Photo by christaki

After a rough-and-tumble Tuesday, the D.C. Council did little to help itself today when its members opted to close a meeting to the press. Journalists present protested the move, which they claimed violated the District’s Open Meetings Act. (Check out TBD’s handy timeline on what happened.)

A picture of the agenda by WTOP’s Mark Segraves showed little more than agenda points on “Decorum and Communication,” “Internal Code of Conduct” and “Financial Disclosure and Forms for Members & Staff.” A final bullet point simply said “Other”; “Profanities” was scribbled on the agenda in pen, a reference to some naughty words that were lobbed between councilmembers on Monday.

According to Karen Sibert, D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown’s Deputy Chief of Staff, the meeting was called to discuss “personnel, training and professional development.” Additionally, Sibert noted, the council’s General Counsel would be discussing various matters with councilmembers, communication that would be protected under attorney-client privilege. According to a provision of the Open Meetings Act, these topics are grounds for councilmembers to close their meeting to the press and public — but only after the reason is stated and a public vote held. Sibert said that a vote was held, but she did not have the final count available.

The Post’s Mike DeBonis reports that the nine councilmembers present unanimously voted to close the meeting.

The D.C. GOP was quick to jump on the move, issuing a strongly worded statement. “Councilmembers need to have their heads examined if they think it’s acceptable to have meetings about ethics behind closed doors and use DC Police to shut out members of the press. Our city leaders are further damaging their reputations when they hold meetings about ethics that are not open to the public and use DC Police as a way to shut everyone out,” said D.C. GOP Chairman Bob Kabel.

The D.C. Council has long had a tenuous relationship with openness, likely explaining the media’s reaction. Under a first draft of the Open Meetings Act considered in late 2010, the council cleverly exempted itself completely from the provisions of the law. Prior to 2007, council breakfasts were closed to the press, a change that only came after persistent lobbying by Segraves. Regardless, in 2009, he was kicked out of a breakfast where personnel matters were set to be discussed. More recently, two reporters were arrested at a meeting of the D.C. Taxicab Commission and city officials came under fire for encrypting police radio communications and stifling a popular D.C. Fire/EMS Twitter account. (It was revived today.)

Maybe the council had a legitimate reason to meet behind closed doors, but Fox 5’s Matt Ackland may have said it best when he tweeted this afternoon: “Kicking reporters out just doesn’t look good. Legal or not. It’s not like we aren’t going to find out what was said.”