Transparency News 7/21/17

Friday, July 21, 2017

State and Local Stories

Richmond City Council President Chris Hilbert said Thursday the precise cash value of former City Auditor Umesh Dalal’s compensation package has not yet been calculated, but he anticipates being able to provide the number publicly Monday. “I don’t want to give you a half-baked estimate of it,” Hilbert said in a phone call. “I could have done that. I want to get everyone the exact information. I don’t want it to be off by 5 cents. I can assure you, when I get this number, I will call you with it.” Hilbert said he could not comment on why the number has not yet been finalized despite the council agreeing to Dalal’s departure on Monday, but several sources familiar with the matter said the compensation package is not clear-cut because it includes a large contribution to Dalal’s retirement account, allowing him to retire nearly five years early — a figure that needs to be calculated by the city’s retirement system.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A unanimous Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a complaint from the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission against two judges accused of improper political activity. The commission asked the justices to censure former Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rudolph Bumgardner III and former Circuit Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr. for campaigning against an Augusta County voter referendum question on moving the county courthouse from Staunton into the county last year.
Roanoke Times

Albemarle County Police have identified a man found dead July 4 near Moores Creek in the Woolen Mills neighborhood as 24-year-old Marvin Joel Rivera-Guevara, according to a news release. Police are investigating his death as a homicide. Police would neither confirm nor deny the identity of the body until they received a report back from the state medical examiner’s office. Rivera-Guevara was earlier identified by his family on a GoFundMe page seeking donations to cover funeral expenses and the cost of transporting his body to his native El Salvador.
Daily Progress

National Stories
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A federal judge is mulling whether the Justice Department is defying the law by ignoring an obligation to proactively release legal opinions to the public. U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gave an extensive airing to the issue Tuesday as lawyers battled during a courtroom argument session that stretched to nearly two full hours. Jackson seemed skeptical about aspects of the lawsuit filed last year by the liberal group Campaign for Accountability. However, she issued no formal ruling and her comments left open the possibility that the organization might get a chance to repackage its case in order to press forward with its demand for access to opinions issued by Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel.
Politico

Editorials/Columns


Too many divisions of Richmond government think the citizens should be treated like mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed a bunch of fertilizer. Mayor Dwight Jones wouldn’t tell the public about why his chief administrative officer left, and he even made City Council members sign a confidentiality agreement. The Economic Development Authority wouldn’t release details about the Stone Brewing deal. The School Board fired a superintendent without any explanation — and then named a temporary replacement at 3 in the morning, an hour guaranteed to ensure no public attendance. Now the City Council is refusing to release the details of auditor Umesh Dalal’s departure.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

VIRGINIA’S highest court ruled last month against a state newspaper that wanted to obtain a state database that contained the outcomes of nearly all criminal cases adjudicated in circuit courts in the commonwealth. To Virginians going about their busy daily lives, this judicial decision could easily be ignored. After all, who cares about what sounds like inconsequential trivia? The Daily Press, the newspaper in Newport News, cares a great deal. So do other news organizations across the state. And so should members of the public, if they care about how justice is meted out by courts and judges in their regions and elsewhere in Virginia.
Free Lance-Star