Transparency News 12/17/14 – Virginia Coalition for Open Government

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

State and Local Stories

Newport News department heads requested nearly $693 million in project funding over the next five years, but the list City Manager Jim Bourey submitted to the City Council calls for spending $475 million without explaining what was cut or why. The Daily Press asked for the complete list of capital requests on Oct. 30 and was denied after Bourey said the information wasn't public record. However, other Peninsula-area localities routinely provide the information. Hampton, Isle of Wight, York County, Poquoson, Gloucester and James City County release complete lists of capital requests. After additional requests by the Daily Press, Bourey agreed to release the information. "When receiving the FOIA request for the projects which had not received funding, I consulted our City Attorney's Office," Bourey wrote in a prepared statement. "They indicated that this was considered to be exempt from the FOIA law. Thus, we said that it would not be provided. When it became obvious that this was a major issue with the Daily Press, I decided to provide the information. This was done in the spirit of cooperation and in an effort to be fully disclosing to the public."
Daily Press

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is continuing his quest to break the silence surrounding the August 2013 Fairfax County police killing of John Geer in Springfield. After sending letters last month to the Fairfax police chief and the U.S. attorney in Alexandria, Grassley has now sent a letter to Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh, asking if the Fairfax police refused to cooperate with his investigation and why he referred the case to the U.S. attorney. The full letter is below.
Washington Post

Martinsville Bulletin Editor Ginny Wray and Bulletin photographer Mike Wray received a resolution honoring their 40-plus years of service to the community at the Tuesday evening meeting of the Henry County Board of Supervisors. The Wrays recently announced their retirement from the Bulletin effective in mid-January. Mike Wray began working at the Bulletin in 1971, while Ginny Wray joined the staff in 1974. The resolution from the supervisors, in the form of a plaque, states that the couple have offered “faithful, conscientious and valuable service to the Martinsville Bulletin and our community. … Their vision and passion for journalism has contributed to present and future generations, and they leave their profession as the true definition of ‘journalist.’”
Martinsville Bulletin

Monday night’s Mecklenburg County School Board meeting began with board member Dora Garner making a motion to remove Vice Chair Thomas Bullock from his position. Bullock chaired the meeting after fellow board member Robert Puryear resigned the chair at last month’s meeting. Garner cited misconduct as the reason for her motion. “I would like to make a motion that Mr. Bullock be removed as vice chairman of the board for unprofessional behavior,” Garner said. Board member Glenn Edwards seconded the motion. Garner went on to explain, “At the recent state board, we had a regional meeting. Mr. Bullock got up in front of the regional members and discussed our board’s problems in this meeting, to the point where other school board’s members came up to me and said they were uncomfortable and ready to walk out. I had one principal say that she was embarrassed.”
South Hill Enterprise

National Stories

Johnson City, Tenn., citizen reporting software is now available and is tagged "See a problem. Report a problem." The simple tagline is behind software called 311GIS that was recently implemented by the city of Johnson City. When requests are submitted to the city authorized administrators can approve requests, make comments, and provide status updates about how the issues are being resolved. Another feature of the software is the ability to follow other users’ requests, allowing anyone interested in a particular issue to track its progress.
Herald Courier

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin may keep secret the advice that “senior executive branch officials” give her to shape government policies and decisions, the state Supreme Court ruled today. The court said a deliberative process privilege belongs “to the governor’s constitutional office as head of the executive branch and is protected by the separation of powers clause” in the Oklahoma Constitution. The group of officials whose “personal opinions” Fallin could keep secret “would reasonably” include her general counsel and staff, her 14 Cabinet members, “executive branch officers elected statewide, and executive branch agency heads appointed by the governor,” the court said. Eight justices also left open the possibility that such a “privilege extends to advice solicited from parties outside of state government.”
FOI Oklahoma

An Illinois appellate court has reversed a trial court’s order that a reporter reveal his confidential source, shooting down the judge's conclusion that finding the identity of a leaker of a police document in a murder case justified compelled disclosure. The Reporters Committee, joined by 38 other media organizations, filed an amicus brief in the case, People of the State of Illinois v. Bethany McKee, in April 2014. The Third District Appellate Court on Monday reversed the trial court judge, who had held Patch.com reporter Joseph Hosey in contempt for refusing to reveal the identity of his source in a story involving a double murder in northern Illinois. Hosey’s February 2013 articles for Joliet Patch contained details of the police investigation and stated that the Hosey had obtained police reports, which were confidential and had not been released to the public. In response, counsel for the defendant filed a motion to divest Hosey of his reporter’s privilege and compel him to reveal his source, arguing that the leak compromised McKee’s right to a fair trial.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Anyone can use the federal Freedom of Information Act to request records about prisons owned and operated by the government. Information about prisoner demographics, violent incidents, and prison budgets are all obtainable. But privately run facilities—even those that hold federal prisoners—are exempt from the law. Last week, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) introduced legislation to change that. On December 10, she introduced a new bill, the Private Prison Information Act. If passed, it would force any nonfederal prison holding federal prisoners to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.
Mother Jones

Editorials/Columns

The late Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker set the standard for investigations, with his now-classic question during the Watergate hearings: “What did the president know and when did he know it?” Change the pronoun and the same question can, and should, be asked of University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan and the now-infamous and partially discredited (but only partially) Rolling Stone article on sexual assault at the school. When board member L.D. Britt started asking questions at last month’s board meeting about what the university knew and when it knew it, he was cut off by Charlottesville’s police chief, who advised him to wait for the outcome of the police investigation. Fair enough, we suppose, but the board could do some other things. It could, for instance, ask State Police to investigate, as well. Nothing against Charlottesville police, but if the charge is that the university covers up sex crimes on campus to protect its reputation, will people believe it if the local police wind up absolving the university? Why not bring in the most independent police agency the state has available? State Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran has already offered such help; publicly take him up on it. The board could also direct the independent counsel it’s hired to specifically inquire along the Howard Baker lines — who knew what when? Tell the counsel the board wants names — not of victims, but of any administrators who knew about alleged rapes and did nothing about them. And, finally, the board could declare that the independent counsel’s report will be made public.
Roanoke Times

Let's have three cheers for Rex Davis, clerk of the Newport News Circuit Court, and his support for greater transparency in the Virginia judiciary. Mr. Davis recently decided to provide the Daily Press with access to part of a state database maintained by the Virginia Supreme Court's executive secretary's office. He became the first clerk to grant our request, which reflects a new approach in our efforts to obtain an important public record related to the courts. As frustrating as this endeavor has been, it illustrates a key problem with Virginia's open government law. There is nothing preventing the clerks — or the executive secretary — from granting our requests. But those who refuse maintain they are not obligated to do so because Virginia's open government law does not specify the database as a public record. That reflects a theory of government with an assumption of privacy rather than one of openness. We believe that approach is in error, just a refusal to allow us access to these records is wrong.
Daily Press