Transparency News 8/11/14 – Virginia Coalition for Open Government

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Virginia Coalition for Open Government

Monday, August 11, 2014

State and Local Stories

The annual state budget doesn't list salaries for all of the 105,000-plus people who work for the state of Virginia. That would result in a much longer document, and the budget is already 500 pages long. But some of the best paid, and highest ranking, jobs are listed, making it fairly easy to determine, say, how much the Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry makes — $156,174 right now in salary, benefits not included.
Daily Press

Fifteen for him + five for her = 20 lawyers. That’s the headcount inside the two defense teams orbiting former first couple Bob and Maureen McDonnell at their federal corruption trial in Richmond. Who’s footing their fees, now estimated by some to reach $2 million? Not taxpayers, though the troubles of the ex-governor and his wife have cost Virginians close to $800,000 – a public meter that continues to tick.
Virginian-Pilot

A key provision in the latest draft of a University of Virginia Board of Visitors conduct code largely was obscured by the controversy an earlier proposal generated. If passed, it would settle a question the board has been wrestling with for the past year: Whom do board members serve first — the state or the university? “As Visitors, we have one overriding responsibility: to serve the best interests of the University so that the University, in turn, can serve the best interests of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” reads the latest draft of the code, released Wednesday.
Daily Progress

The wife of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell was known among staffers for hiding gifts in the executive mansion, an aide to the governor testified during the first couple's corruption trial on Friday. Matt Conrad, McDonnell's deputy chief of staff, said aides were worried that if some of the gifts hidden by first lady Maureen McDonnell were also intended for the governor they needed to be recorded on financial disclosure forms.
Reuters

Legal costs continue to accumulate in Pittsylvania County’s court fight with the American Civil Liberties Union over sectarian Christian public prayer. Next month will mark three years since the ACLU of Virginia — on behalf of county resident Barbara Hudson — filed a lawsuit against the board of supervisors arguing that its tradition of supervisor-led prayers referring to Jesus Christ violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause prohibiting government advancement of a religion. State Senator Bill Stanley, who has represented the county for free throughout the case, said he would not accept offers of payment for his services to the county. “I would respectfully decline it,” Stanley said Friday. “I am doing this pro bono and there are no circumstances where this would change.
Register & Bee

Claiming “trade secrets” are at stake, an environmental group wants a gag order slapped on an upcoming case involving Fauquier County farmer Martha Boneta. The Piedmont Environmental Council is seeking the protective order to squelch public disclosures stemming from Boneta’s lawsuit against the PEC and a neighbor. To shield financial records and other information from public view, attorneys for the PEC and the Thomases will ask Fauquier Circuit Judge Jeffrey Parker to grant a protective order.
Watchdog.org Virginia Bureau

Records management & FOIA
Sept. 10, 9:30-12:30
Virginia Capitol Building
1000 Bank St.
Details HERE

National Stories

Millsboro, Delaware, can now charge a $25 fee for Freedom of Information Act requests which will require the time of city employees beyond the normal scope of their job. The change, now in effect, comes after the Millsboro Town Council voted unanimously Aug. 4 to add the fee. The Freedom of Information Act details what documents and meetings must be open to the public, and by law, documents, emails, recordings and other records, with some exemptions, must be made available. The new fee will apply to requests in which it is apparent the town will need to spend time gathering the information. “If it’s something that’s going to require a clerk’s time, it helps offset that time,” said Town Manager Faye Lingo. “In our experience, if we can do it in an hour, we’re good.”
DelmarvaNow

A federal judge in Washington on Friday ruled prosecutors should be allowed to search the entire contents of an email account, overruling a magistrate judge?s concerns that the request was too broad and violated privacy rights.
LegalTimes

Editorials/Columns

As the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Mason, Virginia should be distinguished by a dedication to fair and equal representative democracy. Voters here should have confidence, not only that their ballots carry weight, but that their representation accurately reflects the will of the governed. Yet it is a sad if reliable fact that most seats for Virginia's General Assembly and U.S. House are decided long before a single vote is cast — sometimes years in advance. The clandestine and crooked process by which lawmakers draw district lines every 10 years all but ensures the outcome is preordained to protect those in power.
Daily Press

It’s time for a break with the past. It’s time for redistricting reform that puts the interests of the Commonwealth of Virginia and her people first, rather than protecting politicians and parties. It’ll require some heavy lifting, but the result — a government that actually represents the people — is worth it.
News & Advance

Sen. Mark Warner toured Virginia last summer, a four-day, 1,000-mile trip on a chartered plane that cost taxpayers $8,500. Warner, Virginia's senior senator, traveled to a minor league ballpark, a craft brewery and a Roanoke rail yard on his visit to western Virginia, USA Today reported.
Virginian-Pilot

The proposed policy that would have muzzled University of Virginia board members has received a necessary infusion of common sense. Under the latest version of the policy, Board of Visitors members would be permitted to talk with outsiders if they make clear that they are speaking as individuals. The proposal was dangerous to the information-gathering phase of university leadership that is so critical to making good decisions. Visitors would have been prohibited from seeking out other leaders or talking with the public to obtain feedback on issues facing the board. How could this have been positive or practical? Additionally, the earlier policy was particularly ill-conceived because it set the board at odds with state legislators. In fact, many were visibly angered. These are the men and women who control the purse strings for the state portion of UVa’s funding and who pass the state laws that can either help or hinder UVa’s mission.
Daily Progress

I do not vote to confirm members of any public institution’s governing body to sit back and shut up, or be fearful to speak. I want them to dig. I want them to ask questions. I want them to keep pushing until they get answers, and I’m not really interested in how uncomfortable it makes an administrator or even a college president who treats a public institution as a personal fiefdom. As the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed in 1899 when it decided Phillips v. Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia, we —Virginians — are the owners.
Del. David Ramadan, Times-Dispatch