Transparency News 1/25/17
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
State and Local Stories
State and Local Stories
Tucked on the third of 24 pages worth of payments that Petersburg officials made and posted to the city’s website last month in the name of transparency is a single line redacted from public view. The amount — $124,960.35 — is visible, but not the recipient, which a footnote states is blacked out due to a settlement agreement. A judge may forbid the release of details about a settlement in certain instances, but a lawyer working this case said the dispute never entered a courthouse. Even if it had, the amount the city paid to resolve an issue would be public, said Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. Experts on the state’s Freedom of Information Act say navigating the application of open records law to legal documents, which in some instances may not be open to public inspection, can be challenging.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
A company that's battling the Peninsula Airport Commission over a restaurant lease is accusing officials at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport of charging exorbitant fees for open records requests as a way of shielding itself from public scrutiny. New Dominion Clubs — which is fighting the commission's recent decision to terminate the lease for the airport terminal's Blue Sky Cafe — wants a Newport News Circuit Court judge to order that airport officials "comply with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act." The company wants the judge to cut the costs of fulfilling two open records requests — which the airport estimates at $3,370 — to less than a tenth of that, or $300. Airport attorney Herbert Kelly estimated that airport director Ken Spirito would spend 11.5 hours gathering the records. At an hourly rate of $151 — based on Spirito's annual compensation package — that amounts to $1,737.
Daily Press
Portsmouth Councilman Mark Whitaker has been pulled from his post as liaison to the city’s housing authority board after officials raised concern about his ties to a lawyer who once represented the agency. In a letter dated Dec. 20, the agency’s director told Whitaker to stop joining closed board discussions involving Verbena Askew, who defended the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority in a lawsuit filed by Cooper, Spong & Davis. That firm had provided legal services for the authority since it started in 1938 until it lost a bid to Eric O. Moody & Associates in 2015, even though it scored higher on an evaluation. Askew is also representing Whitaker in a lawsuit accusing WVEC-TV and the Hampton University student newspaper of wrongfully claiming he failed to pay real estate taxes and fees.
Virginian-Pilot
Proposals to require statewide search capability for Virginia trial court records may founder in the face of cost estimates that range from $1.3 million to $1.7 million. One measure intended to open up criminal court records to statewide searches is alive, but is now before the budget-minded House Appropriations Committee.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly
National Stories
Government agencies, in many instances, have given contractors exclusive rights to the data. The government then removes it from public view online or never posts the data, laws and documents that are considered public information. Public datasets that state and local governments are handing off to private contractors include court records and judicial opinions; detailed versions of state and local laws and, in some cases, the laws themselves; building codes and standards; and public university graduation records. Much of the information collected and stored by private data companies such as LexisNexis, Westlaw or CrimeMapping.com is not available to the public without a price. The information that is available often is not searchable, cannot be compared with data from other jurisdictions and cannot be copied unless members of the public pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in subscription fees.
Reveal News
Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts.
Boston Herald
Folks at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service received an email Monday morning from their chief of staff telling them not to talk to the public about their work. The ARS solves agricultural problems, like balancing fertilizer and water use, developing healthier plants, and protecting the beloved honeybees. The email seems to join other attempts by the Trump administration to stifle executive agency communications.
Gizmodo
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that an internal email sent to staff at its Agricultural Research Service unit this week calling for a suspension of “public-facing documents,” including news releases and photos, was flawed and that new guidance has been sent out to replace it. The ARS focuses on scientific research into the main issues facing agriculture, including long-term climate change. President Donald Trump has cast doubt on whether man-made climate change is real and has railed against ex-President Barack Obama's efforts to combat it. "This internal email was released without Departmental direction, and prior to Departmental guidance being issued," USDA said in a statement. "ARS will be providing updated direction to its staff."
Reuters
The CIA has millions of declassified records stashed away in Maryland -- something it claimed was accessible to the public. Actual access, however, resembles something out of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil," rather than what any reasonable person would call "accessible." This so-called "publicly accessible" database -- known as CREST -- has been the target of MuckRock contributor Mike Best, who kickstarted an effort to liberate records from the vault through the use of manual labor. The records can be accessed by computer, but only certain computers, and only if you know exactly where to find them. This is the CIA's "publicly available" records system front-end.
TechDirt
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on Monday filed applications to unseal search warrant and electronic surveillance records related to the closed criminal investigations of three former government employees, all of whom pled guilty to charges arising out of allegations that they had provided classified information to journalists.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
In the final days and weeks of the Obama Administration, intelligence officials took steps to promote increased transparency and made several noteworthy disclosures of intelligence policy records. On January 9, DNI James Clapper signed a new version of Intelligence Community Directive 208, now titled "Maximizing the Utility of Analytic Products." The revised directive notably incorporates new instructions to include transparency as a consideration in preparing intelligence analyses. Thus, one way of "maximizing utility," the directive said, is to "Demonstrate Transparency": "Analytic products should follow the Principles of Intelligence Transparency for the Intelligence Community, which are intended to facilitate IC decisions on making information publicly available in a manner that enhances public understanding of intelligence activities, while continuing to protect information, including sources and methods, when disclosure would harm national security. The degree to which transparency will be applied depends upon the nature and type of the analytic product." Interestingly, the revised directive was issued without any public notice or press release. Though unclassified and published online, it appears to be genuinely inner-directed rather than a mere public relations gesture.
