Transparency News 8/3/16

 

Hampton Roads Regional Jail officials have reversed their original claim that security video recorded outside a mentally ill inmate’s cell was deleted after he died last year. The video was found after jail officials told a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter in April it had been recorded over. At the time, the jail’s assistant superintendent said the video files didn’t contain anything worth saving. The discovery of the video was not communicated to the newspaper. Now, even though the video has been “located and preserved,” the jail’s superintendent has declined to release it to the public, citing an exemption in state law that gives him the discretion to withhold records related to inmates’ incarceration and investigations into allegations of wrongdoing.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia ethics reforms intended to shed more light on gifts and freebies for officials has so far meant that a much smaller percentage of lobbyist-hosted events identify the officials who attended. At the same time, elected officials are spending more on meals out of their campaign funds — funds that special interest groups contribute to. Ten percent of the events held immediately before, during and after the 2016 General Assembly session identified the elected officials who attended. That's down from 27 percent in the same period immediately before the scandal over gifts to former Gov. Bob McDonnell prompted a series of ethics reform measures, according to data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. "The transparency required of legislators and elected officials and the lobbyists who are trying to influence them is still in need of improvement," said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. "There are still loopholes."
Daily Press

The University of Virginia released a trove of records related to a controversial investment fund established earlier this year to help pay for improvement projects. The university released the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request sent by several state lawmakers who suspect foul play in the creation of the Strategic Investment Fund. Email exchanges dating back to January show university officials discussing plans to channel a pot of unused money — nearly $2 billion in investment returns accumulated since 2009 — into the new fund, which would stand separate from the endowment and pay out roughly 4.6 percent each year. These payouts would be used for projects that could improve the university’s academic rankings, research capabilities and enhance the student experience at UVa. Parts of the legislators’ requests could not be fulfilled, either because the records were not kept by the university or simply did not exist, according to Chief Operating Officer Patrick D. Hogan.
Daily Progress


National Stories
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A nonpartisan watchdog group is fighting the Obama administration's effort to dismiss an open records lawsuit brought against eleven federal agencies and the White House Office of Counsel, and says the administration is trying to conceal information that would embarrass the president. The group, Cause of Action, filed an opposition brief Monday that charged the administration had demonstrated a "pattern or practice" of obstructing requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. At issue is a 2009 memo issued to federal agencies by then-White House Counsel Gregory Craig "reminding" them to consult with his office before handing over document requests involving White House "equities."
Washington Examiner

Few institutions have been as sharply criticized for their handling of sexual-assault cases as Baylor University. The months of disturbing allegations raised an important question: Why was Baylor not among the more than 200 colleges under Title IX investigation by the federal government for its handling of sexual violence? The U.S. Education Department’s deliberations on the issue are notoriously opaque. But in an attempt to answer that question, The Chronicle made an open-records request for the following materials: copies of any emails containing the word “Baylor” that, during a nine-month period ending in late May, were sent to, received by, or copied to 16 members of the Dallas branch of the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights staff and one member of the department’s main office’s staff. The start date of the request coincided with the publication of a Texas Monthly investigation that raised questions about the university’s handling of a sexual-assault case involving a football player. The department responded on Tuesday, turning over 2,203 pages of emails. But they are almost entirely redacted, repeatedly citing the same exemption to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act — that any material that “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings” is protected from public disclosure.
Chronicle of Higher Education


Editorials/Columns

How do you respond when your agency or jurisdiction is called out for poor performance, terrible customer service or even scandal? When the charges are false, how do you correct the record without appearing defensive? When there's some truth to the allegations, how do you regain public trust (and fix the problem)? This is far more art than science, but one thing is for certain: Nothing is more important than your initial response. First, some tips on how not to respond. Don't blame the messenger, minimize the problem or circle the wagons. That only raises suspicions. At the same time, it's important not to accept the criticism at face value; you need time to investigate what happened. If there is some truth to the allegations, you'll need to address the problem and recover from the bad press. Don't make matters worse by issuing initial responses you'll need to correct later. The University of Virginia experienced some high-profile events in recent years that raised doubts about the prestigious public university's truthfulness and priorities. UVa's initial responses during two of these events offer guidance in both how and how not to respond to public criticism.
Russ Linden, Governing