I read the other day where someone who was catching a lot of flak decried the bad publicity, saying that legally they were correct. Legal. Schmegal.

That is only half of the equation.

What is important is that you also have standing in the Court of Public Opinion. That is the court where you and I make the final decision, minus a bunch of Latin gobbledygook.

For example, the State Board of Regents is gamely trying to defend their policies on allowing illegal immigrants to attend Georgia schools and colleges by hiding behind their interpretation of the law. Guess what? They are losing badly in the Court of Public Opinion.

In four decades in and around politics I don’t remember a group that plays so loose and fast with the Open Meet-ings and Open Record laws as the Cobb County School Board. Not only are they taking a beating in the Court of Public Opinion but they can’t seem to grasp the Number One rule of that court: Perception is reality. In other words, if the public perceives something to be true or false, that fact then becomes reality and no lawyer on God’s Green Earth can change that.

The school board has created the perception that much of their constituents’ business needs to be done behind closed doors.

The board seems to be comfortable with the opinions of their legal counsel but their external counsel – presuma-bly communications chief Jay Dillon – is doing them a disservice by not objecting and not arguing that the board is creating more problems for themselves than they are solving through their penchant for taking the public’s business behind closed doors.

There will soon be a new school superintendent. I hope he or she changes the way the school system communi-cates with the public. Be open and above board and remember you are doing the public’s business and they want that business done out in the open. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for another painful round of self-inflicted wounds.