Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Tell me Rep. Joseph Trillo, R-Warwick, didn’t just “implore the House leadership to schedule an executive session, which would be closed to the public, lobbyists and the press.”

Tell me he didn’t call for a “brainstorming session” so legislators can toss around ideas for solving the state’s economic and budget crises. Tell me he didn’t say, “The presence of any outside influence would have the potential to limit the free exchange of innovative and potentially unpopular ideas.”

Oh yeah, he did. And I don’t mind telling you that Trillo, who owns an alarm company, had me alarmed. But he quickly put my mind at ease. “I’m not talking a formal session,” Trillo said. “I’m talking about a rap session, an exchange of ideas.”

Well fine, then. I can picture that rap session, with Joe kicking up his feet and House Speaker William Murphy dunking a chip in some onion dip. Just some fellas spitballing ideas: layoffs, spending cuts, massive changes to deal with our massive state deficit, etc. Hey, Gordon Fox, shut that door after you come in.

Trillo said it would be more like a caucus. Of course, a caucus involves members of one party. Trillo noted Democrats can caucus behind closed doors. And come January, the GOP will hold just 6 of the 75 House seats.

Trillo said no business would be conducted and no bills would be introduced, and the shindig wouldn’t even have to take place in the House chamber. Might I suggest Twin Oaks.

“This is an attempt to extract from members ideas that they wouldn’t probably talk about as easily in an open forum,” Trillo said. This way, he said, legislators won’t be afraid to make suggestions that might draw criticism. Such as putting toll booths on Route 95. (He’s against that idea, by the way.)

“I think [legislators] are more honest if they are not going to see it in the paper and if they know the organizations that support them politically are not going to grab them by the shoulder when they leave the room,” Trillo said. (Hint: He’s talking about unions.)

“Legislators, generally speaking, always protect their rear end,” Trillo said. “They are always concerned about the next election, even if it’s two years away.”

I can’t argue with that part about rear-end protection. And it’s a reminder of why I get a kick out of speaking with Trillo — even when, as in this case, I couldn’t disagree with him more.

Northeastern University journalism Prof. Walter V. Robinson, who once led the Boston Globe’s investigative team and now coordinates the New England First Amendment Center, said it’s striking Trillo actually made his proposal publicly. “God forbid the legislature should go along with Representative Trillo’s suggestion,” he said. “If it does, then perhaps some of that democracy the Bush administration has been trying to export ought to be imported to Rhode Island.”

Trillo said, “The hard reality of government is that a lot of what happens, happens behind closed doors. You don’t stop it with the Open Meetings Law. The budget is put together every year by the House speaker, House majority leader and House Finance Committee chairman.” Plus, legislators have contended they don’t have to adhere to the Open Meetings Law.

All of that might be true, as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go very far because the answer to secrecy is not more secrecy. If decisions are being made behind closed doors, the answer is not to close more doors. If elected leaders have ideas, they ought to have the guts to propose them in front of the press, the lobbyists — and the voters who elected them.

efitzpat@projo.com