Transparency News 5/22/13

Watchdog.org Virginia Bureau: If you don’t live in the Old Dominion,you’re not guaranteed access to Virginia’s public documents through the state’s Freedom of Information Act. However, you can legally holster a gun in 25 states with a Virginia concealed-carry permit. In 2009, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who was a state senator at the time, sponsored the Senate Bill allowing residents of Virginia to obtain a concealed handgun permit by completing a 20-question online test. That same law affords residents of 25 other states the same right. But public records are for Virginia eyes only.

Wastchdog.org Virginia Bureau: The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that Virginia can deny public records access to non-residents may not be the final say. Members of the Freedom Information Advisory Council, which makes recommendations on bills related to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, is looking for some sort of compromise between allowing access to all U.S. citizens and restricting FOIA rights to Virginia residents. Virginia is currently one of only five states in the nation with some sort of citizens-only provision.

National Stories

More than 50 images of Osama bin Laden taken after his death in Pakistan in 2011 can remain secret, exempt from public disclosure under public records laws, a federal appeals court in Washington said Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said 52 post-mortem images were properly classified as Top Secret. The panel upheld a trial judge's ruling that blocked the release of images.
Blog of LegalTimes

Two California lawmakers are pushing legislation to strip broad secrecy provisions from the state agency overseeing health care reforms in California that could shield from the public how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent, officials said Monday.
KPCC

A national Republican organization on Monday sued Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller for failing to turn over what it says are public records detailing his travel, cell phone information, compensation and public schedule. The State Government Leadership Foundation, which is connected to the Washington, DC-based Republican State Leadership Committee, filed the lawsuit in Carson City District Court alleging that Miller has failed to comply with Nevada’s public records law.
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Photos taken in the aftermath of the attack that killed six people and wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords show the handgun, high-capacity pistol magazines and knife that Jared Lee Loughner carried with him as he carried out the January 2011 attack. The 600 photos, released Tuesday, also show images of Loughner's receipt for the motel where he stayed the night before the shooting, a credit card record showing ear plugs he bought and dozens of vehicles that were in the parking lot of the shopping center where the shooting unfolded.
Politico

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Executive Director Bruce Brown issued the following statement today following revelations that the U.S. Department of Justice executed a search warrant for e-mail communications between Fox News reporter James Rosen and a confidential source.  “The Justice Department’s decision to treat routine newsgathering efforts as evidence of criminality is extremely troubling and corrodes time-honored understandings between the public and the government about the role of the free press,” Brown said. “It is not enough to say, as the government has, that there is a difference between filing an affidavit stating ‘that there is probable cause to believe that someone has committed a crime and charging the person with that crime.’ This explanation does not erase the sworn statement the government made to a federal judicial officer in order to obtain a search warrant for a reporter’s confidential communications with a source.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
 

Editorials/Columns

Virginian-Pilot: To truly appreciate the absurdity of the legal argument, consider this: The public-records law that staff members in Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's office said did not apply to the attorney general specifically mentions the office four times. Three of those mentions exempt the office from its obligation to disclose specific information under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act.

Times-Dispatch: File this one under I, for Irony: Until the claim backfired, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli tried to insist his office is not subject to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. The AG responds to FOIA requests as a courtesy, his spokesman said the other day — but has no legal obligation to do so. Why? Because the office is a constitutional one and therefore not a public body.So how did the attorney general’s position seem ironic? Let us count the ways.

Roanoke Times: Virginia’s top lawyer is not above the law. Nor is Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli just doing his constituents a favor when he responds to requests for public records. Cuccinelli’s startling epiphany that he is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act came at a convenient moment. He is running for governor while being pelted with questions about his relationship with a businessman who has a pending dispute over state taxes.It was tempting for Cuccinelli to slather himself in a potent Scandal Proof Formula to shield himself from the state sunshine law. But the arrogance of the proclamation, not to mention its nonsensical legal justification, forced him to back down this week.

Daily Press: First of all, pleading ignorance of their impact is no defense. That members of the two most important ruling bodies in county government would demonstrate such boneheaded lapses in judgment calls into question their very ability to govern. Secondly, racism has no place in public office.

Martinsville Bulletin: Many voices were heard on the subject of the controversial quilt, a city council member’s reaction to it and race relations in general at the Martinsville City Council meeting Tuesday. We hope it was the start of a community conversation on these issues that will lead to greater understanding and acceptance of this area’s diversity.

Los Angeles Times: Ideally, governmental bodies would refrain from including prayers — even ecumenical, "lowest-common-denominator" ones — in their public proceedings. But if prayers are to be offered, they certainly shouldn't be monopolized by a single religious tradition. That is how the Supreme Court should rule in a case involving a town in New York state.

Steven Brown, New England First Amendment Coalition: Unfortunately, it’s now official. The public’s right to know is not “basic to the maintenance or well-being of the Union.” That is the essence of an April 29 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of a provision in Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act which guarantees access to public records to in-state residents only. We can only hope the decision does not encourage other states to become as parochial as Virginia and deny people access to information based solely on their zip code.