Transparency News 8/24/15

Monday, August 24, 2015

State and Local Stories


Virginia residents have been billed tens of thousands of dollars to pay for donations the state's most powerful electricity company has made to politically connected charities, according to company records obtained by The Associated Press. Recent Dominion Resources Inc. donations subsidized by customers include a $10,000 gift to a college that was solicited by a powerful state lawmaker who is also the school's paid fundraiser, and a $40,000 donation to a tort reform group that pushed for business-friendly legislation with the help of a longtime Dominion lobbyist, the records showed.  Adding the cost of certain charitable contributions — though not lobbying expenses — to electricity consumers' monthly bills is legal under longstanding and little-noticed regulatory rulings. The practice is not unique to Virginia, though it's barred in some states. Dominion, the state's largest electricity utility, has passed well over $1 million dollars in donations onto consumers in recent years. The Virginia State Corporation Commission sets the rates regulated monopolies like Dominion charge after reviewing the companies' expenses, including some donations. Details about those expenses are largely private, but AP obtained specifics about some of Dominion's giving through public records requests with the attorney general's office.
Associated Press, via Daily Press

A divided Greene County Board of Supervisors last Tuesday night approved amended rules to its controversial bylaws on public comment. The decision came after backlash at the board for its July 28 decision to temporarily drop the public comment portion from the night’s agenda, as well as the board’s 4-1 decision to implement new rules on public comment following what Chairman David Cox said was unruly behavior at earlier board meetings. The item most notably removed from the July 28 decision was a rule giving the chairman final decision on what comment subjects are appropriate. Attorneys for the Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute advised the Board of Supervisors in a letter last week that its rules “could be used to censor unpopular but constitutionally protected speech, thereby resulting in First Amendment violations.”
Greene County Record

The publisher of the Virginia Beach Visitors Guide says his constitutional rights to freedom of speech and due process are being violated. And strangely, his lawsuit is against the state's tourism office. Thompson said he had planned to sue only the state Department of Transportation for its 2013 implementation of a program that governs the distribution of information at the state's Welcome Centers and rest areas. But then, he said, the Virginia Tourism Corporation started administrating the regulations in question. State officials declined to comment about the lawsuit, referring questions to the Attorney General's Office. A spokeswoman for that office also declined to comment. In court documents, however, Senior Assistant Attorney General Eric Fiske argued that the Welcome Centers and rest areas are "non-public forums" and that the regulations constitute "the valid exercise of government speech." He noted a 2013 opinion by former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that supported his argument. Kevin Martingayle, an attorney for VistaGraphics, said the regulations make business difficult for his client. Among other things, the lawsuit said the state's content rules are "vague, confusing and contradictory," and enforced unevenly. The lawsuit argued that the regulations lack any mechanism for the company to appeal decisions.
Virginian-Pilot

A judge in Patrick County Circuit Court effectively ruled Friday that the facts are legally insufficient to move forward with a more than $5 million defamation lawsuit brought by a former principal of Stuart Elementary School against Patrick County Public Schools Superintendent William D. Sroufe and the county school board. The lawsuit alleged that the manner in which Waldron was removed from her position as principal and reassigned, allegedly without notice, on April 24 resulted in "defamation by implication" because it allegedly implied she was "guilty of conduct justifying such action." On the day Waldron was removed as principal, the suit says, her email account was terminated and she was denied further access to the school. The suit alleges that Sroufe or associates told 76 or more teachers, staff and others that Waldron had been removed and that further questions would not be addressed.
Martinsville Bulletin

A Culpeper Town Police officer filed a defamation lawsuit in Culpeper County Circuit Court last Thursday, seeking $350,000 in liquidated and/or punitive damages from Culpeper’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Megan Frederick and her five prosecutors for reportedly disparaging his reputation and dismissing and refusing to prosecute any of his cases. In his legal claim, Matthew J. Haymaker says he was demoted from detective to a patrol officer and removed from the Virginia State Police’s Blue Ridge Narcotics and Gang Task Force in April after Frederick sent a letter on March 26 to Culpeper’s chief of police Chris Jenkins, noting that her office refuses to prosecute any of Haymaker’s criminal cases.
Star-Exponent

