Transparency News 3/22/17
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
State and Local Stories
State and Local Stories
After a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Richmond City Auditor Umesh Dalal and Mayor Levar Stoney’s administration said they have resolved a dispute over a planned review of the city’s tax-collection efforts, though both parties left with slightly different takes. “We have an agreement that the city auditor’s office will conduct the audit,” Dalal said. “I will be getting the data that I was initially asking for.” However, he said he and Finance Director John Wack still need to formalize a written agreement on the review’s scope. Stoney’s press secretary, Jim Nolan, said in a statement that an agreement indeed had been reached but that the administration hasn’t yet promised Dalal will get the information he was requesting.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
For the first time, any Norfolk City Council member can now introduce legislation – sort of. The council long operated without any formal rules, making it unclear exactly how a bill becomes a law. For years, city managers and mayors controlled that process. Some members expressed frustration at their inability to get laws passed and asked the city attorney and other officials to draft a set of rules. The council unanimously approved them Tuesday night. “After 10 years, I finally know what my rules are here, so I feel a lot better,” Vice Mayor Theresa Whibley said after the vote. The new rules call for the mayor and vice mayor to meet privately with staff members to vet proposed legislation – much the way it happens now. But now, if that group doesn’t want an idea to move forward, the council member who proposed it can later call for a public vote to add it to the agenda.
Virginian-Pilot
Prosecutors have asked the state police to investigate new accusations in the death of Hampton Roads Regional Jail inmate Jamycheal Mitchell. It is unclear what new information came to light, or even how it was brought up. A news release from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said only that “additional allegations” were made Friday. An office spokeswoman, Tamara Shewmake, said that once the state police investigation is complete and all findings have been turned over to the commonwealth’s attorney, “there will be a review and final prosecutorial determination.” Shewmake did not return two phone calls and an email asking for comment on the new allegations and the commonwealth’s attorney’s promise to make the Mitchell investigation public. Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales told The Virginian-Pilot on March 2 she had finished her review of the state police investigation that day and would release her findings after she had talked with the family. On Tuesday morning, nearly three weeks later, she hadn’t released those findings.
Virginian-Pilot
National Stories
The Tennessee House State Government committee unanimously passed H.B. 58 this week, which would make clear that citizens may send records requests by email to records custodians. The email bill also contains a section meant to deal with multiple requests to view records from someone who never comes to review them, and requests for copies for which a person never pays for or retrieves. During the bill’s first presentation to the House subcommittee, one member asked if being able send records requests by email could lead to requesters sending frivolous requests. Still, the bill passed the subcommittee after Jernigan noted that he knew people who have disabilities who might only be able to send a request by email. After that, Jernigan worked on an amendment to address concerns about requests made by people who never show up to view records, or pay for copies of records they had earlier agreed to pay for.
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government
The White House is instructing Cabinet heads and agency officials not to elaborate on President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts beyond what was in a relatively brief submission, a move Democrats decried as a gag order. Budget director Mick Mulvaney wrote in a memo late last week that until the full budget release in May, "all public comments of any sort should be limited to the information contained in the Budget Blueprint chapter for your agency," referring to the 53-page document released last Thursday. Mulvaney said department and agency heads should not make "commitments about specific programs" or provide further detail about cuts to programs that went unmentioned in last week's summary budget, which glossed over many of the most politically difficult details.
Fox News
Researchers have found what are believed to be the earliest color films of the White House grounds and of President Herbert Hoover. Hoover served as president from 1929 to 1933.
