Transparency News 2/6/14
Thursday, February 6, 2014
State and Local Stories
Officials in Richmond’s office of Planning and Development Review refused to provide access to copies of certificates of occupancy for two city elementary schools Wednesday after the person requesting the public records identified himself as a member of the media. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter was handed a written records request form and told it would take five to seven days to comply with the request. When pressed for quicker service, the employee directed the reporter to a department employee named Isaac Marks, who was identified as the only person in the office capable of handling Freedom of Information Act requests. Marks, an office support specialist, said his office handles such requests for citizens only and that members of the media had to go through the office of the press secretary. When the reporter identified himself as a city resident, Marks said it didn’t matter.
Times-Dispatch
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell says the federal prosecutors, acting like the tyrannical Roman Emperor Caligula, are trying to convict him for something every politician does. Now, the feds have fired back. It's an unusually early crossing of the swords (and includes the legal version of: "Bring it on, punk") in which they tell a federal court they have the law on their side -- and that McDonnell's earlier brief is just posturing for the public.The issue is what an official act is. The federal law McDonnell and his wife Maureen are accused of violating says it is against the law for public officials to obtain payments they are not entitled to, knowing that the payment was made in return for official acts. The official doesn't actually have to do anything, under that law.
Daily Press
The Virginia legislature years ago banned governors from donating excess inauguration funds to political causes, but that hasn’t stopped Gov. Terry McAuliffe from finding a way to route $211,000 from his inaugural fund back to his election campaign and the Virginia Democratic Party, disclosure records show. Mr. McAuliffe’s aides say the two $78,000 checks his inaugural committee sent to his campaign committee along with a $55,000 check to the state Democratic Party were expenditures for the rental of email lists. But campaign finance analysts told The Washington Times that the costs of the email rentals appeared to be exorbitant, and critics suggest the transactions look like an end run around the state prohibition.
Washington Times
The Virginia Senate on Wednesday delayed action on an omnibus ethics bill, as Senate Republicans retreated on an amendment to the legislation that would have prohibited the immediate family of sitting lawmakers to be considered for election or appointment as judges. The development came as Gov. Terry McAuliffe said he did not object to the immediate family of sitting lawmakers being considered for jobs on the bench.
Times-Dispatch
You could weigh in, under a bill passed by the state Senate Wednesday that calls for a referendum on whether Virginia should establish a bipartisan redistricting commission to redraw districts. Redistricting—which happens after every census, to make sure each House, Senate and congressional district has relatively the same number of people in it—has always been done in Virginia by legislators themselves. The result is often broad gerrymandering, with the party in power drawing districts in ways to best protect its incumbents. Both Republicans and Democrats do it, drawing districts to benefit themselves. The party out of power is usually the one calling for redistricting to be put into non-partisan hands. But when in power, neither side is usually willing to give up control of district-drawing. The bill from Sen. John Miller, D–Newport News, doesn’t require the state to listen to what voters say in a referendum on bipartisan redistricting. The bill says the results “shall be advisory only.” It just requires the question to be asked.
Free Lance-Star
California State Controller John Chiang has asked every public school district in the state to provide salary and benefit information for all employees and elected officials so that it can be posted on the Internet and shared with the public. Chiang has said that making the salary information easy to access on a state Web page is another step toward government transparency in the wake of the 2010 salary scandal in Bell. The controller mailed a letter Monday to 58 county offices of education, 949 school districts and 992 charter schools, requesting the information within 90 days.
Los Angeles Times
The Wisconsin First District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that previously sealed documents from the secret investigation and conviction of Kelly Rindfleisch, former aid of the state's governor, Scott Walker, will be made available to the public within 30 days, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Rindfleisch, who was convicted of misconduct in public office, had asked the court of Appeals in Milwaukee to keep the documents sealed. The court denied the motion, and, instead, unsealed the documents, except for documentation including social security numbers and medical information.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Editorials/Columns
Daily Press: Virginia's founding fathers — men like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Mason — authored both the U.S. Constitution, which vested power in the public, and its companion Bill of Rights, which protected the governed. How ironic, then, that the Old Dominion's current crop of leaders appear to have so little regard for the citizens' right to know, or the principle that an open government is a better government. Every session of the General Assembly produces a contest to see how many loopholes our esteemed legislators can shoot into Virginia's Freedom of Information Act, which was never a robust document to start with. It's time we as voters demand our elected leaders take our right to know more seriously.
Shawn Musgrave, MuckRock: The Virginia legislature has taken the first steps toward confirming the rights of all people to government accountability. Burdensome and inefficient "papers, please" provisions cut against the bedrock principles of freedom of information, and Virginia has the opportunity to send a clear message to the entire country: Public records access is a fundamental right, no matter where you live. Last summer's Supreme Court's decision in McBurney v. Young found that states have the right to restrict who can file a public records request to that state's agencies. In particular, the court upheld laws in nine states that mandate government document access solely for state "citizens" while leaving out-of-state requesters without clear footing to demand government transparency. Legislators and open government advocates in Virginia have fought to roll back this damaging and inefficient provision via a statute, HB788, that extends public records access to requesters living outside state borders. The Virginia legislature is poised to recognize what the Supreme Court failed to see, namely that public records access and government transparency are critical rights that should not be restricted arbitrarily.
