A few folks are raising a stink about Wake County School Board chairman Ron Margiotta’s recent use of school board video in his political ads. Some on the left are pointing to Margiotta’s use of the video as proof he enlisted county employees to help him in his campaign. WTVD’s Jon Camp did a story about it.
Now, I’m no fan of Ron Margiotta. He’s arrogant, grating, blunt, and I find a lot of what he says and does to be embarrassing. Still, you gotta hand it to him for thinking to use this video. Sure, it’s video of Susan Evans, his opponent in the school board race, and sure, it was taken with the county-owned video system. But that’s the point: it’s video taken by the public, for the public at an open, public meeting. The video is thus a public record and therefore available to anyone who requests it.
Like any other citizen, Margiotta has every right to ask for copies of that video and Wake County is compelled to provide it. That’s what our state’s open records law is all about.
Margiotta and the rest of the current board majority may have a checkered past when it comes to open meetings and open records but this time he’s absolutely correct. Since he lost his election, though, I say let him “ride off into the sunset” and not give him any more press. He’s already done.