Kudos to Portland Press Herald reporter Grace Benninghoff for her vigilant coverage of the opaque Portland City Council meeting that apparently (we can’t know for sure because the meeting was behind closed doors and no vote was reported) approved stipulations on a federal contract that seems to require cooperation with ICE. The Trump administration is trying to attach these riders to all sorts of government grants.

There was zero public discussion of this grant, and little advance notice of what was billed as a workshop. Concern and confusion quickly set in after the story was reported.

Mayor Mark Dion tried to clarify the issue at a press conference the next day, and presented more details of the contract. Councilor Kate Sykes spoke to a crowd later, saying she had opposed the measure, and that it was not passed unanimously. Dion said there was a “consensus.” Which was it? Who was opposed to it? What were their concerns?

Maine’s Right to Know law exists to do exactly that: protect the public’s right to know what elected officials are doing. While private discussion on certain limited matters is allowed, votes must be taken in public. On this matter of high public interest, this lapse was unfortunate.

Marian McCue
Portland