So Much for Transparency

The House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics heard four hours of testimony Wednesday about a recent Department of Justice report into a series of deaths at the Department of Aging and Disability Services' Lubbock State School (you can read the DOJ report here in .pdf format, but be warned - it's pretty graphic and disturbing). But guess what? You don't get to see the testimony. Why not? Well, this excerpt from the press release put out Tuesday may give a clue:

"This committee will oversee this issue due to the potential or alleged criminal nature of recent incidents. It is important that the Legislature not interfere or complicate the efforts of DOJ or local law enforcement with state officials. For this reason, the committee will meet in executive session to review these matters, starting Wednesday, April 4th. We must ensure the House is fully advised of steps taken to ensure the health and safety of individuals under the care of the Department of Aging and Disability Services."

Is that a roundabout way of saying that the similar investigation at Texas Youth Commission - as Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has been saying - may have been botched or that it's the state that could be on the receiving end of litigation for what's been happening to patients there?

DADS already has its own report into what happened at Lubbock, and they've made that secret: Now the Legislature has joined in on the locked-door approach.