[Regarding] N. William Hines, "Law Doesn't Support Charges," Iowa City Press-Citizen, May 14, 2007, p. 11A ("Before the open meetings law zealots storm the university with torches and pitchforks, they and the media that hypes their concerns would do well to real carefully the Iowa law they so righteously champion . . ..") ... Bill Hines is a distinguished legal scholar and teacher, one of the longest serving law school deans in American history, and one who was selected by his colleagues as President of the American Association of Law Schools. ... In short, his analysis of the Iowa Open Meetings Law is somewhere between persuasive and entitled to great respect. ... I agree with his unstated assertion -- as Professor Arthur Bonfield and I have argued elsewhere -- that the Legislature needs to revisit many of the provisions of the Iowa Open Meetings Law, including those affecting this search. Where I respectfully disagree -- as I have repeatedly argued in these blog entries -- is that the language of the act can only be interpreted in the way he suggests. I analyze it differently. I believe that Search Committee II is covered by its terms. All of them.

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