January 2007 Newsletter, Vol. 11, No. 1


  • Ask us a FOIA question

    Ask us a FOIA questionThe following are samples of questions Virginia citizens (and a few from outside the state) have asked us via the “Ask Us a FOIA Question” feature on our Web site, www.opengovva.org. We answer an average of seven questions per week. Questions are answered by VCOG Executive Director Frosty Landon and Associate…


  • Awards honor Va. Beach, citizen activist, others

    The City of Virginia Beach’s Freedom of Information Office won the Virginia Coalition for Open Government’s 2006 public-sector award for outstanding contributions to Freedom of Information. Also honored at the coalition’s Access 2006 conference were press organizations that successfully challenged FOIA violations in Culpeper County and a Washington County citizen who fought for two years…


  • Access 2006 features national names

    Knight Foundation grant allows VCOG annual conference to bring in experts to explore nationwide themesOpen-government trends around the country was the theme du jour at VCOG’s annual conference, held Nov. 17 at the Library of Virginia. It was the coalition’s eighth annual conference, and third to be held in the Richmond area.Thanks to a grant…


  • Kaine/Bolling/McDonnell/Howell Statements on Open Government

    From Governor Timothy M. KaineIt is a great pleasure to send greetings to the 10th Anniversary Gala of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government through my Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Honorable Kate Hanley. I regret that a previous commitment keeps me from joining you this evening.Without the people’s consent, our government would fail; without…


  • Kudos

    EXAMINER’S WEB SITE POSTS PUBLIC-EMPLOYEE DATABASESUsing public-access laws, examiner.com is partnering with Washington-area citizens and civic groups to post “comprehensive compensation databases” on the Internet. The Washington Examiner Community Action Network is still under construction, but databases already have been posted for salaries of government employees in Alexandria, Fairfax County and Maryland’s Montgomery County.Mark Tapscott,…


  • Federal FOI reforms: Will Congress act?

    Inside-the-Beltway secrecy keeps expanding despite growing public concern, according to the Secrecy Report Card, produced annually by OpenTheGovernment.org.The September report found a troubling lack of transparency in military procurement, new private inventions and the scientific and technical advice that the government receives, among other areas. The public’s use of FOIA continued to rise and agency…


  • FOI Complaints

    ALEXANDRIA — Following its regular meeting, Alexandria City Council went into a closed executive session with the Alexandria Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s Board of Commissioners. Most authority members did not know the reason. Sources said the council was looking for a solution to saving a deteriorated public housing project. The authority has an aversion to…


  • Virginia Supreme Court records task force issues final draft of proposed rules

    A Supreme Court task force issued a fifth and final draft of proposed rules governing access to court records on Dec. 4. The draft was sent to Chief Justice Leroy Hassell, who formed the committee in 2005, and presumably will be vetted through the usual rules-creation process for public comment.Few changes were made between the…


  • Lobbyists often omit some needed details

    Lobbyists spent a record $15.4 million attempting to sway members of the General Assembly between May 1, 2005, and April 30, 2006. According to records at the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office reviewed by Tyler Whitley of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the money went for everything from dinners out to golf trips to $650 for a…


  • Searching for warrants

    The judicial branch of government in Staunton suffered a collective brain freeze this fall when a prosecutor and a judge decided to block public access to normally available search warrants.It all started when a secretary in the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, looking to cut down on paperwork and interviews, drafted a blanket order to seal all…


  • $137 million secret

    No secret lasts forever. But it can last seven months, and that’s how long it took state officials to fess up to a $137 million mistake involving school funding. Top fiscal officials in the Warner administration knew about the mistake, and still said nothing to Governor Timothy Kaine. Nonetheless, Kaine took responsibility.Republicans were outraged; Democrats…


  • Legislation considered for 2007 session

    The proposed legislation to come out of the FOI Advisory Council will not be the only legislation that seeks to amend FOIA or otherwise restrict access to public information.Prompted by a 2006 court case, the council agreed with council staff that a clarification of FOIA’s venue rules was needed. In Shaw v. Casteen, Louisa County…


  • FOI Advisory Council updates: FOIAC subcommittees submit draft laws

    It was a tortuous journey, measured in straight lines, radii, traffic snarls and mountain roads, but the FOI Advisory Council’s subcommittee on electronic meetings finally produced a recommendation that the full council adopted at its Dec. 15 meeting. Draft legislation reflecting the recommendation will be introduced in the 2007 General Assembly session.The e-meeting subcommittee, which…


  • FOI Advisory Council Updates: Opinions

    Since the August 2006 newsletter, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council has issued four opinions. The opinions were dominated by questions involving the public-body status of various quasi-governmental entities, an issue bound to come up even more in the future.AO-07-06 addressed a question from the assistant secretary of transportation on the public-body status of an…


  • President’s Page: Fear spoils freedom’s promise

    by Paul McMasters, pictured below, presiding over his last meeting as VCOG board presidentThe First Amendment turned 215 years old on Dec. 15. At its birth then, as it is today, this constitutional guarantee was a breathtakingly beautiful testimony to the value of freedom of conscience and expression.The Bill of Rights officially became a part…


  • VCOG Bulletin Board

    HOPKINS NAMED VCOG PRESIDENTDr. W. Wat Hopkins, an associate professor at Virginia Tech, has been elected president of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.Hopkins, a member of the state’s FOI Advisory Council, succeeds Paul McMasters of Manassas, the First Amendment Ombudsman at the Arlington-based Freedom Forum. Hopkins teaches communication in Tech’s College of Liberal Arts…


  • VCOG’s 10th anniversary celebrated in style

    It was no ordinary night. In fact, it was a night that can occur only once a decade. It was the Virginia Coalition for Open Government’s 10th Anniversary Gala, held Nov. 16 in the foyer of the Library of Virginia.More than 150 people were on hand at the black-tie-optional reception and dinner, where regular folks…


  • Unanimous pro-FOIA ruling from Supreme Ct.

    The Virginia Supreme Court unanimously reversed a Culpeper County Circuit Court ruling that had okayed a closed-door session of the Culpeper Board of Supervisors to discuss a contract between the Culpeper County School Board and an architect hired to design a new public high school. Justice Cynthia Kinser’s 7-0 ruling found the board of supervisors…