Transparency News 8/9/16

 

State legislators are accusing the University of Virginia of dodging a request for records related to its $2.3 billion Strategic Investment Fund. A letter signed by 11 lawmakers claims the university’s records dump last week included many omissions, such as responses by UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan. The Freedom of Information Act allows universities to keep private these “presidential working papers,” but the legislators — including Sen. William R. DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach — said the exemptions should not apply because they made the request in their capacity as lawmakers. The letter cites a section of the Virginia code that says “the rector and visitors of the University of Virginia shall be at all times subject to the control of the General Assembly.”
Daily Progress
Related story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

A whistleblower's report that alleged sloppy work in the Office of the State Inspector General has been reviewed and set aside by Gov. Terry McAuliffe's administration, which has "full confidence" in Inspector General June Jennings," a spokesman said Monday. Paul Reagan, McAuliffe's chief of staff, and administration attorney Carlos Hopkins reviewed the allegations from an OSIG staffer and two office contractors. They alleged last month that Jennings failed to fully investigate the death of Jamycheal Mitchell, who died at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in 2015. The review concluded without the governor's office calling complaint filers, at least one of whom said she learned the result from a reporter.
Daily Press


National Stories
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As Chicago officials continue to try to repair the political damage and distrust sown by past police abuses, disturbing new video emerged Friday that illustrates how much has changed in recent months and how much has not. On one hand, city officials acted with uncharacteristic speed to release video of the fatal shooting of Paul O'Neal, an African-American 18-year-old who crashed into police vehicles in a stolen Jaguar convertible July 28. Breaking with long-standing practice, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson almost immediately revoked the police powers of the three officers who fired shots, saying it appeared they'd violated policy. But the videos the city released indicated in painfully clear detail that issues that have plagued the department -- including insufficient training and tactical blunders leading to questionable uses of force -- remain unresolved.
Governing


Editorials/Columns

Pete Candland throws one heck of a town hall. I attended his latest last few weeks ago in Gainesville.  This is the third one I’ve attended since he took office. Numerous social media posts advertising this town hall meeting emphasizing the future of Prince William County caught my attention.  Residents from across the County attended. Those expecting political posturing, campaigning and self-promotion would have been profoundly disappointed. I walked away from this town hall asking myself why don’t all of our elected officials do this more often?  Candland does these about every three months, more often during budget season.  He also conducts tele-town halls to address specific issues.  Anyone who has attended a county board of supervisors or school board meeting knows they usually follow a tight script and play to an empty house. We like to think our elected representatives know how their community feels about all of the issues.  How can that be the case if they don’t talk to us now and then?
Al Alborn, Inside NOVA

Emerging from their conventions, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will vie to win over these disaffected voters. Right now, both candidates are missing a potent opportunity to publicly recognize that it is not only money producing outsized influence in our democratic system. It is data. Data plays a crucial role in our democracy by revealing how it works—who votes, who gives, who spends on what—and too much of it is inaccessible, incomplete, or too messy to understand without analytics experts. Data is not making our democracy less rigged in favor of incumbency and wealth. It reinforces this imbalance. What is missing is a defined data infrastructure for democracy – the collection of publicly accessible datasets that are fundamental to understanding how democracy operates and to holding officials accountable when they run for office, and when they hold it. There is publicly available data on voter registration, campaign financing, lobbying, legislative voting, regulatory decisions, even White House visitor logs. While much of this data may be open, access and the ability to mine it for meaning are unevenly—and unfairly—distributed.
Jeff Kaplan, Huffington Post