Transparency News 1/27/14
State and Local Stories
Bob and Maureen McDonnell were arraigned and released without bond Friday during federal court proceedings that showed just how starkly the couple's fortune has changed. Spencer warned attorneys on both sides that he won't tolerate pleadings that rely on speculation, hyperbole or hypothesis. Anyone who files such a brief "may be subject to sanctions," he said Friday. "This case is going to be tried in the courtroom and it is not going to be tried in the media," Magistrate Judge David Novak said. "The gamesmanship with the media ends now." Novak made the lawyers state, on the record, that they understood the potential consequences — including jail time — of leaking information to the press.
Daily Press
"Every elected official, everyone who wants to be, needs to ask themselves: Does the old Virginia way of doing things — essentially that you can accept unlimited amounts and that the clear bright line is whether you so something for them — still apply? Because federal prosecutors believe the clear bright line is knowing the intent of the giver," said Quentin Kidd, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University. And the feds, political scientists say, are going to be a presence from now on in Virginia. "The public corruption division of the FBI, for example, has long suspected that Virginia is for more than lovers," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. "The feds are paid to be vigilant," he said. And they know that "corruption flourishes in the shade, when surrounded by naivete."
Daily Press
The governor-appointed task force that raised the awareness of state legislators to the fiscal effects their decisions have on local governments is being tweaked in the General Assembly. The Governor's Task Force for Local Mandate Review, whose five members include Lynchburg City Manager Kimball Payne, was set to disband in June. But its work isn't finished, three Lynchburg-area legislators said, and they're proposing to extend its life until 2018. The task force membership could expand to nine people if the General Assembly agrees. Del. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, said his House Bill 1080, in its amended form, would add four members to the task force, two of whom would be businessmen or women.
News & Advance
The Free Lance–Star Publishing Co. will be allowed to continue normal business operations as it restructures in bankruptcy court, a federal judge ruled Friday in Richmond. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens’ decision followed an at-times contentious four-hour hearing that featured testimony by FLS Publisher Nick Cadwallender about the company’s role in the community and its path to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Cadwallender, who took over from longtime FLS Publisher Josiah P. Rowe III in 2011, told the judge that the company has been a key part of the local community for more than a century and said it was crucial for all parties involved that normal business operations continue. He said he has received an “outpouring of concern” from the community since the bankruptcy filing was publicly announced Thursday morning.
Free Lance-Star
Almost two years ago, then-Gov. Bob McDonnell exchanged email messages with his counselor and senior policy adviser, J. Jasen Eige, about research into a dietary supplement called Anatabloc at Virginia's two biggest academic medical centers. McDonnell told Eige, "Pls see me about anatabloc issues" at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia, whose medical schools had received private research grants from Star Scientific, the Henrico County-based company that produced and marketed the supplement. Eige replied to the governor's message within minutes: "will do. We need to be careful with this issue." The exchange demonstrated the role Eige and other members of the governor's staff played in shielding McDonnell from the consequences of the relationship between the first lady and Jonnie R. Williams Sr., then CEO of Star Scientific. The federal indictment of the McDonnells says Williams used his friendship with her to seek state-sponsored research of Anatabloc and convince state health officials of its benefits.
Daily Progress
If you’re keeping score at home, Haymarket Police Chief James E. Roop is back OFF the job, along with his deputy chief, Gregory A. Breeden, and Officer Jacob T. Davis, after all three were suspended last Monday night, then un-suspended on Thursday afternoon by Mayor David Leake. On Friday night, the town council overrode the mayor’s veto and re-suspended Roop, Breeden and Davis. So once again, the town of about 1,900 residents is left with three officers to stem the tide of crime in western Prince William County, at least for the next 60 days. We still don’t know what exactly these three lawmen did to earn their suspensions, though Roop and Davis were ordered to undergo counseling for sexual harassment. In 2005, Roop and Breeden were investigated by an independent lawyer who recommended they be fired for sexual harassment. The town council gave them 15 days without pay.
Washington Post
A lawsuit filed by a D.C. contractor who is seeking $750,000 in damages from a woman whom he claims defamed his business in negative Yelp reviews is set to go to trial Monday in Fairfax County. Christopher Dietz alleges a one-star review on the popular site and others were riddled with falsehoods and sent customers fleeing. Jane Perez stands by her claims that her home was damaged, she was billed for work that wasn’t done and jewelry went missing after she hired Dietz’s company to fix up her newly purchased Fairfax home.
Washington Post
All it took was 19 words to transform Fairfax County School Board member Ryan McElveen into a overnight Twitter sensation. “#FCPS is closed tomorrow, Monday, December 9. Stay safe! School Board Work-session will begin at 12:30pm at Gatehouse,” McElveen tweeted at 5:47 p.m. on Dec. 8. McElveen broke the news of the school system’s first snow day of the winter more than 30 minutes before official word came from the administration at 6:21 p.m. In doing so, McElveen had answered the prayers of Fairfax County’s teenage tweeters and became an instant celebrity. “The kids caught on really quickly that I had some inside knowledge,” said McElveen (At Large), who receives notification about snow days before they are announced publicly. “From there, it took off.”
Washington Post
Electronic filing is becoming popular among candidates for local offices in Virginia. The Virginia Public Access Project says 433 local candidates used e-filing to submit their year-end campaign finance reports this month. That’s up 49 percent from January 2012, when there were 290 e-filers.
Washington Post
National Stories
Justin Bieber’s mugshot is everywhere because Florida public records laws allow the release of such records. On Thursday, Poynter wrote about the Miami Beach Police Department’s social media strategy, which ensured that Bieber’s now-famous picture was quickly available to any news organization that wanted it. But how easy would it be to get Bieber’s mugshot had he had a similar evening in other U.S. states? (Memo to JB: Seattle has a lot to offer.)Poynter
The first sign that something was wrong appeared more than two years ago when a company grading student tests from Philadelphia noticed that erasures from wrong to right answers showed what investigators delicately called “statistical evidence of improbable results.” Some administrators were giving answer keys to teachers who passed them on to students. In other cases, principals took completed exams home at night and doctored the answer sheets. And in some schools, teachers and administrators gathered secretly in conference rooms with test booklets, pencils and erasers and changed wrong answers.
New York Times
Unidentified hackers took aim at the federal court system, blocking access to its public website while preventing lawyers and litigants from filing legal documents online. The incident affected uscourts.gov, the federal court’s public hub, as well as most if not all federal court sites — not to mention the federal court system’s electronic filing system and its access page, PACER, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said.
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