To the Editor:

Everybody wants transparency in government — everybody except our Republican legislators in Raleigh. Last year, they passed the most repressive voter suppression law in the nation, arguing that it would eliminate the almost-nonexistent voter fraud in North Carolina. Now they don’t want us to know how they came to the conclusion that suppressing voters is a good idea.

The state is being sued simultaneously by a civil rights group and the federal Justice Department to negate the law on the basis that it discriminates against young people and non-white people. To establish this intent, both plaintiffs want copies of the e-mails that the legislators sent back and forth to each other prior to enacting the law.  

However, Republican legislators are resisting turning over their emails. Correspondence — including emails, letters, notes, and recordings — between public officials conducting public business is a public record, subject to public scrutiny. 

So, the question now is what do the Republican legislators have to hide? Like Nixon guarding his Watergate tapes, are they afraid that their candid remarks will reveal their true nature?

Rick Bryson

Bryson City