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Former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder is suing Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) president Michael Rao and one other VCU employee after they investigated claims that Wilder was contributing to a hostile work environment within the university’s Wilder School. On Friday, Aug. 1, Wilder filed a federal lawsuit against Rao and Suzanne Milton, VCU’s chief audit and compliance executive. According to court documents obtained by 8News, he is suing to “challeng[e] malicious, unsubstantiated and retaliatory acts orchestrated by [Rao] and [Milton] under the guise of institutional compliance.” Wilder was told the allegations included claims of a threatening environment at the Wilder School, as well as “an abusive relationship with Dean Susan Gooden.” Wilder himself was accused of threatening colleagues and misusing university personnel. According to Wilder, Milton told him she could not provide the details he requested because of privacy concerns. The lawsuit alleges that Milton refused to give him these details because Rao told her to withhold them, not because of any privacy concerns.
WRIC
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Local
Chesapeake spent a little more than $110,000 throughout 2023 and ’24 litigating two high-profile political battles against council members, public records show. City councils are often sued for a variety of issues. Among the roles of a city attorney is defending the city in legal disputes. But outside counsel is often hired in highly political cases or those in which conflicts of interest could be a concern since the city attorney is a council-appointed position. Throughout 2023 and ’24, the city worked with Norfolk-based Willcox and Savage to hash out two lawsuits. One was an alleged public records request violation filed against the City Council and member Debbie Ritter. The other lawsuit, supported by a majority of council members at the time, was filed directly against then-council member Don Carey during his unsuccessful bid for mayor in last year’s election. The Virginian-Pilot obtained from a public records request all invoices billed to the city. In total, Chesapeake spent $110,149 on the two cases, according to the invoices, with the vast majority spent on the lawsuit against Ritter and the council.
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Local
Richmond officials have suggested they were caught off guard by a recent demand to pay a wrongfully imprisoned man $5.8 million in accordance with a new Virginia law. But the city had several opportunities to engage on the matter before Gov. Glenn Youngkin threatened to withhold state funds if the city doesn’t pay, according to records obtained by The Richmonder. Richmond also had an “obligation” to pay Grimm $5.8 million, Arnold & Porter said, because of two bills approved by Youngkin after winning unanimous passage in the General Assembly. One of those bills required local governments to match the state’s compensation in cases where local police helped lock up an innocent person. Richmond officials are still scrambling to figure out how to proceed. And they’ve struggled to explain how they were caught flat-footed by legislative action happening in public right across the street from City Hall. The correspondence obtained by The Richmonder shows Grimm’s legal team contacted the city as far back as December, before the General Assembly session had begun.
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Editorial
The month of July has not been a favorable one for the Fredericksburg City School Board. On July 8, the Advance reported that new travel policies for the School Board were the result of Board members exceeding their travel budget to conferences and using credit cards during trips to Georgia and Hawaii that were designated for use only by Superintendent Marci Catlett and Board Clerk Angela Roenke. This reporting has raised more than a few eyebrows in the city. As well it should. So also should the fact that up to this point, neither Kay nor Bailey has been willing to answer questions the Advance has about Board travel. That they won’t speak suggests they will simply wait for this to blow over. There’s reason to believe this strategy will work.
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This week, I’m delving into the Jeffrey Epstein saga: We know from news reports that Trump’s name was in the Epstein files. But what hasn’t been reported is that an FBI FOIA team redacted Trump’s name—and the names of other prominent public figures—from the documents, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak with the media. That team, tasked with conducting a final review of the voluminous cache, had applied the redactions before the DOJ and the FBI concluded last month that “no further disclosure” of the files “would be appropriate or warranted.” From the government’s perspective, Trump was a private citizen when the Epstein investigation took place and therefore is entitled to privacy protections. Read on and I’ll explain.
Jason Leopold’s FOIA Files
“Democracies die behind closed doors.” ~ U.S. District Judge Damon Keith, 2002
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