Transparency News 6/27/14

State Del. Terry Kilgore targeted former state Sen. Phillip Puckett for a job at the state's tobacco commission despite concerns that it would look bad if Puckett took the job just as he resigned from the state Senate, commission emails released Thursday through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act indicate. The commission's interim executive director, Tim Pfohl, expressed these concerns to Puckett shortly before the Tazewell Democrat resigned, flipping the Senate's balance of power to Republicans and helping to break a logjam on the state budget. In that email, Pfohl told Puckett that he "implored" Kilgore, R-Gate City and the commission's chairman, to "decouple" the two announcements. He said he wanted to avoid "the appearance of the commission manipulating the Senate balance of power and starting WW3 w/ the Governor's administration.”
Daily Press

The Amherst County School Board voted last week to extend Superintendent Steven Nichols’ contract through 2018 following a dispute among school board members in which one representative called the extension an “illegal action.” According to Virginia code, school boards shall not renegotiate a superintendent’s contract “following the election or appointment of new members and the date such members are qualified and assume office.” “It would be, in my view at least, contrary to Virginia law for this board to take action,” Wood said. Nichols responded the issue had been discussed with the school board’s attorney earlier that day. He added he had been notified May 22 of the board’s intention to reappoint.
New Era Progress

Want to liven up the debate over the Columbia Pike streetcar? Why not launch a recall drive against Arlington County board members on one side of the issue or the other? While Virginia law does provide voters the ability to recall elected officials, it’s a near impossibility to get the measure on the ballot – as just was proved in Loudoun County. Out there, a Circuit Court judge dismissed a petition by political opponents of Loudoun County Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), effectively ending two years of extended controversy related to the supervisor’s use of office staff and funds. Arlington General Registrar Linda Lindberg said her office occasionally fields requests for information from those who have an interest in exploring recalls of local officials. She explains to them the bar is set rather high to get the matter to the voting booth. Lindberg said she can recall – no pun intended – three instances of people who wanted information on removing elected officials. One had a gripe against Jay Fisette, another was upset with Mary Hynes and a third had unspecified grievances. None resulted in a petition drive.
Inside NOVA

National Stories

As part of the American Civil Liberties Union’s recent report on police militarization, the Massachusetts chapter of the organization sent open records requests to SWAT teams across that state. It received an interesting response. As it turns out, a number of SWAT teams in the Bay State are operated by what are called law enforcement councils, or LECs. These LECs are funded by several police agencies in a given geographic area and overseen by an executive board, which is usually made up of police chiefs from member police departments. In 2012, for example, the Tewksbury Police Department paid about $4,600 in annual membership dues to the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, or NEMLEC. (See page 36 of linked PDF.) That LEC has about 50 member agencies. In addition to operating a regional SWAT team, the LECs also facilitate technology and information sharing and oversee other specialized units, such as crime scene investigators and computer crime specialists. Some of these LECs have also apparently incorporated as 501(c)(3) organizations. And it’s here that we run into problems. According to the ACLU, the LECs are claiming that the 501(c)(3) status means that they’re private corporations, not government agencies. And therefore, they say they’re immune from open records requests. Let’s be clear. These agencies oversee police activities. They employ cops who carry guns, wear badges, collect paychecks provided by taxpayers and have the power to detain, arrest, injure and kill. They operate SWAT teams, which conduct raids on private residences. And yet they say that because they’ve incorporated, they’re immune to Massachusetts open records laws. The state’s residents aren’t permitted to know how often the SWAT teams are used, what they’re used for, what sort of training they get or who they’re primarily used against.
Washington Post

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell today signed into law a package of House bills sponsored by that expand and strengthen Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act. The bills were introduced in early May and passed both chambers of the General Assembly with unanimous votes. The new laws cover posting of meeting minutes, mailed FOIA requests, publishing of annual reports and education of FOIA coordinators. The package represents a continuing effort to broaden government transparency and allow citizens to stay up-to-date with their state and local public agencies and more easily access public records and documents.
Delaware.gov

The U.S. Supreme Court gave both sides in the abortion wars a partial victory Thursday in setting rules for protests at health clinics, deciding that laws may forbid people from obstructing the entrance as long as demonstrators are free to speak on the sidewalk. The justices unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that set a 35-foot buffer zone on the sidewalks near abortion facilities. The court said this no-standing, no-talking zone violated the First Amendment. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., joined by the court's four liberal justices, said states and cities retain ample power to protect medical clinics and their patients. He cited with approval laws that forbid "obstructing access" to a medical clinic or harassing people within 15 feet of an abortion clinic.
Governing

The judge presiding over Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery's defamation lawsuit against The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and several of their reporters and editors has denied all of the defendants' preliminary objections. In a one-page order issued a day after he heard oral arguments in the case, Senior Judge John M. Cleland dismissed Wednesday the defendants' objections, denied the paper's request to strike a portion of the amended complaint and ordered the defendants to respond to the complaint within 20 days. Cleland, who is a McKean County judge specially appointed to hear the case given McCaffery's ties to the First Judicial District where the suit was filed, also set discovery deadlines for Nov. 30.
The Legal Intelligencer

Arizona public-schools chief John Huppenthal invoked the word "honor" repeatedly Wednesday before leaving his news conference in tears after apologizing for controversial Internet comments. A short time later, a group of community leaders said the honorable thing for him to do would be to resign as superintendent of public instruction over his anonymous online blog responses that have drawn fierce criticism. Huppenthal apologized several times during his hastily called news conference at the Arizona Department of Education headquarters in Phoenix, saying he "renounced and repudiated" the comments he had posted on blogs.
USA Today