Transparency News 8/7/14

A proposal meant to silence dissenters on the governing board of Virginia’s flagship public university was officially scuttledWednesday, days after state lawmakers raised an outcry. The initial version of a “statement of expectations” for the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors had stated that board members should not speak out publicly on board decisions — “whether past, present or imminent” — without permission from the board’s leader. The proposal drew sharp criticism after it surfaced publicly last week. A revised version, now posted on the board’s Web site, omits that provision. Instead, the proposal says: “If Visitors wish to address a board matter outside of the boardroom, they should make clear that they are speaking in their capacity as an individual board member and not on behalf of the Board or the University.”
Washington Post

The Hampton School Board met for the first time Wednesday evening since a series of town hall meetings regarding controversial pay raises given to school administrators. "The Hampton School Board is acutely aware and always adhering to open meeting rules and requirements," Mugler said. "At no time did the School Board exercise a deliberate intent to conceal information from our public," she said. The division passed the raises, termed as equity adjustments, during the consent agenda of its June 4 meeting after a closed session. Mugler said passing the raises during the consent agenda was a standard practice.
Daily Press

State Sen. Bill Stanley said he disagrees that a federal district court judge doesn’t have the authority to reverse his injunction against sectarian Christian prayer led by the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors. “I don’t think he’s powerless to dissolve or modify that injunction,” Stanley said during an interview Wednesday, adding that the judge’s opinion “seemed premature.” “I was surprised he issued such a ruling,” Stanley said. “I think it was a bit premature on the court’s part.” Stanley, on behalf of the board of supervisors, said he may appeal the judge’s opinion entered Monday and combine the appeal with the first one the county filed in September 2013 in the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals. The county is appealing Judge Michael Urbanski’s March 2013 decision barring board-led Christian prayers during its meetings.
Roanoke Times

Charles A. “Zan” Womack Jr. will be remembered as a true newspaperman who dedicated his life to small-town, community newspapers. Womack, 71, who owned the Star-Tribune and 14 other weekly newspapers in Virginia and North Carolina, died Monday following a brief illness. Altavista Journal editor and general manager Mark Thomas said Womack was a great teacher. “Mr. Womack once told me, ‘We’re all local, all the time,’” said Thomas. “He cared deeply about serving the readers of his newspapers with the latest news and advertising information from their communities.
Star-Tribune

Jack Trammell, the Democratic nominee to fill ousted Rep. Eric I. Cantor’s seat in Virginia, has not yet filed personal financial disclosure forms, putting him on the wrong side of federal law and leaving voters in the dark about the college professor’s income, investments and potential debts. Federal disclosure rules require congressional candidates to file ethics forms a month after they become serious candidates — triggered when they are nominated by a party or when they raise at least $5,000.  Mr. Trammell became a serious candidate for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District seat on June 8, meaning he should have filed his disclosure by the middle of July.
Washington Times

National Stories

A top Consumer Financial Protection Bureau executive tried to prevent public release of bank responses to consumer complaints, according to newly released documents. The documents include emails obtained by Cause of Action, a nonprofit government watchdog, that show CFPB's Scott Pluta: • Asked CFPB colleagues to find a way to shield communications with banks from requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act; • Asked CFPB employees if they “can craft a letter or bury something in the manual” to keep communications with the banks “private”; • Told CFPB's legal counsel and FOIA experts that “you're absolutely killing me … I would really appreciate if in the back of your heads you could think about how to creatively solve this puzzle.”
Washington Examiner

The highlight of Dan Geer’s talk [at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas] was definitely his suggestion that the U.S. government own the zero-day market. Zero-day vulnerabilities are security holes in software that are yet unknown to software makers or to antivirus firms. They’re unpatched and unprotected, leaving them open to exploit by spy agencies, criminal hackers, and others. Once the government purchases zero-days, he said, it should burn them by disclosing them.Showing all of these zero-days to the software makers so that they can be fixed would produce a dual benefit: Not only would it improve security, but it would burn our enemies’ stockpiles of exploits and vulnerabilities, making the U.S. far less susceptible to cyberattacks. Geer is chief information security officer at the CIA’s venture capital arm In-Q-Tel, which invests in technologies that help the intelligence community.
Wired

A company that performs background checks for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday it was the victim of a cyber attack, adding in a statement that "it has all the markings of a state-sponsored attack." The computer breach at Falls Church, Virginia-based US Investigations Services (USIS) probably involved the theft of personal information about DHS employees, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the story.
Reuters

Editorials/Columns

Decisions made at local city halls in Hampton Roads have a more direct and profound effect on citizens' lives than those made in Richmond or Washington. It is at meetings of city councils and boards of supervisors where communities come together to resolve the basic issues about how we live alongside one another. These meetings should be opportunities for citizens to articulate concerns and suggest ideas. It is absolutely critical they are open and accessible to the public — and that public servants actively encourage citizen participation. It is the best route to fostering a full and active public discourse. So it was with disappointment we greeted the decision by the Newport News City Council to reduce the time provided to each speaker at its regular public meetings. For office holders, reducing from five to three the number of minutes allotted may not seem like a substantial difference, but it makes a compelling statement citizens hear loudly and clearly.
Daily Press

Earlier this year, UVA Visitor Helen Dragas was on the losing end of a board vote to increase tuition and fees, in light of even less support from the state of a purportedly “public” university. As when she was rector, Dragas wanted deep cuts and changes in spending priorities, rather than a hike in tuition. What she did next was extraordinary, at least for a board member: She took to the Opinion pages of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, penning a May 1 op-ed blasting her fellow Visitors for their “extravagance,” not being grounded in reality and “poor oversight” of the university. Her colleagues were not amused, and thus the draft “behavior code” for board members.
News & Advance

D.C. Administration officials last month unveiled an online system for submitting and processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The system was designed at a cost of $274,337 by FOIAXpress, a vendor whose clients include the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Defense Department’s inspector general. More than 50 city agencies will participate in the centralized system at the start, with plans for more to be added in the next fiscal year. “Everyone wins when we make it easier for the public to understand the workings of the District government,” said Mr. Gray in a statement. We couldn’t agree more about the importance of transparency and accountability in government.
Washington Post

When we say something that might be threatening, how much does where we say it matter? The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in June to examine that question from a new angle – the increasingly popular method of online comments and posts on social media, as distinct from directed or face-to-face exchanges. The Court may well also consider what to make of the distinctions based in individual privacy settings on various social media, which can range for posts that are totally public, through layers in which posts are directed to individual’s accounts or small group “walls” but still public, to directed posts that are more like a personal e-mail or phone call.
Gene Policinski, Star-Exponent