New Forensic Agency Head Bradley: Best to Meet in Secret

By
Glenn W. Smith
– November 10, 2009Posted in: Politics
ConeOfSilence 300x227 New Forensic Agency Head Bradley: Best to Meet in Secret

Get Smart's "Cone of Silence"

UPDATE — Speaking at the Senate Criminal Justice Committee meeting this morning, chairman John Whitmire told John Bradly his desire for secrecy would be rejected. Transparent, public oversight key to responsible governing, Whitmire says.

After a few decades of covering government as a reporter, working in government as a staffer and working as a consultant to candidates and officeholders, I have yet to encounter a single circumstance in which decisions were improved by a secret meeting. Not one time.

Secret government meetings serve mostly to make those attending them feel more important than the people left outside.

So, it is disappointing that Williamson County prosecutor John Bradley, the new head of the Texas Forensic Science Commission — the agency gutted by Gov. Rick Perry on the eve of a public hearing into the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham — says right off the bat that he wants new rules that provide for secret investigations.

Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, the new chairman of the Texas Forensic Science commission, says he will recommend, among other things at the Senate committee hearing, that during an ongoing investigation, the commission should be allowed to meet in private to discuss the matter being investigated and that reports to the commission on an investigation be withheld from public release until the commission concludes its deliberations.

“It’s not a good idea to conduct an investigation in a public forum,” Bradley says.

He wasn’t misquoted. He said much the same thing in an op-ed he authored that was printed by the Houston Chronicle:

While the commission’s work should remain ultimately transparent, the sensitive process of receiving a complaint, investigating that complaint, deliberating on a case and preparing a final report must be protected from interference and improper outside influence until a final report is issued. I have asked lawyers with the Attorney General’s Office, who have expertise in such matters, to advise the commission on how it can make improvements.

For good measure, Bradley added that the public should listen to no one but him and approved agency folk on matters like the controversial Willingham case:

However, pending the release of a final report by the commission, you should be skeptical of media reports, personal pronouncements and editorials on that case. Those with agendas separate from the advancement of forensic science have made exaggerated claims and drawn premature conclusions about the case.

I agree with Bradley about one thing. He says the Forensic Science Commission was not created to oversee “social issues” like capital punishment. He’s right. But it was the guy who appointed Bradley, Rick Perry, who tried to turn questions about Perry’s firing of the prior commissioners into a black and white debate about whether Willingham was guilty. The Commission was never going to rule on that. It was going to look at how the forensic evidence was pursued, collected and analyzed. Period.

Willingham was executed in 2004 in connection with a fire that killed his daughters. Experts now say the fire wasn’t arson, meaning Willingham was innocent. The Forensics Science Commission was looking only at the forensic evidence. On the eve of an experts report to the Commissoin, and expert who said the arson evidence was flawed, Perry fired the commissions and blocked the hearing.

There are legitimate reasons to keep some investigative matters private. Law enforcement, for instance, doesn’t need the tip off suspects that they are being investigated. But the Forensic Science Commission is supposed to be examining the examiners. They are public employees working with our tax dollars to try to improve the work of other public employees — crime labs, etc. — who are also working with our tax dollars.

Keeping secrets from the public officials are supposed to serve is a bad idea.

Senator John Whitmire’s Senate Criminal Justice Committee will hold a hearing today on the controversy surrounding the Commission.

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About Glenn W. Smith

Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”

Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.

In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.

As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.

Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.

Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.

As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”