the boss. This country will be in worse condition if we the people don’t get off our butts and speak our minds at the voting booths.
Billy Akerman´s last blog post..GM Bankruptcy
The idea that any public meeting won’t be recorded and on the record is kind of humorous. Hopefully this won’t end well for Mr. Travaglini. Although, the news does seem to be about his conduct instead of whatever went on in the meeting. A plan?
Fred H Schlegel´s last blog post..Nook and Cranny Creativity
I wonder how disruptive the reporter actually was. Travaglini said:
“Walking into an ongoing PRIM meeting and plunking a recording device in the middle of the table certainly qualifies as ‘active interference’ with the conduct of the meeting in my mind. ”
If the reporter made a ton of noise and interrupted the meeting, then OK. If the reporter was relatively quiet and Travaglini over-reacted, then by all means we should have issue with that. Though the rest of his e-mail does make him sound like a not so nice individual.
Reporters have a right to record these public meetings, but not at the cost of the productivity of the meeting. If they’re stealthy then everything is OK, if they’re loud and disruptive they do lose their right.
Adam Pieniazek´s last blog post..Boston Tweetups
I hope someone told him to go to hell. A public meeting is exactly that, open to the public.