Transparency News 9/22/15

Tuesday, September 22, 2015
 

State and Local Stories
 

After months of saying no, we have confirmed that Governor Terry McAuliffe's office is now expected to release the administrative report of the bloody arrest of a University of Virginia student. Two sources outside the governor's office say the report will be released pending signed consent agreements from those involved.
NBC29

The parties in the lawsuit that will lead to new boundaries for Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District are now fighting over whether proposed fixes for the district should be made public on a state government website. On Friday, members of Virginia’s State Board of Elections, the original defendants in the case, filed an emergency motion in U.S. District Court. They urged the three judges who will redraw Virginia’s congressional map to let Virginia’s Division of Legislative Services post proposed redistricting plans submitted to the court. “The public accessibility of these documents is critical to allowing nonparties to participate in the remedial process adopted by the court,” wrote Deputy Solicitor General Trevor S. Cox. He filed the motion of behalf of defendants James B. Alcorn, Clara Belle Wheeler and Singleton McAllister of the Virginia State Board of Elections. But lawyers for the 3rd District residents who brought the legal challenge say it would be “ill-advised and inappropriate” for the judges to authorize the posting of proposed redistricting plans.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

In a ruling Wednesday, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the law which required manual guides for executions to be released under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The decision suggests public officials will be able to withhold public access to pertinent documents in the future, said Megan Rhyne, the Virginia Coalition for Open Government executive director. “The way that the Supreme Court phrased this part of the ruling opens the door for governments to withhold entire records simply because one portion of them contains some exempt material,” Rhyne said.
Cavalier Daily

Former Altavista Police Chief Kenneth Walsh is charged with multiple counts of fraud related to the falsification of documents to collect money from the police department’s drug fund, according to search warrants and indictments obtained by The News & Advance. Walsh, 50, of Hurt, was indicted last week by a Campbell County grand jury on one count of embezzlement of public funds and nine counts of forgery of public documents. According to affidavits, Virginia State Police Special Agent Accountant William W. Talbert initiated an investigation Feb. 25 into the police department after Capt. Barry Stocks and Officer William “Rob” Haugh, both of the Altavista Police Department, came forward stating certain police records were falsified and money was taken from spring 2014 to Feb. 22, according to affidavits.
News & Advance

Virginia Association of Museums has selected the Hance Store Ledger at Wilderness Road Regional Museum in Newbern as one Virginia’s 2015 Top 10 Endangered Artifacts. “Our making the official listing came after a rigorous review by collections professionals, conservators and preservationists. This important honor will continue to bring attention to the Wilderness Road Regional Museum,” Carolyn Mathews said of the designation. She is president of New River Historical Society. Mathews said the ledger also came in second in the People’s Choice Award for endangered artifacts.
Southwest Times


National Stories
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Some common public records like traffic accident reports and tickets would remain off limits to news outlets, under an argument made to the state Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday in a case that could drastically alter long-standing Wisconsin law, based on a failed class action lawsuit in Illinois. Stories like former Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager's 2004 drunken driving arrest, or other moving violations involving prominent drivers, might not ger reported without access to names and addresses in the records.  In 2013, the New Richmond News sued the city of New Richmond because its police department routinely blacked out names, addresses and other information from reports the paper requested, citing the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act. Congress passed the 1994 law after a stalker got a Hollywood actress' home address through motor vehicle records, then killed her. The DPPA restricts use of personal information obtained from DMVs, but lists several permissible uses, though none specifically for news reporting. For decades, no one dreamed it was meant to undo states' open records laws, until lawyers and marketers began buying whole databases of drivers and car owners, and a few successful claims for penalties under the DPPA prompted class action lawyers to explore new lawsuits.
Governing

Facing a wave of outrage due to controversial clauses in a recently published draft of its new National Encryption Policy, which seeks to improve India's cybersecurity, the country's government was forced to amend the proposed legislation. The policy draft, written by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, stipulated that mobile users in the country would be legally required to store any encrypted communications on their devices for up to 90 days-- and could be punished if they failed to comply. Almost every Internet-based method of communication uses some level of encryption. This means that deleting messages that are less than three months old from widely used instant messengers, like WhatsApp, Viber and Hike, as well as from e-mail clients such as Gmail, would be illegal.
CNET News

Editorials/Columns

This has been a long time coming. I haven’t wanted to write this column because I am a fairly optimistic person and because I try to look for the good in things. I’m no pollyanna but, when voicing my opinion, I try to give credit where credit is due. But today, I’m not feeling particularly charitable. Today, I feel that am losing Virginia.
Rhyne, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Co. have repeatedly understated the legal authority that administration officials possess to fulfill the spirit and the letter of Virginia's open-records laws. Unfortunately, even the Supreme Court of Virginia appears to be following that lead. The commonwealth's highest court ruled last week that the Department of Corrections can shield from public view the procedural manuals and other documentation related to Greensville Correctional Center's execution chamber and the facility's electric chair. The court's decision, as disappointing as it is, highlights an increasingly alarming disdain for public access to public documents, and it underscores government's growing tendency to protect authorities from disclosing otherwise public records. Each of these matters involves public documents that Virginia's Freedom of Information Act should compel to be released. Unfortunately, despite the law's intent, state leaders seem determined to diminish public awareness and deny opportunities for Virginians to witness their government's operations.
Virginian-Pilot

Among many of my colleagues I have heard grave concern about the cost of FOIA compliance as it relates to attorney’s fees, staff time and inconvenience. Many municipal and county governments in Virginia are lobbying the General Assembly to roll back the scope of FOIA. This tends to be an act of futility because state officials do not want to appear as if they are cutting off public records requests. In some local governments the size of Culpeper, FOIA requests have cost the town tens of thousands of dollars in one year. As you can imagine, this can be quite troublesome when budgets have already been set and money is tight. Which begs the question, can we put a price on public information? I say no. While all of these concerns have some validity, the reality is that FOIA is here to stay and local governments must adjust the way they conduct themselves so they do not expose their citizens to liability and possible scandal. Liability comes into play when the local government is sued for non-compliance; this becomes a financial burden for the taxpayers.
Jon Russell, Star-Exponent