Like a clandestine affair at a sleazy roadside motel, representatives from the state comptroller's office and the Whitehall Town Board huddled in secret behind locked doors Monday while the jilted public waited outside wondering what the hell was going on in there.

After the two collaborators slipped a "Private Meeting" sign on the door and locked themselves in, they discussed the status of a "draft" audit of town books that apparently involved the misappropriation of taxpayer money.

According to the head of the state Committee on Open Government, Robert Freeman, that meeting should have been open to the public. He's got state law, legal precedent, and a decision from the state's highest court to back up his stance. He's made his case to past state comptrollers and the current comptroller stating that so-called "exit conferences" on audits between the comptroller and local governments are indeed public meetings.

But the comptroller's office not only thumbs its nose at the Open Meetings Law, it blackmails local government boards into going along. According to Mr. Freeman, the comptroller's office tells the local government that it will only meet to discuss the audit if the meeting is held in private. For what reason they insist on a private meeting is beyond us. The final report of the audit will eventually be made public anyway. And as Mr. Freeman points out, it's usually the local government that would take the brunt of public criticism from anything that might be revealed at the meeting. But for whatever reason, that's the comptroller's policy and they're sticking to it.

Now here's where the blackmail comes in. If the government board is inclined to hold the meeting in public as per the law, then the comptroller's office simply informs the board that it won't be attending the meeting. That puts the local government board between a rock and a hard place. It's to their constituents' benefit that the board avail itself to the expertise and advice of the comptroller's office. But in order to get that expertise and advice, the board has to close the meeting to the public.

Pragmatism will tell you which direction most boards lean. Put in that position, they usually opt to meet with the comptroller's office and close the meeting. That's pretty much what the Whitehall Town Board did on Monday -- closed the meeting despite the fact that a Post-Star reporter provided a direct statement from Mr. Freeman that what they were doing was illegal.

Whitehall officials tried to justify the closure by saying they were discussing "possible litigation" and "personnel" -- both of which are common excuses that governments fall back on when they want to close a meeting. The problem is that neither phrase exists in the Open Meetings Law and neither can be used as a reason to close a meeting.

It's true, they were talking about a specific individual -- the clerk involved in the allegations of malfeasance. But the clerk doesn't work for the town anymore, so they're not even discussing a town employee. And they're not protecting anyone's identity by meeting in private, since the clerk's name and the allegations against her have been well publicized.

The comptroller's office tried to say they were only discussing a "draft" of the audit, and therefore the meeting could be closed. But in the eye of the Open Meetings Law, drafts are no different than final documents, and the state Appellate Court has held that the "entire decision-making process" of a government body is subject to public scrutiny.

Two things need to change.

First: The state comptroller's office must stop insisting that public information such as audits be discussed behind closed doors. (The comptroller's office phone number and e-mail address are in the accompanying box. Send him a short note and include a copy of this editorial. And while you're at it, cc: Senator Betty Little and Assembly members Teresa Sayward and Roy McDonald.)

Second: Local government boards should stop kowtowing to the state when it comes closing meetings they know should be open. The local boards are the first and last line of defense in the protection of the public's rights. They should stand up for their citizens. The people have a right to know about the affairs of government. And if government hangs a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, then the people need to keep knocking until they open up.

Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Publisher Rona Rahlf, Editor Ken Tingley, Editorial Page Editor Mark Mahoney and citizen representative Nancy Fitzpatrick.