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The (omitted) administration (county executive) briefs each caucus on important matters, but I’ve been excluded from these briefings.
My attorney mentioned that caucuses are allowed to exclude members, so my options seem limited.
However, if the Republican caucus holds a meeting with the Democratic administration, would that still be considered a caucus meeting?
Could this be a way to challenge the exclusion practice?
Caucus meetings, which consist of elected members from the same party, can occur behind closed doors and exclude members of other political parties.
Republican legislators are allowed to meet with staff members of the Democratic County Executive, or even the Democratic County Executive themselves, as long as only Republican legislators are present. The key factor is the party enrollment of the legislators, not the party affiliation of staff or others.
Caucus meetings represent a significant loophole in the Open Meetings Law. They should be limited to discussions about caucus leadership or other internal party matters, not public business. However, under the current law, public business can still be discussed. Some places have addressed this by passing local laws that prohibit public business from being discussed during caucus meetings.