Newsletter
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Squabble in Stafford
It all started with the usual spring-time conflicts over school funding. But before it was over, Stafford County’s rancorous school-budget debate prompted The (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star to urge all sides to “halt an unseemly feud.”Backers of a sharp increase in Stafford’s school funding dragged their political foes into court, invoking the Freedom of Information Act…
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Federal FOIA turns 40 / LBJ signed the landmark legislation on July 4, 1966
On July 4, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed the federal Freedom of Information Act. As reported by the National Security Archive, LBJ wasn’t exactly thrilled to be throwing open the doors to a secretive government knee-deep in the Cold War, Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. He even threw in a signing statement, those “yes,…
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Freedom of Information Complaints
AUGUSTA COUNTY — The Board of Supervisors spent $440,000 on a consultant’s study to bring an industrial “megasite” to the Weyers Cave area, then tried to keep it under wraps even though it wasn’t tied to a specific industrial prospect. Farmer Betty Jo Hamilton’s FOIA request for details on the project yielded the existence of…
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High court task force proposes new rules; leaves much to be desired
The future of access to court records in the electronic age is still undecided in Virginia, though a 32-member committee appointed last winter is four drafts closer than it was before.As reported in the January 2006 NEWS, Chief Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr. created the committee, chaired by Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Leslie Alden, to…
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FOIA in the courts
White Dog Publishing Inc. v. Culpeper County Board of SupervisorsThe fate of the lawsuit between three Central Virginia newspapers and the Culpeper Board of Supervisors is now in the hands of the seven justices of the Virginia Supreme Court.The Culpeper Star-Exponent, The Culpeper Citizen and The (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star sued the board over an October…
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Fredericksburg’s E-mail Archive: Update
by Elizabeth Beck,VCOG 2006 Richardson FellowSince its creation in 2003, Fredericksburg’s city e-mail archive is nothing short of a 100 percent success.City Clerk Debbie Naggs created the archive during the lawsuit between citizen activists and some city council members over their use of e-mail to discuss public business. The citizen activists had earlier filed a…
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E Gov Briefs: From Bland to Chincoteague
More and more, localities are embracing new technologies to help busy citizens access government records and watch government meetings — without FOIA fights, fee arguments, talk of “extra work” for public employees or the obvious inconvenience of weekday trips to the courthouse.Just as the federal Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to place online…
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FOI Advisory Council opinions
by Elizabeth Beck, VCOG 2006Richardson Legal FellowSince December 2005, the FOI Advisory Council issued six opinions. In February, AO-01-06, the Council weighed in on whether the Vienna Town Council violated the Freedom of Information Act by not including in its meeting minutes three matters discussed in open session and reported on by the local newspaper.…
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FOI Advisory Council updates
The FOI Advisory Council headed into the late-summer heat with its first meetings of the subcommittees appointed at the June 12 meeting.On July 27, a subcommittee chaired by Councilmember Craig Fifer, examined the so-called “Fifth Response” to be added to the list of proper responses that can be made to a request for records under…
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VCOG Bulletin Board
Welcome AboardA big welcome to our newest members:John Bookhultz, GrottoesRoger Hurlbert, Glen Ellen, Calif.Daryl Kerkeslager, PowhatanLeague of Women Voters, Loudoun CountyLexis/NexisPreston Manning, StauntonSmith Mountain EagleCharles Rowe, FredericksburgVirginia League of Conservation VotersWoods Rogers, RoanokeVCOG Web siteOur new Web site (www.opengovva.org) is drawing an average of more than 700 “unique” visitors each week. Pages viewed each week…
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Count ’em: 11 “whereasesâ€!
