Transparency News 7/5/17

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

State and Local Stories

A public records request for details of a state senator’s Facebook page opened a can of legal worms in Henrico County. A judge determined that the clerk of the Senate, not the state senator, should be responsible for failing to comply with the request. Michael Matheson represented Republican Senator Siobhan Dunnavnat. “Unfortunately because of the technical grounds on which the case was disposed of, we don’t have an opportunity to really look at the interesting issue here, which is whether or not when a third party makes a post on a private Facebook page whether you can send a FOIA request for that.”
WVTF

A seemingly trivial appointment to an advisory panel sparked accusations of cronyism and bias by members of the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors. During last week’s meeting, supervisors debated who should serve on the county’s Social Services Board. The five-member advisory panel works with the Shenandoah County Department of Social Services, which provides a variety of public assistance and social service programs to county residents.
Daily News Record

Newly chosen Bristol Mayor Kevin Mumpower on Monday outlined a new direction for the city that began with replacing the city manager. The council voted 4-1 to name City Attorney Randall Eads as the new manager, succeeding Tabitha Crowder. Eads was also reappointed as city attorney. The shakeup unfolded during a more than two-hour reorganizational meeting that included a closed session that lasted an hour and 40 minutes. Afterward, Eads said the manager appointment was a “total shock” and that Crowder had been a “great asset.”
Herald Courier

National Stories
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Facebook is going up against the US over a gag order that it thinks impedes on freedom of speech.  A court order prevents Facebook from telling three users that search warrants were issued for their account information, according to a report from BuzzFeed, which cited documents it obtained from the DC Appeals Court.  The court has requested “all contents of communications, identifying information and other records related to three Facebook accounts for a specified three-month period of time,” according to a notice from Facebook. 
CNET News

Editorials/Columns


For 50 years, Americans have had to fight to discover what their government is doing, despite a law guaranteeing that right. The federal Freedom of Information Act was signed into law July 4, 1966, and went into effect the following year. The law has been modified several times, and it barely survived calls for more privacy and security in the wake of Watergate, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the emergence of new technologies such as the internet. And it will outlive a president who tweets and deletes. On this Fourth of July, Americans of every political stripe can celebrate the freedom expressed in the law. But they cannot rest. And we all can support efforts to make the law more effective.
Des Moines Register