Newsletter
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Paul McMasters elected Coalition’s second president
VCOG is fortunate and proud to have as its new president Paul K. McMasters, First Amendment ombudsman for the Freedom Forum in Arlington.McMasters has been a VCOG board member since 1998. He came to the Freedom Forum in 1992 after 30 years in journalism and active participation in the Society for Professional Journalists. Paul is…
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Coalition Bulletin board
Web site visits OPENGOVVA.ORG had more than 10,000 unique visits in the last 90 days of 2002. One in five was a repeat visitor each month. Non-U.S. “hits” averaged 3-4 per cent.Heaviest usage occurs on the home page, the FOI-opinion search pages, roundups of legislative activity and our overview of the FOI Act. Membership report…
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VCOG annual conference at the new VPA in Glenn Allen well attended, well received
If nothing else, Access 2002, VCOG’s fourth annual conference, may have foreshadowed what’s to come in the next gubernatorial election.Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, who is expected to be the Republican nominee for governor, kicked off the conference with a 30-minute speech about open government initiatives he pushed last year and hopes to see through this…
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Gilmore produces missing records; 12 boxes will stay sealed until 2015
On a Sunday afternoon in November, a van from the Library of Virginia pulled up at a self-storage facility in Richmond and loaded up 236 boxes of the records of former Gov. Jim Gilmore’s administration.A mediated settlement produced the public records, five months after state archivists had been told the records did not exist “or…
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Court-records study committee makes 5 recommendations; seeks 2-year extension
The joint subcommittee to study the protection of court records (HJR89) wrapped up its first year with five proposals to submit to the 2003 General Assembly.Chaired by Vienna Republican Jeannemarie Devolites, the committee agreed to ask the General Assembly to extend the study commission for an additional two years. Committee members became increasingly aware that…
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E-Government Briefs
E-Government Briefs Arlington honored for access to county’s public informationThe American Library Association (ALA) honored the government of Arlington County, in “Recognition of Significant Contribution to Public Access to Government Information.” The award was presented at the National Freedom of Information Day Conference, sponsored by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in cooperation with the…
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VCOG Briefs
Assembly approves identity-theft laws The 2003 General Assembly approved a number of identity-theft bills backed by Attorney General Jerry KilgoreKilgore said passage strengthens existing Virginia identity theft laws by: ” Prohibiting impersonation of a law enforcement officer or any other official of the Commonwealth of Virginia in order to carry out identity theft. ” Prohibiting…
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Fredericksburg e-mail case back in court
The Supreme Court of Virginia agreed in early July to hear oral arguments in the Fredericksburg e-mail case. In December 2002, Fredericksburg Circuit Court Judge John W. Scott ruled that one of three e-mail exchanges among three Fredericksburg City Council members was an improper electronic meeting.The lawsuit, brought by political foes of Mayor Bill Beck,…
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Grumman proposal: ‘proprietary information’
Northrop Grumman wants to design, construct, maintain and finance a public safety building for Roanoke County. The county’s current public safety building is a converted school that was built in the 1930s as a New Deal public-works project.The defense contractor hopes to use a process made possible by new state legislation that allows public-private partnerships…
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Filters-for-funding mandate upheld
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 23 that the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which requires public libraries that receive federal funds to install content filters on public access computer terminals, is constitutional.Reversing a three-judge panel decision from a federal district court in Pennsylvania, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for three others that the law did…
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Court affirms Megan’s laws
Court affirms Megan’s laws: Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. Doe, and Smith v. DoeIn two rulings interpreting what are commonly known as Megan’s Laws, the U.S. Supreme Court strongly supported the dissemination of truthful information, turning back claims by civil libertarians on behalf of convicted sex offenders. In a Connecticut case, the court voted…
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Round-up: Access issues in the United States Supreme Court
by Alison Ferland, VCOG 2003 summer intern Virginia v. Black On April 7, 2003, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor issued the majority opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court in Virginia v. Black, ruling that Virginia can validly prohibit cross-burning with the intent to intimidate, but it cannot be prima facie evidence of that intent. The Virginia…
