Transparency News 5/11/15
Monday, May 11, 2015
State and Local Stories
Local school systems spend thousands of dollars every year on travel — including covering hotels, flights and meals for school board members — but details can be hard to come by. Buried deep in school budgets and financial records, travel spending for many boards and senior administrators has been edging higher in the past few years, even as school officials complain that tight budgets are crimping their ability to pay for programs parents want or raises teachers and staff seek. And finding out exactly who travels where and for what purpose at taxpayer expense apparently requires hours of work for school officials — work that some school systems say they won't undertake unless they are paid. York County initially said it would charge at least $1,000 to supply the information, since doing so would require a minimum of 50 hours of work. Hampton said it would take 13 hours.
Daily Press
The White House Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Treasury today released 57 data standards. Big deal? Well yes, actually, Sen. Mark Warner says. They're a first step towards publishing standardized reporting of federal spending -- and giving Americans a clear view of that spending -- that he was hoping for when he argued for his Digital Accountability and Transparency Act. Warner and Sen Rob Portman, R-Ohio, teamed up to successfully push the act and its requirement that federal agencies account for every dollar they spend on a single website in an easy-to-read format. That will make is easier for taxpayers and lawmakers to track waste, fraud and abuse across all agencies.
Daily Press
Dominion and some other big lobbyists say they're fine with the new law and their lobbying efforts will continue, even if the venues are less extravagant and the food a little less pricey. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a new conflict of interest law in April that caps gifts - including travel or meals - at $100. It also forbids officials from accepting more than $100 in a calendar year from any one lobbyist or company, although gifts valued at less than $20 don't count toward the cap. Lobbyists say the new rules in the post-McDonnell era won't hinder their efforts to sway lawmakers. Getting comfortable with the new law will be an "evolving process" for many lobbyists, said Whitt Clement, a former delegate and state transportation secretary who lobbies for the firm Hunton & Williams. But the new law won't have much impact on how he does his job, he said. Staying within the $100 cap for the year won't be hard, Clement said - with 140 lawmakers in Richmond, there isn't enough time to buy multiple meals for each one during the two-month legislative session.
Virginian-Pilot
For the first time in decades, people in the town of Bedford will be able to vote for county supervisors, although many don’t know it. “I’ve had a lot of people from the town ask me ‘Can I vote in this one?’” Bedford County Registrar Barbara Gunter said. “They just don’t understand that ‘Yes, you are part of Bedford County now and so you can be involved with all the Bedford County elections.’” Gunter stressed the importance of being an educated voter. “If they don’t participate, they’re letting someone else make their choice for them, because they won’t have any other choice in November, or they’re likely not to have any other choice in November,” Gunter said.
News & Advance
National Stories
The House Oversight Committee is reaching out to reporters, asking them to relay some of their Freedom of Information Act horror stories in preparation for a hearing next month on how to improve the FOIA process. "Over the years I have heard from many of you that the FOIA process is broken," House Oversight Committee spokesperson Melissa Subbotin Sillin wrote in an email to reporters. "Many requests go unaddressed, come back heavily redacted for no apparent reason, or are ignored altogether. Both majority and minority committee members are coming together to do a deep analysis to find where the problems exist and what fixes need to be made. In order to do so, we need your help." Sillin said she hoped that through this process, the committee can help get some of their requests answered.
Politico
It's a matter of national security, says Michigan state Rep. Kurt Heise: Keeping information about oil and gas pipelines, high-powered electrical lines and other critical energy infrastructure out of potential terrorists' hands. But critics say a bill introduced Tuesday by the Republican lawmaker protects something else: oil and gas corporations, like Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge, from public disclosures about safety and other records. The bill would exempt from disclosure under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act information about existing and proposed energy infrastructure that "could be useful to a person in planning an attack" on it. It's similar to federal critical infrastructure disclosure exemption rules enacted by Congress and President George W. Bush in the 2002 Homeland Security Act in the months after 9/11.
USA Today
A hot topic around public-sector organizations is the large wave of retirements that they expect over the next three to five years. Who will replace these retirees? Millennials, that's who -- those now roughly between the ages of 18 to 34. But is your government or agency prepared for this wave of recruitments and new hires? Have you put updated policies and systems in place? Have you designed an inclusive, forward-thinking culture? Have you shifted your attitudes to maximize the talent this workforce brings? The answers to questions like those will determine whether your government is well on the way becoming what might be called a "hipster organization" -- the kind that millennials are eager to join. Short of that, you may have a "trending organization," one that's at least heading in the right direction. But if your government's culture values status quo above all else, you may be looking at a "dated organization." You have a lot of work to do.
