Transparency News 4/15/14

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

State and Local Stories

The Richmond City Council voted Monday to lease Monroe Park to a nonprofit group during a chaotic night at City Hall in which a well-known activist was forcibly removed by police and critics of the park plan seemed to briefly take over the meeting. As the meeting began, all eyes turned to the media gallery, where former candidate for sheriff Chris Dorsey was filming the proceedings with a handheld video camera. Dorsey, a strident council critic who attends public meetings carrying a handgun, was asked by a council staff member to leave the press area, which set off a confrontation that ended with Dorsey being carried from the building by police. “I’m being kidnapped!” Dorsey shouted as police took him down an elevator.
Times-Dispatch

Some of the biggest corporate names and philanthropies were represented by U.S. Senate candidate Ed Gillespie before he made his first bid for public office this year, according to a list of 15 clients the Republican pol released Monday. The business roster for his now mothballed Ed Gillespie Strategies firm featured some of the most powerful and influential global industries, sectors such as energy, telecommunications, technology, and health care.  Releasing that list now fulfills a pledge Gillespie made in January, days before the former lobbyist declared his candidacy, in The Hill publication.  Gillespie spokesman Paul Logan said the candidate sought his clients' permission before naming them.
Virginian-Pilot

National Stories

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has publicly released summaries of its interviews of 75 witnesses as part of its investigation of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration’s potential involvement in the Bridgegate affair. The people interviewed by the New York firm, which Christie commissioned to conduct the internal investigation, included the governor himself and members of his inner circle. Gibson Dunn produced the same memoranda for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation. The committee had demanded that the documents  be turned over this week.
New Jersey Law Journal

A U.S. appeals court on Monday struck down parts of a regulation that forces public companies to disclose if their products contain "conflict minerals" from a war-torn part of Africa, saying it violates free speech rights. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit marks a partial victory for the three business groups that had filed the original lawsuit, which claimed that the regulation violated companies' free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by in essence forcing them to condemn their own products.
Reuters

It's no coincidence that as more news spreads of various hacks, data breaches, and cybercrime,more people are reporting their personal online information stolen. The Pew Research Center released a survey on Monday showing that 18 percent of US online adults reported having important personal information stolen, such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and bank account data. That is 7 percent higher than what was reported in July 2013. While it appears that more people are becoming victims of cybercrime, the amount of US online adults who had an email or social-networking account compromised or taken over without their permission has stayed the same since last July -- at 21 percent.
CNET News

Two news organizations' stories about National Security Agency surveillance, based upon documents leaked by Edward Snowden, have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service, often described as the highest prize in American journalism. The Washington Post and United States arm of The Guardian each received the prize on Monday.
CNN
 

Editorials/Columns

It's fitting that one of the first known public gatherings on Capitol Square was to commemorate the death of Thomas Jefferson in July 1826. John Tyler, who would follow Jefferson's career path to the presidency, did the honors. For much of Jefferson's lifetime, the terrain around the Capitol he designed was not welcoming for speeches, concerts, protests or prayers, but legislators voted in 1816 to improve the property for public use. Virginians can be proud that their Capitol Square predates Central Park. But it's more than a park. As the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia declared, it's a "quintessential public forum." In other words, government must tread softly when adopting rules on who can say what during assemblages on the grassy slopes.
Roanoke Times

A FOIA case is pending before the Supreme Court of Virginia.  Given the Court’s recent history (for example, on cameras in the courtroom and FOIA and the SCC), that alone is cause for concern.  This post discusses the case, what’s at issue, and how it matters for open government in Virginia. The open government community should be among the many watching closely this Thursday to see how Virginia’s FOIA climate will change.  The best way to get a new opinion is to check the Supreme Court’s chronological opinions page on its website, where the new batch of opinions is usually posted by mid-late morning on the day of release.  
Open Virginia Law