Transparency News 10/23/14

A court hearing has been scheduled for later this year in a former Richmond official's $10.7 million defamation lawsuit against City Auditor/Inspector General Umesh Dalal. The suit filed in late July by former finance official Sharon Judkins is scheduled for a Dec. 17 hearing in Richmond Circuit Court, according to online court records.
Times-Dispatch

A politically connected developer quietly floated a confidential proposal to partner with James City County in a $30 million-plus deal to build a new middle school – but left some of the elected officials who would have to come up with money, and the public at large, in the dark. Word of the proposal only leaked out several days after developer Chris Henderson tipped James City County Board Chairwoman Mary Jones and Supervisors Michael Hipple and Kevin Onizuk about his plan in an email labeled "highly confidential."
Daily Press

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said Wednesday that he hasn't consulted an attorney and hasn't heard from federal investigators in the wake of his "brainstorming" call in June to the son of resigning state Sen. Phil Puckett. The call was one of several that high-ranking Democrats made in a last-ditch effort to keep Puckett in the Senate and avoid the narrow GOP majority that allowed Republicans to break a budget standoff and kill off Medicaid expansion efforts. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Warner discussed the possibility of several private sector jobs and a federal judgeship with Puckett's son, Joseph, in a bid to keep his father on the job. Warner wouldn't say Wednesday who broached the subject of a judgeship for Puckett's daughter, Martha Puckett Ketron, saying instead that recommendations for the judgeship coming open in that area had just been made.
Daily Press

The Pittsylvania County School Board publicly reprimanded member Wayne Robertson with a special resolution at its Oct. 14 meeting. The resolution, passed 6-1 with Robertson as its dissenting vote,concerned six letters to the editor published by the Chatham Star-Tribune from April to September. In the letters, Robertson makes several allegations against the school board, district administrators and Superintendent James McDaniel. Board Chair Calvin Doss, explaining the decision to pass the resolution, said most of the accusations had no factual basis. “It is a rebuttal to his opinion,” Doss said. “Basically, we don’t concur with his stances.”
Register & Bee

Augusta County Supervisors opted Wednesday to take a different route in dealing with the county school board on the future of county education. Instead of hiring a facilitator who would have cost $2,000 per day, supervisors decided to initially meet with their school board counterparts in each magisterial district. The district meetings will have a goal of finding ideas. Those ideas will go to the respective board chairmen of the supervisors and school board, the county administrator and schools superintendent.
News Virginian

The Town of Purcellville will reinstate issuing “Notice of Gatherings.”  These notices will provide information to the public and the press on special events and activities that Town Council may be attending in the community. These announcements are intended to provide notice for only those events or activities coordinated through or scheduled by the town.  This process is not a requirement of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act but an extra step that the town is reestablishing to continue efforts to expand an open government processes, according to a statement. 
Loudoun Times-Mirror

National Stories

The Supreme Court on Wednesday made a rare confession: One of its opinions contained an error and has been corrected. Changes in the court’s opinions after they are issued are common, and some happen years after they are announced. But, with few exceptions, the court has not acknowledged its after-the-fact editing. The court’s announcement Wednesday concerned a dissent from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued early Saturday morning that objected to an order from the court allowing Texas to use its strict voter ID law in next month’s election. Justice Ginsburg mistakenly included photo ID cards issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs among the forms of identification that would no longer be accepted. The error was noted Tuesday by Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine.
New York Times

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspended Justice Seamus P. McCaffery on Monday amid allegations that he sent pornographic e-mails and threatened to entangle a fellow justice in the widening scandal after vowing not to go "down alone." In a sharply worded order, four of the seven justices, citing an "immediate need" to protect the integrity of the state's courts, suspended McCaffery with pay on "an interim basis" from his $200,205-a-year job. The court also ordered the state's Judicial Conduct Board to determine within 30 days if there is probable cause to file formal misconduct charges against the justice. The board handles judicial ethics complaints and has launched an investigation into McCaffery's e-mails.
Governing

Editorials/Columns