Governing
Editorials/Columns
At a time when public school budgets are tighter than ever — when every cent should be closely watched and carefully tracked — Daily Press reporters met an astounding level of difficulty when they sought to obtain travel expenses from area school officials. Prompted by a reader inquiry, we asked our local school districts to tell us how much they spent when board members and senior administrators — the latter being the six-figures-a-year salary crowd — travel at taxpayer expense. While attending conferences and seminars can have value, knowing who went and what it cost deserves at least a modicum of scrutiny. We were shocked when this information, which any private business worth its salt could easily cull from its accounting software, proved so difficult for us to obtain. Some school officials claimed it would take an extraordinary amount of time to honor our request, while others sought to charge us hundreds of dollars to comply.
Daily Press
Setting aside the parochial findings, however, it’s clear that both the recommendations and the context from which they spring have universal appeal. It is the same context we find ourselves in in Virginia, and the recommendations would make sense here as well as in every other state of the union. To start with, the report notes that while a healthy tension between government and the media is “expected and beneficial,” citizens and the process suffer when that tension becomes “an authentic tug of war.” In Virginia, I receive many calls and emails from reporters and from staff on the other side of the counter who seem suspicious of every single move the other makes. Citizens, too. All too often a Freedom of Information Act request starts from a position of mistrust and frequently escalates from adversarial at best to petty and mean-spirited at worst.
Megan Rhyne, Roanoke Times
Gerrymandering, a sin against democracy committed with equal zeal by Republicans and Democrats, has produced no end of regrettable results. Among others, it robs voters of the chance to vote in real contests by giving one party or the other an overwhelming advantage in a given district. All of that would be bad enough. But lawmakers compound the gerrymandering offense with another: secrecy. Three years ago, the Center for Public Integrity released a report that examined the transparency of redistricting in each state. Virginia received a C. Lawmakers did a good job of holding hearings, but they did not invite the public to submit alternative plans. What’s more, they have fought to hide communications about the redistricting process. Democrats have challenged the drawing of the 3rd Congressional District, along with 12 districts in the House of Delegates. In each case, Republicans who controlled the process preferred not to divulge emails about it, and have argued that either lawyer-client privilege or legislative privilege protects them from disclosure.
Times-Dispatch
There’s a civil liberties revolution brewing in the House of Representatives, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is leading the fight. First and foremost, Goodlatte’s bipartisan legislation ends the NSA’s warrantless, bulk collection of metadata by clarifying and rewriting Section 215 of the Patriot Act. But equally important are reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act federal court that handles highly sensitive intelligence cases. Goodlatte’s bill creates a panel of privacy experts to advise the court on behalf of the American public and also greatly increases transparency of the court itself. Under the bill, for example, all major opinions of the court must be made public and the U.S. attorney general and director of national intelligence regularly report to Congress and the American people how their intelligence gathering powers are being used.
News & Advance
The Pittsylvania County government is studying the poultry industry, which could bring new work for the county’s farmers (raising chickens) and new jobs (at the slaughterhouse) for hundreds of other local residents. At the same time, the county government has been working to find a balance between farmers who want to spread muncipal waste on all of their farm fields and the rights of future county homeowners in districts zoned agricultural. Pittsylvania County’s agribusiness development director — Fred Wydner — has been involved in both issues. To some of his critics, that makes him an “unregistered lobbyist” with “a serious conflict of interest.” We don’t agree — and we’re not alone.
Register & Bee
On March 24, the Board of Visitors voted to institute a new high-tuition, high-financial-aid model at the University of Virginia — a model it has titled “Affordable Excellence.” The approved 11 percent tuition increase reportedly is one of the highest in the nation. The board’s vote took place under a veil of secrecy that raises serious questions about shared governance at the University of Virginia. This decision has been questioned by several dissenting board members and state representatives.
The AAUP finds that the process by which the Affordable Excellence program was approved violated norms of shared governance.
Peter Norton, Daily Progress
Like motherhood, ice cream and the all-expenses-paid vacation, seemingly everybody should like transparency in government. The specter of elected or unelected officials making decisions behind closed doors conjures up visions of corruption and would seem to signify government on behalf of private interests. For this reason, most democratic governments, to varying degrees, now operate under various laws and rules intended to promote openness. As a card-carrying good-government type, I am supposed to like transparency, and I generally do think it's a good thing. Certainly there are real downsides to secrecy and backroom deals. There are many positive effects that can come from subjecting public processes to greater scrutiny and from requiring the disclosure of processes and data. Transparency itself, however, is not without its pitfalls. So what's wrong with government in the sunshine? Here are a few of my concerns:
Governing
State and Local Stories
Local school systems spend thousands of dollars every year on travel — including covering hotels, flights and meals for school board members — but details can be hard to come by. Buried deep in school budgets and financial records, travel spending for many boards and senior administrators has been edging higher in the past few years, even as school officials complain that tight budgets are crimping their ability to pay for programs parents want or raises teachers and staff seek. And finding out exactly who travels where and for what purpose at taxpayer expense apparently requires hours of work for school officials — work that some school systems say they won't undertake unless they are paid. York County initially said it would charge at least $1,000 to supply the information, since doing so would require a minimum of 50 hours of work. Hampton said it would take 13 hours.
