Transparency News 5/13/16

State and Local Stories

In Petersburg stands a house named for David and Goliath. As in that biblical struggle of an underdog fighting a giant Philistine warrior, Brenda Stewart has often been put in the position of taking on forces larger than herself. She’s fought the state, the governor and a large company. She’s made headlines for taking the school system to task for what she sees as malfeasance. In just the past few weeks, her digging has led to acknowledgement of asbestos at Providence Middle and that the school system broke the law in its procurement of design work for the new Chesterfield Career and Technical Center on Hull Street Road. That’s not to say she’s easy to work with; her fellow watchdogs have said she works best alone. She even attempted to stop this article from being published for fear that it would overshadow the work she’s trying to accomplish.
Chesterfield Observer

York County School Board Chairman Dr. Robert George said he "resented" negative feedback from citizens during a public comment period at a special meeting Thursday. Those citizens primarily raised concerns about the board's lack of transparency during the appointment process to replace District 4 board member R. Page Minter, who died April 4. Pam Pouchot, a 30-year resident of York County and District 4, voiced concern that the board hadn't released the names of all nine applicants or given the public information on them and hadn't given the public ample notification of the meeting. "This to me is not a personnel matter," Pouchot said. "It's a public information matter." George made a point to address the negative commenters directly prior to the meeting's end. "I don't need a community member or a newspaper reporter to tell us if we're acting legally," George said. He said the board is getting an opinion from an attorney general over whether it has acted legally during the appointment process.
Daily Press

A member of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors has filed a lawsuit against Style Weekly for an article he says defamed him, causing emotional and professional devastation. Sean M. Davis, the board’s Henry District representative, filed the April 1 lawsuit against the alternative weekly newspaper, Landmark Media Enterprises LLC and Peter Galuszka, who wrote the Dec. 8 article Davis claims contains false information and tarnished his reputation. He is seeking $1.35 million in damages. The article suggests Davis interfered with classroom instruction at Hanover High School and had teachers suspended or disciplined “if they present ideas or images that Davis considers too liberal.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch

After a closed-door discussion, five of the seven members of Petersburg’s City Council voted Thursday to pursue an investigation of charges made in a complaint by Mayor W. Howard Myers against Ward 1 Councilor Treska Wilson-Smith. In a special meeting at City Hall that neither Myers nor Wilson-Smith attended, the five other members of council first heard Acting City Attorney Mark Flynn outline the disciplinary policy and procedure City Council adopted about three years ago. In his complaint, presented at City Council's May 3 meeting, Myers accused Wilson-Smith of a “continued refusal to abide by the rules of council and abuse of power with respect to her office.” Specific accusations included disclosing confidential information, attending taxpayer-paid events but not attending the classes presented, and improperly using city funds for personal events.
Progress-Index



National Stories
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Five of Ohio’s public universities are putting their spending records online. Ohio's state Treasurer Josh Mandel announced Tuesday that the universities will post their spending information on the state treasurer's online checkbook website next year. Miami, Bowling Green State, Central State, Wright State and Ohio universities are the first to join. Users will be able to search through expenses from the president's office to the athletics department to the dining halls online at ohiocheckbook.com.
Cincinnati Enquirer

A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Thursday that prosecutors could not force Facebook to remain silent about 15 grand-jury subpoenas involving the company’s customers. The judge, James Orenstein, said that the prosecutors had legitimate concerns that their investigations might be compromised, but he added that the government’s boilerplate requests, made in identical language in each of the 15 applications for a gag order, were insufficiently detailed.
New York Times

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill to close a loophole in the state's open records act that allowed public officials to use private e-mail accounts to avoid scrutiny.  Brownback's office said Wednesday afternoon that he had signed SB 22, a bill that will make private e-mails by public officials subject to the Kansas Open Records Act if they pertain to public business. That means news outlets and citizens will be able to request them. Sen. Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, one of the law's main proponents, said this would strengthen the media and public's ability to serve as "that fourth portion in the checks and balances." Under the previous law, the public could obtain only e-mails sent to or from an official's government account.
Governing

Lorena González had encountered sexism in the workplace before. The Seattle councilwoman frequently had heard such comments in her previous career as a successful civil rights trial lawyer. Trial law can tend to be male-dominated, an old boys’ club. But González had never experienced anything like the venomous fallout from a vote on a land-rights issue last week. “I can only hope that you each find ways to quickly and painfully end yourselves. Each of you should rot in hell for what you took from me yesterday,” wrote Jason M. Feldman. “Please don’t misunderstand me. I TRULY pray for nothing but horrible things for each of you moving forward. You have made this world a worse place by whoring yourselves out to the highest bidder. Please Please Please do the honorable thing and end yourselves. Each of you are disgraceful pieces of trash that deserve nothing but horrible outcomes.”
Washington Post

U.S. prosecutors are expected on Friday to file a list of unindicted co-conspirators as part of the criminal case against two former allies of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the "Bridgegate" scandal. The court document could reveal how many individuals in the Christie administration or elsewhere were aware of the scheme to close down lanes at the busy George Washington Bridge in what prosecutors have said was an act of political retaliation against a local mayor. The list of names, long a source of speculation, was ordered released this week by U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark after a consortium of media companies filed a motion seeking the information. The names have previously been provided to defense lawyers in the case.
Reuters