VCOG Executive Director Frosty Landon and Associate Director Megan Rhyne show off copies of the resolutions passed by the House and Senate during the 2006 General Assembly session. FOI Advisory Council Executive Director Maria Everett (left) looks on.The resolution was sponsored in the House by Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and in the Senate by…
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GA adds 8 more FOIA exemptions
Until VDOT threw us a bottom-of-the-ninth curveball, Freedom of Information fared relatively well in the ’06 legislature.There were the usual add-on FOIA exemptions for still more closed meetings and still more secret records, but most of the eight new exemptions are narrow and agency-specific. (Five are for records, three relate to meetings; several other changes…
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Briefs
FOIA “A SERVICE,” BUSH REAFFIRMSIn a move that took many by surprise, President George W. Bush signed an executive order Dec. 14 aimed at improving disclosure of information under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Under the executive order, U.S. agencies are required within 30 days to designate a senior official as chief FOIA officer,…
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Henrico posts its crime data
Henrico citizens now have easy access to criminal-incident information, arrest reports and other crime data.The information is online at: http://www.co.henrico.va.us/police .To search arrests, the citizen types in a specific date or a range of dates. To narrow a search, a crime category can be selected.Mel Solomon, who leads a neighborhood watch group, said they now…
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Tighten campaign disclosure laws
It was Virginia’s costliest election ever — with contributions easily topping the $60 million mark.Most contributors got identified, online and promptly.But some of that money came from unknown donors, which is not supposed to happen.Those anonymous donors dumped more than $2 million in Republican Bob McDonnell’s (barely) successful campaign for attorney general, taking advantage of…
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2005 FOI Awards
LEXINGTON — An innovative FOIA “Tracker” designed by a four-employee team at the Virginia Department of Transportation won the Virginia Coalition for Open Government’s 2005 public-sector award for outstanding contributions to Freedom of Information. Also honored at the coalition’s ACCESS 2005 conference were Robert McCabe (below), a (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reporter, and citizen activists Andrew Beaujon…
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W&L, VMI host VCOG’s 7th conference
The Coalition held its seventh annual conference this year in Lexington, taking advantage of locations on both the Washington & Lee and Virginia Military Institute campuses for various events.On Nov. 17, the coalition’s board met at W&L’s library, followed by a reception and dinner at VMI’s Moody Hall. Coalition president and First Amendment Ombudsman at…
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Freedom of Information Complaints
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY — Public speakers must stick to the matter at hand when addressing the board of supervisors. Otherwise, the chairman can call a recess and tell the speaker to sit down. When all else fails, the sheriff’s deputies get called in. So far, so good — maybe — if applied in an even-handed way,…
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Shine sun on Va. ports
For years, Virginia Port Authority board members have guarded the salaries of top officials at Virginia International Terminals, which runs state terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News.Though the compensation of state employees who make more than $10,000 is public record under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, VIT claimed it was a private company,…
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Kudos
POLICE DEPARTMENT ENTERS “21ST CENTURY”Not all that long ago, getting information from the Danville Police Department about crimes and criminals was extremely difficult. The Danville Register and Bee commented editorially that the department was not only famously tight-lipped about the amount of information it released to the public, it strictly controlled access to its officers.…
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Supreme Court court-records task force is limited in scope
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia is the most recent to weigh in on finding a balance between access to court records online and keeping some information confidential.As part of the Commission on Courts in the 21st Century launched by Chief Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr. Oct. 6, a group made up…
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NGOs, say more! Citizens, say less!
NGOs, say more!Secretive non-government organizations that rely on significant public funding continue to pose knotty access issues. In Richmond, the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation had to be pressured into giving Richmond’s Mayor Doug Wilder (and others) a detailed monthly financial report. Auditors suggested that the foundation be required to provide a monthly balance sheet and…
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E-gov briefs
ROANOKE, ROANOKE COUNTY CITEDThe Roanoke Valley continues to get national recognition for its high-tech initiatives. For the fourth time in five years. Roanoke City ranked first among cities in the 75,000-124,999 population category. And for the second year running, Roanoke County was named the most high-tech county for its size. The evaluations came in the…
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Recent council opinions
Since the August 2005 newsletter, the FOI Advisory Council issued just four formal, written opinions.Reaffirming its revised opinion on access to accident reports containing information about juveniles, the council in AO-08-05 told the public relations director for the Department of State Police that other than information falling under §2.2-3706(C) of the Freedom of Information Act,…
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FOI Advisory Council updates
The council released its sixth annual report, available online at http://dls.state.va.us/groups/foiacouncil/2005ar.pdf . The report details council activity for the year — from training session, workshops and requests for opinions, to subcommittee reports, monitoring efforts and new publications.One new publication is “Taking the Shock out of FOIA Charges,” a first-time effort to walk government agencies through…