Richmond Times Dispatch: Profiles in opening government
16Profiles in opening government
Sunday, Mar 16, 2008 - 12:09 AM Updated: 12:16 PM
By KATHERINE CALOS AND WILL JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS
Waldo Jaquith is a political junkie who got frustrated when he tried to keep track of the legislation introduced by his own legislators.
"I wanted to be notified every time they filed a bill," he said. "I found that the General Assembly site made it difficult."
Jaquith is also a computer geek who knows how to scratch his own itch. The result is www.RichmondSunlight.com, a Web site that makes it easy for anyone to learn about and comment on legislation in the General Assembly.
At the beginning of the 2007 session, Doug Smith at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy suggested that Jaquith give the Web site to the center so it would have a wider reach, and he did. Jaquith still runs it as a volunteer. His paying job is Web editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review at the University of Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in political science.
During this year's assembly session, more than 77,000 people have visited the site, spending an average of 4 minutes, 40 seconds per visit and looking at more than five pages, Jaquith said.
You can find links to what's been said about legislators in the media and in blogs as well as every bill they have introduced. Click on a bill to see its full text, progress through the assembly and comments by people and organizations that support or oppose it.
A few weeks ago, the site added General Assembly video by purchasing CDs of the closed-circuit broadcast during each day's session.
Organizations and individuals can put together portfolios of the bills they want to follow.
The basic information comes from the General Assembly Web site.
"Their tech staff is so helpful and so knowledgeable," Jaquith said. Voting data, for instance, wasn't available online, but the staff agreed to add it if someone would pay for the extra time.
. . .
When the Madison County sheriff started talking about his Citizens Advisory Committee, Leigh Purdum wanted to know about its members and meetings.
A simple request under the Freedom of Information Act, it would seem, but she didn't get a simple answer. She got minutes of the meetings, which showed discussions about crime in the community, but the names of committee members were blacked out.
"I felt everyone in the county should know [about crimes in the county]," Purdum said recently by telephone, "and if I couldn't attend the meeting, I should know who my representative was."
So, she filed another FOIA request with the county executive, who backed up the sheriff.
The next step was to ask for an opinion from the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, which said that committee members' names are in the public domain.
When names still weren't forthcoming, Purdum went to court.
In December, Sheriff Erik J. Weaver was ordered to pay a $250 fine for willfully violating the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Purdum knows more about the court system than most. She and her husband are retired police officers from Fairfax County, where she was a squad sergeant. Both had worked for Weaver for more than a year. Both disagreed over policies and quit on the same day.
In Fairfax, Purdum had been represented by the commonwealth's attorney in criminal cases. This time, Purdum was in civil court, acting as her own attorney.
"I feel sorry for the person who's unfamiliar with court proceedings," she said. "I can't tell you how many cases I've testified before in court, but there, my knees were shaking."
The sheriff has appealed the decision to Circuit Court, where it will be heard April 28.
. . .
A year ago, if you missed a Henrico County supervisors meeting, the only record you could check was a written summary of the proceedings.
Now, you can listen to every word.
And soon, you may be able to watch -- or read about -- every moment from the comforts of home.
Shining light on the often mundane but sometimes critical decisions that drive a county with 300,000 residents and a $1 billion budget has long been a goal of Supervisor Patricia S. O'Bannon.
But her calls to record and broadcast the Board of Supervisors' twice-monthly meetings found traction with her colleagues only in recent months.
The supervisors started recording audio of their meetings in July. They're now planning to broadcast video of the proceedings on the county's cable TV channel 17 or its Web site beginning in October. In the meantime, verbatim minutes -- not just summaries -- will begin to be prepared, officials said.
O'Bannon, who was first elected in the Tuckahoe District in 1995, said her interest in open government relates to her background in communications. She said the public is always served when it's informed.
"Whenever more people are involved in a discussion, somebody always says something that ends up being important."
Henrico expects to spend $200,000 initially and $120,000 annually to broadcast the supervisors' meetings. The costs of recording audio has been negligible. Verbatim minutes can be prepared for about $12,000 per year, officials said.
"The goal is to communicate," Board of Supervisors Chairman David A. Kaechele said. "Perhaps over-communication is better than under-communication. We'll see what kind of response we get."
Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.
Sunday, Mar 16, 2008 - 12:09 AM Updated: 12:16 PM
By KATHERINE CALOS AND WILL JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS
Waldo Jaquith is a political junkie who got frustrated when he tried to keep track of the legislation introduced by his own legislators.
"I wanted to be notified every time they filed a bill," he said. "I found that the General Assembly site made it difficult."
Jaquith is also a computer geek who knows how to scratch his own itch. The result is www.RichmondSunlight.com, a Web site that makes it easy for anyone to learn about and comment on legislation in the General Assembly.
At the beginning of the 2007 session, Doug Smith at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy suggested that Jaquith give the Web site to the center so it would have a wider reach, and he did. Jaquith still runs it as a volunteer. His paying job is Web editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review at the University of Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in political science.
During this year's assembly session, more than 77,000 people have visited the site, spending an average of 4 minutes, 40 seconds per visit and looking at more than five pages, Jaquith said.
You can find links to what's been said about legislators in the media and in blogs as well as every bill they have introduced. Click on a bill to see its full text, progress through the assembly and comments by people and organizations that support or oppose it.
A few weeks ago, the site added General Assembly video by purchasing CDs of the closed-circuit broadcast during each day's session.
Organizations and individuals can put together portfolios of the bills they want to follow.
The basic information comes from the General Assembly Web site.
"Their tech staff is so helpful and so knowledgeable," Jaquith said. Voting data, for instance, wasn't available online, but the staff agreed to add it if someone would pay for the extra time.
. . .
When the Madison County sheriff started talking about his Citizens Advisory Committee, Leigh Purdum wanted to know about its members and meetings.
A simple request under the Freedom of Information Act, it would seem, but she didn't get a simple answer. She got minutes of the meetings, which showed discussions about crime in the community, but the names of committee members were blacked out.
"I felt everyone in the county should know [about crimes in the county]," Purdum said recently by telephone, "and if I couldn't attend the meeting, I should know who my representative was."
So, she filed another FOIA request with the county executive, who backed up the sheriff.
The next step was to ask for an opinion from the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, which said that committee members' names are in the public domain.
When names still weren't forthcoming, Purdum went to court.
In December, Sheriff Erik J. Weaver was ordered to pay a $250 fine for willfully violating the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Purdum knows more about the court system than most. She and her husband are retired police officers from Fairfax County, where she was a squad sergeant. Both had worked for Weaver for more than a year. Both disagreed over policies and quit on the same day.
In Fairfax, Purdum had been represented by the commonwealth's attorney in criminal cases. This time, Purdum was in civil court, acting as her own attorney.
"I feel sorry for the person who's unfamiliar with court proceedings," she said. "I can't tell you how many cases I've testified before in court, but there, my knees were shaking."
The sheriff has appealed the decision to Circuit Court, where it will be heard April 28.
. . .
A year ago, if you missed a Henrico County supervisors meeting, the only record you could check was a written summary of the proceedings.
Now, you can listen to every word.
And soon, you may be able to watch -- or read about -- every moment from the comforts of home.
Shining light on the often mundane but sometimes critical decisions that drive a county with 300,000 residents and a $1 billion budget has long been a goal of Supervisor Patricia S. O'Bannon.
But her calls to record and broadcast the Board of Supervisors' twice-monthly meetings found traction with her colleagues only in recent months.
The supervisors started recording audio of their meetings in July. They're now planning to broadcast video of the proceedings on the county's cable TV channel 17 or its Web site beginning in October. In the meantime, verbatim minutes -- not just summaries -- will begin to be prepared, officials said.
O'Bannon, who was first elected in the Tuckahoe District in 1995, said her interest in open government relates to her background in communications. She said the public is always served when it's informed.
"Whenever more people are involved in a discussion, somebody always says something that ends up being important."
Henrico expects to spend $200,000 initially and $120,000 annually to broadcast the supervisors' meetings. The costs of recording audio has been negligible. Verbatim minutes can be prepared for about $12,000 per year, officials said.
"The goal is to communicate," Board of Supervisors Chairman David A. Kaechele said. "Perhaps over-communication is better than under-communication. We'll see what kind of response we get."
Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.