State and Local Stories
Officials in Richmond’s office of Planning and Development Review refused to provide access to copies of certificates of occupancy for two city elementary schools Wednesday after the person requesting the public records identified himself as a member of the media. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter was handed a written records request form and told it would take five to seven days to comply with the request. When pressed for quicker service, the employee directed the reporter to a department employee named Isaac Marks, who was identified as the only person in the office capable of handling Freedom of Information Act requests. Marks, an office support specialist, said his office handles such requests for citizens only and that members of the media had to go through the office of the press secretary. When the reporter identified himself as a city resident, Marks said it didn’t matter.
Times-Dispatch
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell says the federal prosecutors, acting like the tyrannical Roman Emperor Caligula, are trying to convict him for something every politician does. Now, the feds have fired back. It's an unusually early crossing of the swords (and includes the legal version of: "Bring it on, punk") in which they tell a federal court they have the law on their side -- and that McDonnell's earlier brief is just posturing for the public.The issue is what an official act is. The federal law McDonnell and his wife Maureen are accused of violating says it is against the law for public officials to obtain payments they are not entitled to, knowing that the payment was made in return for official acts. The official doesn't actually have to do anything, under that law.
Daily Press
The Virginia legislature years ago banned governors from donating excess inauguration funds to political causes, but that hasn’t stopped Gov. Terry McAuliffe from finding a way to route $211,000 from his inaugural fund back to his election campaign and the Virginia Democratic Party, disclosure records show. Mr. McAuliffe’s aides say the two $78,000 checks his inaugural committee sent to his campaign committee along with a $55,000 check to the state Democratic Party were expenditures for the rental of email lists. But campaign finance analysts told The Washington Times that the costs of the email rentals appeared to be exorbitant, and critics suggest the transactions look like an end run around the state prohibition.
Washington Times
The Virginia Senate on Wednesday delayed action on an omnibus ethics bill, as Senate Republicans retreated on an amendment to the legislation that would have prohibited the immediate family of sitting lawmakers to be considered for election or appointment as judges. The development came as Gov. Terry McAuliffe said he did not object to the immediate family of sitting lawmakers being considered for jobs on the bench.
Times-Dispatch
You could weigh in, under a bill passed by the state Senate Wednesday that calls for a referendum on whether Virginia should establish a bipartisan redistricting commission to redraw districts. Redistricting—which happens after every census, to make sure each House, Senate and congressional district has relatively the same number of people in it—has always been done in Virginia by legislators themselves. The result is often broad gerrymandering, with the party in power drawing districts in ways to best protect its incumbents. Both Republicans and Democrats do it, drawing districts to benefit themselves. The party out of power is usually the one calling for redistricting to be put into non-partisan hands. But when in power, neither side is usually willing to give up control of district-drawing. The bill from Sen. John Miller, D–Newport News, doesn’t require the state to listen to what voters say in a referendum on bipartisan redistricting. The bill says the results “shall be advisory only.” It just requires the question to be asked.
Free Lance-Star
National Stories
California State Controller John Chiang has asked every public school district in the state to provide salary and benefit information for all employees and elected officials so that it can be posted on the Internet and shared with the public. Chiang has said that making the salary information easy to access on a state Web page is another step toward government transparency in the wake of the 2010 salary scandal in Bell. The controller mailed a letter Monday to 58 county offices of education, 949 school districts and 992 charter schools, requesting the information within 90 days.
Los Angeles Times
The Wisconsin First District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that previously sealed documents from the secret investigation and conviction of Kelly Rindfleisch, former aid of the state's governor, Scott Walker, will be made available to the public within 30 days, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Rindfleisch, who was convicted of misconduct in public office, had asked the court of Appeals in Milwaukee to keep the documents sealed. The court denied the motion, and, instead, unsealed the documents, except for documentation including social security numbers and medical information.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Editorials/Columns
Daily Press: Virginia's founding fathers — men like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Mason — authored both the U.S. Constitution, which vested power in the public, and its companion Bill of Rights, which protected the governed. How ironic, then, that the Old Dominion's current crop of leaders appear to have so little regard for the citizens' right to know, or the principle that an open government is a better government. Every session of the General Assembly produces a contest to see how many loopholes our esteemed legislators can shoot into Virginia's Freedom of Information Act, which was never a robust document to start with. It's time we as voters demand our elected leaders take our right to know more seriously.
Shawn Musgrave, MuckRock: The Virginia legislature has taken the first steps toward confirming the rights of all people to government accountability. Burdensome and inefficient "papers, please" provisions cut against the bedrock principles of freedom of information, and Virginia has the opportunity to send a clear message to the entire country: Public records access is a fundamental right, no matter where you live. Last summer's Supreme Court's decision in McBurney v. Young found that states have the right to restrict who can file a public records request to that state's agencies. In particular, the court upheld laws in nine states that mandate government document access solely for state "citizens" while leaving out-of-state requesters without clear footing to demand government transparency. Legislators and open government advocates in Virginia have fought to roll back this damaging and inefficient provision via a statute, HB788, that extends public records access to requesters living outside state borders. The Virginia legislature is poised to recognize what the Supreme Court failed to see, namely that public records access and government transparency are critical rights that should not be restricted arbitrarily.
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