Secrecy News
Richmond Times-Dispatch
A company that's battling the Peninsula Airport Commission over a restaurant lease is accusing officials at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport of charging exorbitant fees for open records requests as a way of shielding itself from public scrutiny. New Dominion Clubs — which is fighting the commission's recent decision to terminate the lease for the airport terminal's Blue Sky Cafe — wants a Newport News Circuit Court judge to order that airport officials "comply with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act." The company wants the judge to cut the costs of fulfilling two open records requests — which the airport estimates at $3,370 — to less than a tenth of that, or $300. Airport attorney Herbert Kelly estimated that airport director Ken Spirito would spend 11.5 hours gathering the records. At an hourly rate of $151 — based on Spirito's annual compensation package — that amounts to $1,737.
Daily Press
Portsmouth Councilman Mark Whitaker has been pulled from his post as liaison to the city’s housing authority board after officials raised concern about his ties to a lawyer who once represented the agency. In a letter dated Dec. 20, the agency’s director told Whitaker to stop joining closed board discussions involving Verbena Askew, who defended the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority in a lawsuit filed by Cooper, Spong & Davis. That firm had provided legal services for the authority since it started in 1938 until it lost a bid to Eric O. Moody & Associates in 2015, even though it scored higher on an evaluation. Askew is also representing Whitaker in a lawsuit accusing WVEC-TV and the Hampton University student newspaper of wrongfully claiming he failed to pay real estate taxes and fees.
Virginian-Pilot
Proposals to require statewide search capability for Virginia trial court records may founder in the face of cost estimates that range from $1.3 million to $1.7 million. One measure intended to open up criminal court records to statewide searches is alive, but is now before the budget-minded House Appropriations Committee.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly
National Stories
Government agencies, in many instances, have given contractors exclusive rights to the data. The government then removes it from public view online or never posts the data, laws and documents that are considered public information. Public datasets that state and local governments are handing off to private contractors include court records and judicial opinions; detailed versions of state and local laws and, in some cases, the laws themselves; building codes and standards; and public university graduation records. Much of the information collected and stored by private data companies such as LexisNexis, Westlaw or CrimeMapping.com is not available to the public without a price. The information that is available often is not searchable, cannot be compared with data from other jurisdictions and cannot be copied unless members of the public pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in subscription fees.
Reveal News
Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts.
Boston Herald
Folks at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service received an email Monday morning from their chief of staff telling them not to talk to the public about their work. The ARS solves agricultural problems, like balancing fertilizer and water use, developing healthier plants, and protecting the beloved honeybees. The email seems to join other attempts by the Trump administration to stifle executive agency communications.
Gizmodo
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that an internal email sent to staff at its Agricultural Research Service unit this week calling for a suspension of “public-facing documents,” including news releases and photos, was flawed and that new guidance has been sent out to replace it. The ARS focuses on scientific research into the main issues facing agriculture, including long-term climate change. President Donald Trump has cast doubt on whether man-made climate change is real and has railed against ex-President Barack Obama's efforts to combat it. "This internal email was released without Departmental direction, and prior to Departmental guidance being issued," USDA said in a statement. "ARS will be providing updated direction to its staff."
Reuters
The CIA has millions of declassified records stashed away in Maryland -- something it claimed was accessible to the public. Actual access, however, resembles something out of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil," rather than what any reasonable person would call "accessible." This so-called "publicly accessible" database -- known as CREST -- has been the target of MuckRock contributor Mike Best, who kickstarted an effort to liberate records from the vault through the use of manual labor. The records can be accessed by computer, but only certain computers, and only if you know exactly where to find them. This is the CIA's "publicly available" records system front-end.
TechDirt
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on Monday filed applications to unseal search warrant and electronic surveillance records related to the closed criminal investigations of three former government employees, all of whom pled guilty to charges arising out of allegations that they had provided classified information to journalists.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
In the final days and weeks of the Obama Administration, intelligence officials took steps to promote increased transparency and made several noteworthy disclosures of intelligence policy records. On January 9, DNI James Clapper signed a new version of Intelligence Community Directive 208, now titled "Maximizing the Utility of Analytic Products." The revised directive notably incorporates new instructions to include transparency as a consideration in preparing intelligence analyses. Thus, one way of "maximizing utility," the directive said, is to "Demonstrate Transparency": "Analytic products should follow the Principles of Intelligence Transparency for the Intelligence Community, which are intended to facilitate IC decisions on making information publicly available in a manner that enhances public understanding of intelligence activities, while continuing to protect information, including sources and methods, when disclosure would harm national security. The degree to which transparency will be applied depends upon the nature and type of the analytic product." Interestingly, the revised directive was issued without any public notice or press release. Though unclassified and published online, it appears to be genuinely inner-directed rather than a mere public relations gesture.
Secrecy News
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