Transparency News 6/25/14
State and Local Stories
Note: The meeting of the full FOIA Council scheduled for July 8 has been canceled, and two meetings of the council’s subcommittees have been scheduled for that day instead. The Records Subcommittee will meet at 10 a.m., and the Meetings Subcommittee will meet at 1:30. Both meetings are at the General Assembly Building’s 6th Floor conference room. The public is encouraged to attend.
At the urging of House Speaker William J. Howell, the clerk’s office of the House of Delegates enlisted the help of the Capitol Police to enter Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s unoccupied, secure suite of offices on a Sunday afternoon to deliver the state budget. The highly unusual entry on June 15 took placewithout the permission of administration officials or the knowledge of the Virginia State Police, which is in charge of protecting the governor. McAuliffe was not in the building.
Times-Dispatch
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s failure to disclose a $23,000 vacation covered by the University of Virginia’s vice rector could be used to demonstrate that undisclosed gifts from another wealthy businessman were no accident, according to federal court records. The trip came roughly a month before the ultimately failed attempt to oust UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan. Amid that controversy, McDonnell named Goodwin a special adviser to UVa’s Board of Visitors. In January 2013, the governor appointed Goodwin to the board. The ex-governor cited a $920 gift from Goodwin for a 2012 retreat in his financial disclosures for that year. A review of campaign finance records by The Daily Progress in September found that UVa board members had contributed $729,529 to McDonnell for his gubernatorial campaign, inaugural committee and related political action committees. State law at the time would have allowed the trip as long as it was documented for public review.
Daily Progress
Pastor James Coleman gained a seat on the Lynchburg City School Board, following a vote Tuesday by City Council. The public was barred from the interviews Tuesday, but council is expected to release video recordings of the interviews Wednesday. Coleman will take up his new post starting in July.
News & Advance
The effort to remove Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R) from the Sterling District seat he has held since 1999 died in Loudoun Circuit Court Tuesday. Judge Paul Sheridan granted the motion by Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos to dismiss the recall case initiated by Sterling District voters. Stamos concluded that there was a lack of clear and convincing evidence to prove Delgaulido had misused his office and county resources as outlined in a seven allegations contained in the petition signed by 686 voters. While Delgaudio’s attorney Charles King agreed with Stamos’ findings, attorney John Flannery, representing the petitioners, urged Sheridan to allow the case to move forward to trial.
Leesburg Today
Shenandoah County likely passed up a chance to buy land for the Sheriff's Office, a supervisor said Tuesday night. The Board of Supervisors met in closed session at the end of its regular meeting to discuss possible acquisition of property, specifically land adjacent to the county government center at 600 N. Main St. Chairman David Ferguson said in open session that the board talked about foreclosed property that is coming up for auction. County property records show a 2.7-acre parcel that lies adjacent to the government center parking lot and the school system's bus garage. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act exempts such topics of discussion from open-meeting requirements in cases where the talk in open session could affect the board's bargaining position. Talking about the land in question in open session may impact bargaining and cause the price to increase, Ferguson said when supervisors returned from their short, closed meeting.
Northern Virginia Daily
National Stories
The Internal Revenue Service did not follow the law when it failed to report a hard drive crash that destroyed emails belonging to a senior official at the center of a scandal over the agency’s treatment of conservative-leaning political groups, the nation’s top archivist said Tuesday. “In accordance with the Federal Records Act, when an agency becomes aware of an incident of unauthorized destruction, they must report the incident to us,” said David S. Ferriero, the chief archivist at the National Archives.New York Times
The IRS will pay the National Organization for Marriage $50,000 to settle a lawsuit over claims the agency improperly disclosed confidential tax information, according to a consent judgment released this week. The group pushing for laws defining marriage as between a man and a woman had filed suit against the tax agency seeking damages for disclosure of its donors, and the $50,000 the IRS will shell out represents actual damages from the unauthorized release.
Politico
Montana officials are notifying 1.3 million people that their personal information could have been accessed by hackers who broke into a state health department computer server. The letters are going to people whose information and records were on the server.
USA Today
Historians have long known that, before he became president, Warren G. Harding had an extra-marital affair with a woman named Carrie Fulton Phillips. Soon, they'll be able to learn about it in more detail. The Library of Congress has announced that on July 29 it will release some 1,000 pages of love letters between Harding and Phillips, the wife of a friend. This was not Harding's most famous affair, it should be noted.That would be Nan Britton, who claimed that she carried on with Harding when he was president -- once allegedly in a White House coat closet -- and had his child.
USA Today
A scheduling employee for the Phoenix VA Health Care System disclosed Monday that she was the keeper of a "secret list" of veterans who waited months for medical care. She also accused others of altering records after the scandal broke to try to hide the deaths of at least seven veterans awaiting care. Pauline DeWenter went public as a whistle-blower Monday, saying she has spoken to investigators in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General about the waiting list and her suspicions of an orchestrated cover-up.
USA Today
Two researchers examining the security of hospital networks have found many of them leak valuable information to the internet, leaving critical systems and equipment vulnerable to hacking. The data, which in some cases enumerates every computer and device on a hospital’s internal network, would allow hackers to easily locate and map systems to conduct targeted attacks.
Wired
A county's decision to enforce a local law and remove an elections commissioner because her job conflicted with her own race for town justice did not violate the First Amendment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held Monday.
New York Law Journal
Editorials/Columns
There’s no height requirement for exercising your free-speech rights. There’s no figurative “You must be this tall” sign to qualify for First Amendment protection. Nor is there an age requirement. As our nation prepares to celebrate freedom on the Fourth of July, it’s a good time to remember that even our youngest Americans are citizens as well. Just as government is barred from limiting adults’ free speech, public schools should have very little latitude in limiting the freedom of speech of young people. That’s why the results of the new State of the First Amendment survey conducted by the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center is so encouraging.First Amendment Center
