Transparency News 1/7/15 – Virginia Coalition for Open Government

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

State and Local Stories

Washington’s gridlock made its way to Halifax County Monday evening when the Halifax County Board of Supervisors deadlocked in 4-4 votes on electing a new board chairman. Unable to break the tied vote,supervisors had no choice but to adjourn the meeting taking no action on any of the business listed on the night’s agenda. When questioned whether the eight board members would be paid for attending Monday night’s meeting after they were unable to conduct any county business, the county administrator grinned and said, “I guess so. You saw the same thing I saw tonight.”
Gazette Virginian

National Stories

Frederick County, Maryland, Councilman Kirby Delauter wrote on social media that he plans to sue The Frederick News-Post if his name or any reference to him appears in print without his permission. In a Facebook status posted Saturday, Delauter said he was upset with reporter Bethany Rodgers for “an unauthorized use of my name and my reference in her article” published Jan. 3 about his and Councilman Billy Shreve's concerns over County Council parking spaces. “So let me be clear…………do not contact me and do not use my name or reference me in an unauthorized form in the future,” Delauter, R-District 5, said in a Facebook status update.
Frederick News-Post (also, see below)

By the time he sat down in a trooper's patrol car, Berkeley County, S.C., Sheriff Wayne DeWitt's pickup had been captured on video speeding away from a police cruiser at more than 100 mph, swerving over the road and running a red light. The cameras were there when DeWitt finally stopped and got out of the county-owned Ford F-150 and when the truck kept going because he hadn't put it in park. They were there when he tried several times to walk a straight line but couldn't. The trooper arrested him that early morning on charges of driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury. Investigators found an unopened bottle of vodka in his Ford and some cups they said had contained alcohol. And as he rode in the patrol car, the video showed DeWitt as he expressed his predicament for the first time. The dashboard video and incident reports that the S.C. Highway Patrol released Monday under The Post and Courier's Freedom of Information Act request explained the circumstances of DeWitt's Dec. 28 arrest but raised suspicion about whether he could face further charges.
The Post and Courier

Boulder, Colo., met its obligations under the Colorado Open Records Act with the release Monday evening of a financial spreadsheet of utility data, but the city should have made that information public sooner, Boulder District Judge Judith LaBuda ruled Tuesday. The judge, however, refused to force Boulder to release additional information about the proposed municipal utility that city resident Patrick Murphy had sought under the state's open-records act. Murphy, funded by an anonymous benefactor, had sued the city to obtain "a detailed 20-year cash-flow analysis" referenced by Heather Bailey, executive director of energy strategy and electric utility development, in a September letter. Boulder denied an earlier request from Murphy under the open-records act. After Murphy filed the lawsuit seeking the analysis, Boulder officials released a previously undisclosed financial spreadsheet late Monday.
Daily Camera

In one of its first actions of the new year, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved rules changes that could give lawmakers a new defense against ethics investigations. The new language, added Monday night to the sections that establish the House Ethics Committee and the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, says the two bodies "may not take any action that would deny any person any right or protection provided under the Constitution of the United States." The language also states that a person subject to a review by the Office of Congressional Ethics "shall be informed of the right to be represented by counsel and invoking that right should not be held negatively against them."
USA Today

After several months, Los Angeles police lifted a security hold last week on the coroner's autopsy of Ezell Ford, a mentally ill man shot in South Los Angeles by two police officers. The move allowed the public disclosure of Ford's autopsy and came after Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered the LAPD to lift the hold amid pressure from activists and a neighborhood council demanding details about Ford's Aug. 11 shooting. Security holds are used by various law enforcement agencies and are common in celebrity or high-profile cases. They have been used in the deaths of singer Whitney Houston, actor Paul Walker and the wife of actor Robert Blake. The autopsy of Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo, who was shot by his wife in September, was kept confidential for several weeks at the request of Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives. A security hold is a directive from detectives to the coroner's office not to publicly disclose details from an autopsy, notes written by coroner's investigators or results from toxicology and other tests. Detectives usually request the hold in writing and later notify the coroner's office by letter when it can be released.
Los Angeles Times

Editorials/Columns

With good behavior, the former governor will likely be released in late 2016. It is, perhaps, the most favorable outcome in a self-inflicted ordeal that shamed McDonnell's family, embarrassed Virginia and undermined public trust in the commonwealth's government.
Virginian-Pilot

It looks like redistricting may be a hot topic in the General Assembly’s upcoming session. Last week another lawsuit was filed questioning Virginia’s political district-drawing methods. This time a group of voters have challenged a dozen House of Delegates district boundaries. The federal lawsuit claims black voters were illegally packed into certain districts, diluting their influence in other districts. This lawsuit comes after another one last year that challenged Virginia’s sole majority–minority congressional district, the 3rd District, arguing that it was drawn based on race. In that case, a panel of federal judges in October agreed with the plaintiffs, striking down the district map and instructing state lawmakers to redraw it during their session this winter. The upcoming session, which begins Jan. 14, is an opportunity for legislators to change not just a few district lines but the whole redistricting process.
Free Lance-Star

After Fairfax County on Monday decided to release the name of the officer involved in the fatal shooting of John Geer in 2013, and make the new allegation that Geer had threatened police with a gun, there remain a number of crucial unanswered questions in the case. Here are our top seven. You can add yours in the comments:
Tom Jackman, Washington Post

Knowing Frederick County, Maryland, Councilman Kirby Delauter as we do, we weren't surprised that he threatened The Frederick News-Post with a lawsuit because we had, he says — and we're not making this up — been putting Kirby Delauter's name in the paper without Kirby Delauter’s authorization. Attorneys would be called, Kirby Delauter said. In fact, we spent quite some time laughing about it. Kirby Delauter, an elected official; Kirby Delauter, a public figure? Surely, Kirby Delauter can't be serious? Kirby Delauter’s making a joke, right? Round about then, we wondered, if it’s not a joke, how should we now refer to Kirby Delauter if we can't use his name (Kirby Delauter)? Could we get away with an entire editorial of nothing but “Kirby Delauter” repeated over and over again — Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter? OK, imagine we agreed because of temporary madness or something funny in the water that week, how would we reference "Kirby Delauter" and do our job as journalists without running afoul of our lack of authorization?
Frederick News-Post