Friday, October 10, 2014
State and Local Stories
The FOIA Council issued an opinion in late September thattracks the dates of an Alexandria woman’s six FOIA requests to the City of Alexandria and finds some of them later than what the statute dictates. The office offers no opinion on enforcing violations saying “enforcement of FOIA is left to the court.”
FOIA Council opinion on VCOG’s website
Virginia state senators quietly met with FBI officials for a private briefing on how not to run afoul of federal corruption laws shortly after a jury found former Gov. Bob McDonnell guilty of selling the influence of his office, lawmakers told The Associated Press this week. Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw said Wednesday that leaders from both party caucuses helped organize a meeting with FBI officials to ask questions about federal law shortly after the conviction. Saslaw said each caucus met separately with the FBI, but he declined to provide details about the Capitol meeting with his caucus because he said it was a closed session.Saslaw said that he thought the FBI’s presentation was helpful and that his members asked several questions. “It explained to us what’s kosher and what’s not,” he said. Matthew Moran, a spokesman for House Speaker William Howell, said House Republican leaders found out about the Senate briefings and thought they were a good idea. Moran said that House GOP leaders have sought a similar briefing but that it hasn’t yet occurred because of scheduling issues.
Roanoke Times
A federal jury began deliberations Thursday in a lawsuit filed by two former members of the Front Royal Volunteer Fire Department who accuse the department and its former board president of defaming them and violating their rights of free speech. The opposing sides clashed over who was to blame for what Larry Oliver, chief of the fire company, described as the worst infighting he has seen in his career. Fire departments have always had cliques and always will, Oliver testified, "but certainly there was more division than I remember in the 35 years I've been there." Oliver and other witnesses who testified for the defense Thursday portrayed the plaintiffs, Philip A. Charles and David M. Ellinger, as polarizing malcontents determined to get their way while sowing mistrust and bitterness throughout the department. Charles was banished as a member of the department and Ellinger was suspended in 2013. They contend the department retaliated against them for stirring up controversy on issues involving an aging fire truck and the distribution of funds from ambulance fees among Warren County fire departments.
Northern Virginia Daily
Republican members of Congress from Virginia areconsidering whether to appeal Tuesday’s decision by a panel of judges that declared the state’s congressional maps unconstitutional. Several of the state’s Republican congressmen held a conference call with their attorneys Wednesday, but they have not made a final decision whether to appeal. Republicans say privately that an appeal is likely because of the importance of the case. “The Republicans need to appeal this case so this will not just be precedent in Virginia but across the country,” said Tom Davis, a Republican who once represented Northern Virginia’s 11th District in Congress. The delegation was granted the right to intervene in the case, giving members as a group the right to appeal just like the other defendant, the state Board of Elections, which is represented by the attorney general’s office.
Washington Post
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