Making laws should not be a game of hide and seek. 

Legislation should be an open, deliberative process. 

Regardless of which lawmaker or which party does it, 11th-hour moves to tack controversial measures onto other bills assured of getting a thumbs up in the General Assembly is deceptive, dishonest and a disservice to the people of Georgia. 

Whether or not we agree with the measure itself is immaterial. 

The ends do not justify the means. 

The public’s business should always be discussed, debated and decided out in the open. 

Tacking controversial measures onto other bills under the cover of darkness is cowardly, underhanded and an affront to democracy. 

In this case, Republican lawmakers who had the votes to pass legislation that bans the teaching of certain race-related topics, just a few minutes before midnight Monday placed unrelated language onto the bill that would allow school districts to ban some transgender athletes from participating in sports. 

The Georgia General Assembly requires local government — county commissions, city councils and boards of education — to deliberate the public’s business out in the open. The public not only has the right to hear the final votes on public business but to hear the deliberations, knowing how local lawmakers derive their decisions. The cloak and dagger legislation of the General Assembly itself is the height of hypocrisy. Why is it permissible for state government to be less transparent than it requires local governments to be? 

For context, it is important to understand the sports ban issue had been discussed in open sessions, there had been a standalone bill to push through the measure, but the legislation did not garner the necessary Republican votes, in a Republican-controlled General Assembly, to pass. 

Frustrated, bill sponsors decided to game the system. 

Under the cloak of night, they tacked their failed legislation onto a bill they knew was going to pass and did not give opponents time to even read the revised bill, much less time to debate, deliberate and decide. 

Now, think about this: What if we were talking about a Democratic-controlled House and Senate and a piece of controversial legislation being pushed by liberal, progressive Democrats? 

Would Republicans call foul? 

Of course they would, and they should. 

What is good for the goose is good for the gander, and what is bad for Democrats is bad for Republicans. 

Making new law through clandestine, sneaky, 11th-hour gamesmanship is just bad for everyone.