Daily Press
The White House Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Treasury today released 57 data standards. Big deal? Well yes, actually, Sen. Mark Warner says. They're a first step towards publishing standardized reporting of federal spending -- and giving Americans a clear view of that spending -- that he was hoping for when he argued for his Digital Accountability and Transparency Act. Warner and Sen Rob Portman, R-Ohio, teamed up to successfully push the act and its requirement that federal agencies account for every dollar they spend on a single website in an easy-to-read format. That will make is easier for taxpayers and lawmakers to track waste, fraud and abuse across all agencies.
Daily Press
Dominion and some other big lobbyists say they're fine with the new law and their lobbying efforts will continue, even if the venues are less extravagant and the food a little less pricey. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a new conflict of interest law in April that caps gifts - including travel or meals - at $100. It also forbids officials from accepting more than $100 in a calendar year from any one lobbyist or company, although gifts valued at less than $20 don't count toward the cap. Lobbyists say the new rules in the post-McDonnell era won't hinder their efforts to sway lawmakers. Getting comfortable with the new law will be an "evolving process" for many lobbyists, said Whitt Clement, a former delegate and state transportation secretary who lobbies for the firm Hunton & Williams. But the new law won't have much impact on how he does his job, he said. Staying within the $100 cap for the year won't be hard, Clement said - with 140 lawmakers in Richmond, there isn't enough time to buy multiple meals for each one during the two-month legislative session.
Virginian-Pilot
For the first time in decades, people in the town of Bedford will be able to vote for county supervisors, although many don’t know it. “I’ve had a lot of people from the town ask me ‘Can I vote in this one?’” Bedford County Registrar Barbara Gunter said. “They just don’t understand that ‘Yes, you are part of Bedford County now and so you can be involved with all the Bedford County elections.’” Gunter stressed the importance of being an educated voter. “If they don’t participate, they’re letting someone else make their choice for them, because they won’t have any other choice in November, or they’re likely not to have any other choice in November,” Gunter said.
News & Advance
National Stories
The House Oversight Committee is reaching out to reporters, asking them to relay some of their Freedom of Information Act horror stories in preparation for a hearing next month on how to improve the FOIA process. "Over the years I have heard from many of you that the FOIA process is broken," House Oversight Committee spokesperson Melissa Subbotin Sillin wrote in an email to reporters. "Many requests go unaddressed, come back heavily redacted for no apparent reason, or are ignored altogether. Both majority and minority committee members are coming together to do a deep analysis to find where the problems exist and what fixes need to be made. In order to do so, we need your help." Sillin said she hoped that through this process, the committee can help get some of their requests answered.
Politico
It's a matter of national security, says Michigan state Rep. Kurt Heise: Keeping information about oil and gas pipelines, high-powered electrical lines and other critical energy infrastructure out of potential terrorists' hands. But critics say a bill introduced Tuesday by the Republican lawmaker protects something else: oil and gas corporations, like Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge, from public disclosures about safety and other records. The bill would exempt from disclosure under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act information about existing and proposed energy infrastructure that "could be useful to a person in planning an attack" on it. It's similar to federal critical infrastructure disclosure exemption rules enacted by Congress and President George W. Bush in the 2002 Homeland Security Act in the months after 9/11.
USA Today
A hot topic around public-sector organizations is the large wave of retirements that they expect over the next three to five years. Who will replace these retirees? Millennials, that's who -- those now roughly between the ages of 18 to 34. But is your government or agency prepared for this wave of recruitments and new hires? Have you put updated policies and systems in place? Have you designed an inclusive, forward-thinking culture? Have you shifted your attitudes to maximize the talent this workforce brings? The answers to questions like those will determine whether your government is well on the way becoming what might be called a "hipster organization" -- the kind that millennials are eager to join. Short of that, you may have a "trending organization," one that's at least heading in the right direction. But if your government's culture values status quo above all else, you may be looking at a "dated organization." You have a lot of work to do.
