In many States in the USA there is an "open meeting" law that says that all public business (town, county, State boards and councils) must be conducted in a meeting open to the public. We have that law here in Virginia where I live. The meeting is allowed to be "closed" only for certain subjects specified in the law. For example, to discuss the discipline of an employee, to discuss the meaning of terms of a contract bid with the bidder, and so on. But all decisions must be voted on in public. The meeting may be recorded electronically by anyone except that a copy of the recording must be provided to the secretary of the government body involved. This is a State law and not a Federal Law. However, the US Congress must conduct its business in public also unless it votes for a closed session for a specific purpose. Such closed sessions are very rare and usually to discuss secret military budget matters or personnel issues. However no law can prevent secret meetings from taking place in people's offices, homes, restaurants, golf clubs, etc. where deals may be "cooked up" in private and then discussed, later, in a phony way, in public.