LANSING – Sean Kosofsky dashed around the rotunda of the state capitol shortly after 1:30 informing participants and media to get to the Speaker's Library, the base of operations for the Safe Schools Lobby Day, because there were "big developments" on Matt's Safe Schools Law.
Kosofsky is the director of policy for Triangle Foundation and was one of the coordinators and organizers of the Safe Schools Lobby Day.
But when everyone had settled in, the media was told to leave by Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network national media relations associate Daryl Presgraves.
At the time, there were media representatives from AP, The Lansing State Journal, Between The Lines, WILX, (NBC Lansing) and others. None but Between The Lines questioned the actions, or demanded to know what was happening in the library.
Presgraves refused to explain why the media was asked to leave, or what the "big developments" were, instead referring all questions to Kosofsky.
Kosofsky explained the action was taken to explain a compromise substitute bill to the gathered community activists, and to prevent them from booing or having other negative responses to the bill.
The substitute bill would remove enumeration and instead refer to a requirement that any policy must include of all definitions from a model policy passed by the State Board of Education in 2005. The citizen lobbyists had just spent the morning lobbying lawmakers to keep enumeration in the bill.
None of the organizers of the event or the coalition expected a vote on the House floor on Wednesday.
When asked why this had happened, Kosofsky said the change "could" result in "90 votes for the bill."
The substitute bill passed 59-50.
"It just shows that Representatives are opposed to protecting GLBT students," Kosofsky said after the passage, explaining why the vote did not get his predicted 90 votes.
"I said could," he stressed.
State Sen. Glenn Anderson was in the Library speaking with the lobbyists, but what was said is unknown.
Anderson is the sponsor of a similar bill in the state senate.
A request to discuss this meeting directly with Anderson had not been granted as of press time.
However, his chief of staff, Mark Polsdofer says Anderson did not seek the closed meeting.
"No, that was not anything Glenn had asked for," Polsdofer said. "This is the first I've heard about it."
"You can say I made that decision, to exclude media because I could," Kosofsky says. "We didn't want to telegraph to anyone what might go down. It was our prerogative."
Other coalition members did not agree with the decision and only found out about it when BTL began asking why the media had been excluded from the closed-door meeting. Dawn Wolfe, Communications Director for Triangle Foundation was also not informed of the decision to kick the media out.
"It was not OK from the ACLU's point of view, and not from my personal perspective," said Shelli Weisberg the lobbyist for the ACLU and one of the Safe Schools Coalition.
When asked if kicking the media out was appropriate, Derek Smiertka, executive director of Michigan Equality and a coalition member said, "Christ no. I would rather have a reporter follow me around all day and hear the stories being told to me by representatives. What we told them (the media) was we don't want you to report on this any more."
In a later phone interview, Smiertka elaborated.
"It was the worst mistake made all day. We need to have the media reporting on our stories because it's the only way we are going to have equal partners status in the process," he said. "There was just no reason for this."
Kosofsky fired back, "We invite the press when we want them in the room. There is nothing going on in that room that is of interest. No policy was being shaped in there."
