Tuesday’s meeting of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics was nearly three hours long, but the majority of it was conducted in private (lunch was delivered).

It’s not unusual for ethics agencies like JCOPE and its predecessors to meet in executive session, but the lack of explanation as to why they were meeting in private raised questions.

At the end of the meeting JCOPE Chairwoman Janet DiFiore didn’t want to stick around too long, answering two of my questions in a quicky interview on camera. But she did say the commission will be as open as possible.

“The mission and the goal of our work is to increase public confidence in the government that serves the people and certainly we are focused on that. And as part of the mission to raise confidence we will to the exten that is appropriate and wise and reasonable we will work in the most transparent way possible.”

I also tried to interview several board members once the executive session broke up, but none wanted to talk. Even Ravi Batra, who is not normally press-shy, wasn’t interested.

Yesterday DiFiroe said during the meeting that the board will adhere to the “spirit” of the Open Meetings Law, even though JCOPE is exempt.

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