This year, Andy Green covered the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council meeting.

He did a great job with what has become known around here as a thankless assignment.

The Chesapeake Bay Executive Council is the group of governors from Md, Pa., and Va. and the D.C. mayor that get together once a year to talk about how the Chesapeake bay cleanup is going. They often sign proclamations or make promises or talk about the successes and failures.

As a veteran State House reporter, Andy gets to watch the governor in action all the time. But I only get the chance every so often. What I always thought would be interesting about the council meetings is that you get to hear what the governors are thinking, how they reach their conclusions. It's really a once-a-year chance to be up close and personal with the big decision makers.

Except it's not. The governors -- and their staffs -- meet in private, then come out and give a press conference telling everyone what they've decided.

The year I went, it was even worse-- Ehrlich was governor, and he left early; D.C. mayor sent a representative, so that left just then-Va. Gov. Mark Warner and Pa. Gov. Ed Rendell to tell us what they were going to do to help the bay. Not exactly worth treking to Mount Vernon for, even if we did get to walk around George's old stomping grounds.

During the question-and-answer period, I confronted Rendell, then the group's chairman.

"Why don't you make these meetings open to the public?" I asked.

He responded no one had ever asked him that before, and that he would take it under advisement.

Nothing changed-in fact, the group having the private meeting got bigger.

As I explained to the Bay Program people two years ago, and again this week, what's interesting to me is not more promises to clean up the bay, or more acknowledgements that we won't reach goals.

What's interesting is to watch how these governors think, how they process information about the bay, how much they know. That's why it's fascinating to follow around Martin O'Malley when he tours an oyster hatchery, or sit in on a Chesapeake Bay Commission meeting (which, by the way, are open to the public and includes many state senators and delegates, plus special guest speakers).

I had basically figured they were never going to change how it's done, but then Bay Program director Jeff Lape called me and said he liked my idea, and he would think about it. Here's hoping they open things up a bit more, to give all of us a little more insight.