FOIA and politics

FOIA & Politics: a volatile mix

 

In the race for the 93rd district in Newport News, Democratic challenger Robin Abbott raised flags about the employment contract her opponent, Del. Phil Hamilton, entered into with the Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership at ODU, a center Hamilton helped secure annual funding for in 2007.

Abbott claimed there was a conflict of interest. Hamilton said Abbott was playing “pure, unadulterated gutter politics.”

It may be both, it may be neither, but Hamilton and ODU do have a lot of explaining to do.

In August, through FOIA requests for e-mails from various ODU officials, it became clear that Hamilton sought employment at the center before he made the pitch for funding.

Hamilton said he didn’t remember the electronic conversations, and did not offer the budget amendment on the center to ensure his future employment, but he also conceded that the e-mails “don’t lie.”

The FOIA’ed e-mails were not the only open-government issue.

After the e-mails were released, House Speaker, Bill Howell, R-Spotsylvania, called for a review of the transaction by an ethics panel. Would the panel be open to the public or closed, asked House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong?

In an editorial, the Daily Press said that Hamilton “should also insist — not just request — that the House ethics panel’s work in his case be conducted in public. The prescribed process does more to protect lawmakers than serve the public, and it’s rigged so that the truth may never come out.”

At press time, details of the panel’s make-up were unavailable.