Governing
Editorials/Columns
At a time when public school budgets are tighter than ever — when every cent should be closely watched and carefully tracked — Daily Press reporters met an astounding level of difficulty when they sought to obtain travel expenses from area school officials. Prompted by a reader inquiry, we asked our local school districts to tell us how much they spent when board members and senior administrators — the latter being the six-figures-a-year salary crowd — travel at taxpayer expense. While attending conferences and seminars can have value, knowing who went and what it cost deserves at least a modicum of scrutiny. We were shocked when this information, which any private business worth its salt could easily cull from its accounting software, proved so difficult for us to obtain. Some school officials claimed it would take an extraordinary amount of time to honor our request, while others sought to charge us hundreds of dollars to comply.
Daily Press
Setting aside the parochial findings, however, it’s clear that both the recommendations and the context from which they spring have universal appeal. It is the same context we find ourselves in in Virginia, and the recommendations would make sense here as well as in every other state of the union. To start with, the report notes that while a healthy tension between government and the media is “expected and beneficial,” citizens and the process suffer when that tension becomes “an authentic tug of war.” In Virginia, I receive many calls and emails from reporters and from staff on the other side of the counter who seem suspicious of every single move the other makes. Citizens, too. All too often a Freedom of Information Act request starts from a position of mistrust and frequently escalates from adversarial at best to petty and mean-spirited at worst.
Megan Rhyne, Roanoke Times
Gerrymandering, a sin against democracy committed with equal zeal by Republicans and Democrats, has produced no end of regrettable results. Among others, it robs voters of the chance to vote in real contests by giving one party or the other an overwhelming advantage in a given district. All of that would be bad enough. But lawmakers compound the gerrymandering offense with another: secrecy. Three years ago, the Center for Public Integrity released a report that examined the transparency of redistricting in each state. Virginia received a C. Lawmakers did a good job of holding hearings, but they did not invite the public to submit alternative plans. What’s more, they have fought to hide communications about the redistricting process. Democrats have challenged the drawing of the 3rd Congressional District, along with 12 districts in the House of Delegates. In each case, Republicans who controlled the process preferred not to divulge emails about it, and have argued that either lawyer-client privilege or legislative privilege protects them from disclosure.
Times-Dispatch
There’s a civil liberties revolution brewing in the House of Representatives, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is leading the fight. First and foremost, Goodlatte’s bipartisan legislation ends the NSA’s warrantless, bulk collection of metadata by clarifying and rewriting Section 215 of the Patriot Act. But equally important are reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act federal court that handles highly sensitive intelligence cases. Goodlatte’s bill creates a panel of privacy experts to advise the court on behalf of the American public and also greatly increases transparency of the court itself. Under the bill, for example, all major opinions of the court must be made public and the U.S. attorney general and director of national intelligence regularly report to Congress and the American people how their intelligence gathering powers are being used.
News & Advance
The Pittsylvania County government is studying the poultry industry, which could bring new work for the county’s farmers (raising chickens) and new jobs (at the slaughterhouse) for hundreds of other local residents. At the same time, the county government has been working to find a balance between farmers who want to spread muncipal waste on all of their farm fields and the rights of future county homeowners in districts zoned agricultural. Pittsylvania County’s agribusiness development director — Fred Wydner — has been involved in both issues. To some of his critics, that makes him an “unregistered lobbyist” with “a serious conflict of interest.” We don’t agree — and we’re not alone.
Register & Bee
On March 24, the Board of Visitors voted to institute a new high-tuition, high-financial-aid model at the University of Virginia — a model it has titled “Affordable Excellence.” The approved 11 percent tuition increase reportedly is one of the highest in the nation. The board’s vote took place under a veil of secrecy that raises serious questions about shared governance at the University of Virginia. This decision has been questioned by several dissenting board members and state representatives.
The AAUP finds that the process by which the Affordable Excellence program was approved violated norms of shared governance.
Peter Norton, Daily Progress
Like motherhood, ice cream and the all-expenses-paid vacation, seemingly everybody should like transparency in government. The specter of elected or unelected officials making decisions behind closed doors conjures up visions of corruption and would seem to signify government on behalf of private interests. For this reason, most democratic governments, to varying degrees, now operate under various laws and rules intended to promote openness. As a card-carrying good-government type, I am supposed to like transparency, and I generally do think it's a good thing. Certainly there are real downsides to secrecy and backroom deals. There are many positive effects that can come from subjecting public processes to greater scrutiny and from requiring the disclosure of processes and data. Transparency itself, however, is not without its pitfalls. So what's wrong with government in the sunshine? Here are a few of my concerns:
Governing
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