Maria Everett, executive director of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, was given VCOG’s 2004 award for exemplary work in seeking to keep government open to public scrutiny.
The Virginia General Assembly created the council in 2000 to foster compliance with the state’s open-meeting and open-record laws. Under Everett’s leadership, the council has gained national recognition for resolving FOI issues outside the courts. Everett’s full-time office has written more than 130 Freedom of Information Act opinions, handled more than 1,000 yearly inquiries and sponsored scores of training workshops throughout the state.
The coalition presented its Laurence E. Richardson Award to Lee Albright, a Nelson County resident who is battling the Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries Commission to find out why his community’s fish hatchery was shut down.
The Richardson Award, named after a longtime Charlottesville broadcasting executive, is presented each year to an individual citizen who makes exceptional contributions in achieving greater freedom of information in Virginia.
Richardson championed strong FOI statutes, press freedoms and free speech, and played a key role in forming the Virginia Coalition for Open Government prior to his death in 1999.
Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Jeremy Redmon won the Coalition’s 2004 media award for successfully challenging an illegal meeting of the Richmond City Council. Knowing the council was planning to bar the public from a discussion of Richmond crime. Redmon formally objected, noting the Freedom of Information Act prohibits any closed-door discussion of general policy matters. Redmon’s newspaper immediately asked a circuit judge to rule in Redmon’s favor. Crime, said the judge, was an important topic — but not one that met FOIA’s closed-door requirements.
Awards were presented at the coalition’s annual meeting at the Alumni Center on the College of William and Mary campus.
Previous award recipients have included the Librarian of Virginia, a president of the State Bar of Virginia, former Del. Chip Woodrum, Sen.Bill Bolling, R-Hanover, the Virginia Public Access Project and the Montgomery County League of Women Voters.
The Coaltion is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that advocates easy access to public records and government meetings. Members include First Amendment lawyers, educators, public-policy groups, media, government officials, librarians and business organizations.