Transparency News 9/27/13

 

Friday, September 27, 2013


State and Local Stories

 

George Washington’s revealing copy of the first Acts of Congress is one of the jewels in the elegant, new George Washington library that opens Friday at his historic homestead, Mount Vernon. The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon is a $106 million project designed to be the international center for Washington scholarship, with a trove of his personal books and manuscripts at its core. The enterprise aims to elevate Mount Vernon from a popular tourist stop among the region’s pantheon of historic sites to a place of rigorous Washington research as well.
Washington Post

Email accounts of some Regional Ten Community Services Board employees were hackedin July, and Region Ten wants to let the public know about the security problem. In an email news release Thursday, Jane Lewis of Region Ten said a hacker got passwords to several email accounts at the end of July. One day later, she said, Region Ten asked all employees to change their passwords and began investigating the incident.
Daily Progress

Regional officials expressed shock and sadness at the unexpected death of Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Chairman Marshall Ecker, who died Thursday at his home. He was 68. Ecker died at around 3 p.m. at his home at Deer View Road in Gretna while working on an outdoor project on his farm, according to a news release from the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. Ecker opposed uranium mining and milling in Pittsylvania County and received criticism from supervisors, including Harville and Dan River Supervisor James Snead, when he said during his State of the County address that the county was “treading water” after dissolving its eco-nomic development department. He also fought — along with his fellow supervisors — in favor of the board’s past practice of sectarian public prayer before its meetings.
Register & Bee

The Henrico County School Board has appointed real estate attorney Robert G. “Rob” Boyle Jr. as an interim member to fill the Three Chopt District seat left vacant by the resignation of Diana D. Winston. The board appointed Boyle, who has been with the Hirschler Fleischer law firm since 2003, by a unanimous vote Thursday at the end of its monthly meeting. School Board Chairwoman Beverly L. Cocke said the fact that Boyle has said he has no intentions of running in that election played a big role in the decision to appoint him.
Times-Dispatch

A cross-check of voter registration rolls has indicated 2,176 voters registered in Loudoun County also are registered to cast ballots in other states. A new state law requires the State Board of Elections to cross check registration records as part of a multi-state effort to combat voter fraud. Virginia and 21 other states have signed on to the database.
Leesburg Today

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says the courts will ultimately have to determine the legality of wiretapping by the National Security Agency. And he's not sure that's a good thing.
Times-Dispatch

Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records from Patrick County High School, The Enterprise has learned that the cougar statue placed at the front of the school cost $800, not $3,000 as alleged to the Virginia Board of Education. The money for the statue of the school mascot was transferred from the senior fund of the class of 2011 to a special gift fund at the recommendation of Dr. Roger Morris, division superintendent, and approved by then-Principal E.G. Bradshaw. The cougar statue became a source of controversy when PCHS math teacher Elizabeth Wallace, a senior class sponsor, told the Board of Education on July 25 that Morris had told the bookkeeper to transfer $3,000 out of the senior class fund and into a different account.
The Enterprise

National Stories

Sullivan County, Tenn., officials wanted to have a discussion about the future of education Thursday, but no elected official from Bristol or Kingsport attended. “I’m happy with the folks we have, but I am disappointed in the folks we don’t have,” county Commissioner Pat Shull said.
Herald Courier

Some of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies are divulging more details about their political contributions, in part to ward off lawsuits and mounting pressure from shareholders, who increasingly have thrust the issue before boards of directors. The Center for Political Accountability (CPA) found that 78 percent of the 195 corporations it tracks have improved their political spending disclosures this year compared with 2012. An index that the group plans to release Wednesday shows that Qualcomm, United Parcel Service, Conoco Phillips and JPMorgan Chase joined the ranks of firms with the best policies for the first time since the group began compiling the index three years ago.
Washington Post

The Illinois Supreme Court this week agreed to hear arguments in more than a dozen cases, including a pair of cases challenging dismissals of actions brought under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Those cases are Warren Garlick v. Lisa Madigan and Larry Nelson, et al. v The County of Kendall. The Garlick case deals with the circuit court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s suit over a FOIA request he made to the Attorney General’s office and Nelson presents the court with the question of whether a state’s attorney’s office is a “public body” under FOIA.
Madison-St. Clair Record

U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) is scrutinizing the data collection practices ofAbout.com, Health.com, Investopedia.com, and nine other websites as part of his investigation into brokers that gather and share consumer information, the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee announced Wednesday.
Blog of LegalTimes

Editorials/Columns

Times-Dispatch: The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has slapped down a senseless state regulation that violates the First Amendment. That’s a step in the right direction. The broader point, however, is this: The ABC rule does nothing to achieve its ostensible aim: reducing alcohol abuse on college campuses. Students do not drink because they are tempted by ads for booze any more than they have sex because they are tempted by ads for Viagra.

Daily Progress: Chalk up another strike against the ABC. An appeals court has just ruled that the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission erred in promulgating a rule that certain college newspapers could not advertise alcoholic beverages except in the context of a restaurant ad. This restriction not only was unconstitutional, it also placed these newspapers at a competitive disadvantage, as the court noted. The Virginia ABC once again exhibited misjudgment and overreached its authority. It cannot override the U.S. Constitution by telling student newspapers with a majority adult readership what they may or may not publish.

Michael Paul Williams, Times-Dispatch: William Faulkner hardly needs our validation. But living proof of his adage is about to get run up the flagpole at Richmond’s gateway. “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” he said. And on Saturday, a group called Virginia Flaggers will disinter the most discordant aspect of our history. At an unspecified tract of private land — along Interstate 95 in Chesterfield County near the city limits — it will raise a 15-square-foot Confederate battle flag up a 50-foot pole. And there’s nothing we can do to stop them. Yes, the Flaggers have a constitutional right to hoist their banner. But having a right to do something is not synonymous with doing the right thing.

Gavin Baker, Center for Effective Government: A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) doesn't have a plan for conducting comprehensive reviews of federal agencies' Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policies or their compliance with the law. Whatever approach OGIS takes, Congress needs to ensure that the office receives sufficient resources to carry out its duties. The open government community has complained that OGIS has been underfunded since its creation. Adequate funding is necessary for OGIS to play its role in making sure that FOIA works for providing access to public information.