The Richmond Times-Dispatch obtained state employees’ names, job titles and salaries using the state’s Freedom of Information statute. As required by law, the state provided information for 103,437 employees. The FOI request for the state fiscal year that began July 1, 2014, and ended June 30, 2015, is part of The Times-Dispatch’s ongoing effort to report to you findings about government spending and the use of taxpayer money. The Times-Dispatch is excluding from the online database the names of 51,699 employees whose salaries fall below the statewide median of $47,500.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Employee salaries make up about a quarter of Pittsylvania County’s general fund.
The county pays about $16.5 million in salaries and benefits to 443 employees, not including those for its school system, said Pittsylvania County Finance Director Kim Van Der Hyde. Over the last decade, the county has provided raises for its employees except for the three years covering 2010-12 due to the recession, Van Der Hyde said. Since 2013, the county has provided cost-of-living adjustments but no merit increases, which were last given in 2009.
Register & Bee

Warren County recently earned its first top award for financial reporting from a national organization. The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada awarded the county the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for fiscal 2014. The county has received other awards from the association. The certificate is the highest form of recognition in the area of government accounting and financial reporting, according to information from the association.
Northern Virginia Daily


National Stories
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A federal judge says Hillary Clinton didn't comply with government policies when she used a private server for her email account as secretary of state. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, in a hearing Thursday for a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department, determined Hillary Clinton's server and thumb drive would now be implicated in the many FOIA suits entangled in the larger controversy surrounding Clinton's email system. "We wouldn't be here today if the employee had followed government policy," Sullivan said Thursday, in an apparent reference to Clinton's email protocol.
CBS News

When political pros think about the best launching pads for higher office, a few positions come to mind—among them are state attorney general, mayor and even corporate CEO. Few politicians think about the office of state auditor. But there are good reasons why tenure as a state auditor should be valuable to someone seeking to climb the political ladder. While the job duties vary somewhat from state to state, auditors are typically responsible for rooting out fiscal irregularities in state agencies and local governments. This gives auditors a soapbox much like that enjoyed by top prosecutors, which is the ability to crack down on “bad guys” in a quest for justice. “You can get a lot of positive press as you pursue some of these bad financial tactics or frauds,” said Kinney Poynter, the executive director of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers. “You would think there would be a natural progression to higher office, but there hasn’t been much.”
Governing


Editorials/Columns

We often use this space to decry the unseemly methods associated with "the Virginia Way," an approach to government that sees public officials cutting corners to do what they consider is in the best interest of the people. Oftentimes our ire is focused on Richmond. But to see it at work in your own backyard, cast a wary eye over to Isle of Wight County, where construction of the Georgie D. Tyler Middle School in Windsor offers an appalling example of the Virginia Way in action. In June, Commonwealth's Attorney Wayne Farmer submitted the preliminary findings of his office's investigation to the state Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office. Mr. Farmer says it may be a case of fraud, but prosecutors have yet to decide what they will do. Regardless, this episode finds public officials cutting corners and glossing over details because they perceived it to be the shortest route between two points. They thought they were acting in the people's interest — never mind that the people are now on the hook for millions that the county can barely afford. And that, dear readers, is the crux of the Virginia Way in all its undignified notoriety. It is why we continue to use Virginia's open government laws and hard-nosed reporting on your behalf, and to call out those who believe it should be business as usual in the commonwealth.
Daily Press

When Democrats dominated the Virginia General Assembly, Republicans complained about judicial selection. They considered the process for naming judges shrouded in secrecy and an exercise in power politics. Reformers hoped Republicans would change the system when they took control of the legislature. Merit selection represented one ideal. During his years in the Assembly, Bill Bolling practiced a variation of merit. He invited citizen participation and welcomed suggestions from outside the party caucus. The Bolling approach enhanced transparency. It did not catch on.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The “Virginia Way” defines how the legislature does business, which is inseparable from politics, a noblesse oblige in which aristocrats serve honorably, transparently and beyond reproach. Rhetoric aside, what is the functioning definition of the Virginia Way? Pay-to-play; government is a sop to big business; bipartisan; authoritarian; anti-capitalist; operated by a minuscule number of people; participants act as if they are above the law; Virginia’s politicians are greedy, entitled and lazy; and Virginia politicians inoculate themselves against accountability by rigging elections.
Jeff Thomas, The Roanoke Times

Last Sunday’s opinions page included a letter from H.R. Laird with an idea we enthusiastically endorse: asking citizen leaders to help with Augusta County-city of Staunton negotiations on renovations and construction of possible consolidated courthouses. The air between the county supervisors and City Council members has become heavy with acrimony. An appointed task force including citizens known for their wisdom, business acumen and genuine care for the community would help clear that air and blaze a win-win path for all. While supervisors and council members hold understandable biases toward their own municipalities, many citizen leaders in our area are loyal to both localities, perhaps owning a business in one while living in another. We believe our community is home to many such citizens of good will, intelligent people with no agenda and no history in these difficult negotiations. The county and city would be wise to pull in some of them for help in this important project.
News Leader