Official Business Should Be on TV : Supervisors Need to Open Government to a Wider Audience

It is time for Orange County government to enter the television age.

The only valid reason for not starting to televise the weekly meetings of the Orange County Board of Supervisors is cost. With the county’s bankruptcy have come needed cutbacks in expenditures. Spending large amounts on cameras, lights and a control center is not the action to take now.

However, the supervisors easily could remind cable television companies that they are supposed to serve the public interest and urge them to pay for needed equipment.

Many cable companies already televise City Council and school board meetings. Far-sighted cities wrote that requirement into the contracts needed by the cable companies to operate.

The main beneficiary of televised meetings would be the public. Granted, most probably would not bother to watch meetings. The supervisors usually meet at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays. That makes it impractical for working residents to show up for the meetings at Santa Ana’s Civic Center. Nor would it be much easier to watch a televised meeting at work.

But for the civic-minded, there are video cassette recorders. And nothing prevents a cable company from rerunning a meeting in the evening, especially when a channel would be unused otherwise.

Several supervisors have expressed concern that adding television cameras to the boardroom would encourage long-winded speeches by members of the public. Some also said their fellow board members might play to the cameras. But the supervisors already put time limits on public comments at the meetings. Gaveling someone down should not be a problem.

After Orange County declared bankruptcy nearly a year and a half ago, the supervisors began meeting at night once a month. That is a good idea, even though attendance has dropped as the public anger over the bankruptcy has lessened.

We need to encourage people to take more interest in the people they elect to serve them. Televising meetings is a good way to open up government. If citizens occasionally are long-winded or repetitive, that’s a small price to pay for democracy.