Yes, it does need to be public.
Well we could debate that but first we need to have something requiring it be shown. Today we have no such requirement. I have no problem with it being kept private if it is shown to a select group/entity such as two members of the SCOTUS, members of the ethics committees of Congress, etc.
what a contradiction in terms.
nobody is going to fall for that lie
We have a PUBLIC CONSTITUTION,
We elect supposedly CITIZENS to PUBLIC office,
Our LAWS are PUBLIC laws,
Only tyrannical regimes do things in SECRET.
We have a USSC that went 5:4 on the Second Amendment... the decision should have been an easy 9:0, just as it would have been had the same argument been waged against the First Amendment. So, which “two” justices are you going to trust?
No, sir. No secret verification. I want FULL PUBLIC DISLOSURE.
... and “congressional ethics” is an oxymoron.