Chairman Cockroft,
I am extremely disappointed in decisions that you have made regarding the special investigation requested by Speaker Charles McCall. Speaker McCall has pledged transparency and accountability during his leadership. Likewise, you stated last week that you had “complete confidence in this committee and that truth, due process, and the integrity of this body will prevail.” Unfortunately, your actions over the past few days do not indicate sincerity in that regard.
Rep. David Perryman
You have informed committee members that they:
- Must sign a pre-prepared Confidentiality Agreement: before they can possess a copy of the rules that you have proposed; before they can attend an organizational meeting where the proposed rules will be discussed; before they will be admitted into the committee meeting room where the committee will meet to adopt the rules; that defines non-confidential information as confidential and effectively places committee members under a “gag order” regarding facts and documents that have already been released to the public and regarding public records that are subject to the open record act; and binds them to Rules of Procedure before those rules are even adopted.
- Are prohibited from disclosing the proposed rules to the public;
- Must comply with proposed rules that prevent them from independently attempting to identify or call potential witnesses to testify;
- Are prohibited from calling witnesses without the permission of the chairman of the committee;
- Are prohibited from asking questions of witnesses unless the chairman of the committee allows the questions to be asked;
- Are prohibited from preparing a separate report if they do not agree with the report of the chairman;
- Are prohibited from publicly stating that they voted against any action of the committee or against the final committee report prepared by the Chairman.