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Briefs
Hampton U. names journalism school head Hampton University has named Christopher Campbell as director of its Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Mass Communications.Campbell recently held similar positions at Xavier University in Cincinnati and the University of Idaho in Moscow. Campbell succeeds acting director Rosalynne Whitaker-Heck, who took over from Charlotte Grimes last year. HU…
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No Smart Tag records
The Virginia Department of Transportation failed to keep records of the Smart Tag information it hands over to police, the department recently confirmed.And while the department said in a privacy disclaimer on its Smart Tag Web site that customer information might be given to law-enforcement agencies, the application and customer-agreement forms did not mention that…
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Restaurant inspections online: a mouse is a good thing
On its first day of operation, May 1, the Virginia Department of Health’s restaurant inspection report Web site was flooded with more than 800,000 hits. By noon the next day, an additional 400,000 queries had been logged.In short, the public gobbled up the information provided for the first time online, though it has always been…
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Departing legislator throws AG open-caucus hot potato
Seldom challenged under either Democrat or Republican regimes, the General Assembly’s closed caucuses suddenly are under fire.Few dispute the right of legislators to go behind closed doors to discuss intra-party housekeeping matters. But in recent years the daily, in-session caucuses especially those of Republicans who constitute the majority party in the House have…
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F.O.I. Complaints
APPOMATTOX Less than a week after the Association of Local Government Attorneys said a judge had misinterpreted FOIA, the county board abandoned its effort to overturn the judge’s ruling. The county already had spent $10,000 in legal fees, and supervisors apparently were willing to give up the fight as long as LGA was on…
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Two FOIAC subcommittees formed
At the suggestion of council member Tom Moncure, a subcommittee was appointed to study the possibility of reorganizing FOIA’s 87 records exemptions into smaller categories.Virginia has followed a model opposite from the federal FOIA, which has only a handful of exemptions, but those are riddled with subparts and exposed to broad interpretation. Virginia’s exemptions are…
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FOIA hits the road again
The FOI Advisory Council staff is preparing once again to take its training routine on the road, with sessions in six cities in September.Sept. 8 – Richlands Sept. 9 – Roanoke Sept. 10 – Harrisonburg Sept. 11 – Alexandria Sept. 16 – Richmond Sept. 17 – Virginia Beach As in past years, sessions will likely…
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By the numbers
According to Assistant Executive Director Lisa Wallmeyer, the FOI Advisory Council fielded 543 inquiries from Dec. 1, 2002, through June 2, 2003.There were 16 erquests for written opinions citizens 6 government 7 media 3 There were 527 phone and e-mail requests citizens 213 government 219 media 95 Executive Director Maria Everett said at the council’s…
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A stern rebuke: AO-15-03
In a June 18 opinion to Virginia Beach attorney Kevin Martingayle, the FOI Advisory Council used strong language to reproach the city of Virginia Beach for its handling of a city employee’s FOIA request seeking results of a work life survey.In an opinion earlier this year, the council said that the “Member Survey on Quality…
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FOI Advisory Council updates: recent opinions
Between January and June of 2003, the FOI Advisory Council issued 14 written advisory opinions. Among them: In AO-01-03, the council said that although the Allegheny Board of Supervisors could reach a tentative agreement about the purchase of land during a closed meeting, the actual purchase of the land was unauthorized because the board did…
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Whistle while you work? Not if you want to keep your job in Virginia
by Alison Ferland, VCOG 2003 summer intern This year the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act went into effect. That Act provides protection and job security, as well as financial compensation, to citizens who file suit on behalf of the government, and blow the whistle on acts of fraud against the state perpetrated by private companies…
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O’Neil: Reflections on the Coalition and its origins
An excerpt from outgoing president Bob O’Neil at VCOG’s 4th Annual Conference, Access 2002, on Nov. 15 in Richmond. . . A few of you may be aware that I assumed this position quite by accident. When the Coalition was being formed . . . several of us agreed to serve as the initial nominating…
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Coalition Bulletin Board
Web site: 8,568 pages viewed VCOG’s Web site averaged nearly 200 daily visitors in June.Page views totaled more than 8,500 in the same month, with a number of visitors from outside the U.S. Among the most popular pages are those featuring the text of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, an overview of the act,…