Flaherty bid for open government to start with apology for closed government

The Globe reports mayoral hopeful Michael Flaherty will publicly admit it was wrong of him as city council president to ban the public from meetings involving the Boston Redevelopment Authority between 2004 and 2006:

... At the time, I thought I was acting appropriately," Flaherty said yesterday in a telephone interview. "The courts decided things should have been handled differently. Lesson learned. My administration will be about transparency, accountability, and taking responsibility. ...

Too little, too late, says Kevin McCrea, who, in addition to running against Flaherty for Tom Menino's job, was a co-plaintiff on successful lawsuits over those meetings. He blogs:

... I wonder just how much input Michael Flaherty needs to make a good decision? Michael Flaherty was warned and told numerous times that his actions were illegal, but yet it never sunk in until he decided he wanted to be Mayor (where he is not subject to the Open Meeting Law!) Remember, he is an attorney who used to work in the DA's office and his father is a judge, plus they hired $600 an hour lawyers at our expense, and he still didn't understand this was legally wrong? ...