Washington Post
Editorials/Columns
The College of William & Mary has no official motto. Should it adopt one, it might consider “manus manum lavat” — a Latin expression meaning “one hand washes the other.” English-speakers have a saying that means the same thing: You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. The college employs more than 100 adjunct faculty at its law school alone, but none more well-compensated than Tommy Norment. Norment is a state senator. And the majority leader. And co-chairman of the Finance Committee — which oversees the state budget, which allocates funds to William & Mary.Virginia has a part-time and poorly paid legislature. The public cannot pay lawmakers less than $20,000 a year and then expect them to forgo income from any other source. And other sources of income are bound to create potential conflicts of interest — whether the legislator is a doctor, like Del. John O’Bannon, or a corporate lawyer, like state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, or a businessman, like state Sen. Dick Saslaw. Indeed, having legislators with experience in the real world should qualify as a feature of Virginia’s General Assembly, not a bug. But actual conflicts should lead legislators to abstain from voting on legislation that affects their outside income, not sponsor it. The lofty sum William & Mary pays Norment is not illegal. But then, many things that are perfectly legal nevertheless can be unseemly. That is a truth about public life as old as Ancient Rome.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
For the first time, any Norfolk City Council member can now introduce legislation – sort of. The council long operated without any formal rules, making it unclear exactly how a bill becomes a law. For years, city managers and mayors controlled that process. Some members expressed frustration at their inability to get laws passed and asked the city attorney and other officials to draft a set of rules. The council unanimously approved them Tuesday night. “After 10 years, I finally know what my rules are here, so I feel a lot better,” Vice Mayor Theresa Whibley said after the vote. The new rules call for the mayor and vice mayor to meet privately with staff members to vet proposed legislation – much the way it happens now. But now, if that group doesn’t want an idea to move forward, the council member who proposed it can later call for a public vote to add it to the agenda.
Virginian-Pilot
Prosecutors have asked the state police to investigate new accusations in the death of Hampton Roads Regional Jail inmate Jamycheal Mitchell. It is unclear what new information came to light, or even how it was brought up. A news release from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said only that “additional allegations” were made Friday. An office spokeswoman, Tamara Shewmake, said that once the state police investigation is complete and all findings have been turned over to the commonwealth’s attorney, “there will be a review and final prosecutorial determination.” Shewmake did not return two phone calls and an email asking for comment on the new allegations and the commonwealth’s attorney’s promise to make the Mitchell investigation public. Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales told The Virginian-Pilot on March 2 she had finished her review of the state police investigation that day and would release her findings after she had talked with the family. On Tuesday morning, nearly three weeks later, she hadn’t released those findings.
Virginian-Pilot
National Stories
The Tennessee House State Government committee unanimously passed H.B. 58 this week, which would make clear that citizens may send records requests by email to records custodians. The email bill also contains a section meant to deal with multiple requests to view records from someone who never comes to review them, and requests for copies for which a person never pays for or retrieves. During the bill’s first presentation to the House subcommittee, one member asked if being able send records requests by email could lead to requesters sending frivolous requests. Still, the bill passed the subcommittee after Jernigan noted that he knew people who have disabilities who might only be able to send a request by email. After that, Jernigan worked on an amendment to address concerns about requests made by people who never show up to view records, or pay for copies of records they had earlier agreed to pay for.
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government
The White House is instructing Cabinet heads and agency officials not to elaborate on President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts beyond what was in a relatively brief submission, a move Democrats decried as a gag order. Budget director Mick Mulvaney wrote in a memo late last week that until the full budget release in May, "all public comments of any sort should be limited to the information contained in the Budget Blueprint chapter for your agency," referring to the 53-page document released last Thursday. Mulvaney said department and agency heads should not make "commitments about specific programs" or provide further detail about cuts to programs that went unmentioned in last week's summary budget, which glossed over many of the most politically difficult details.
Fox News
Researchers have found what are believed to be the earliest color films of the White House grounds and of President Herbert Hoover. Hoover served as president from 1929 to 1933.
Washington Post
Editorials/Columns
The College of William & Mary has no official motto. Should it adopt one, it might consider “manus manum lavat” — a Latin expression meaning “one hand washes the other.” English-speakers have a saying that means the same thing: You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. The college employs more than 100 adjunct faculty at its law school alone, but none more well-compensated than Tommy Norment. Norment is a state senator. And the majority leader. And co-chairman of the Finance Committee — which oversees the state budget, which allocates funds to William & Mary.Virginia has a part-time and poorly paid legislature. The public cannot pay lawmakers less than $20,000 a year and then expect them to forgo income from any other source. And other sources of income are bound to create potential conflicts of interest — whether the legislator is a doctor, like Del. John O’Bannon, or a corporate lawyer, like state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, or a businessman, like state Sen. Dick Saslaw. Indeed, having legislators with experience in the real world should qualify as a feature of Virginia’s General Assembly, not a bug. But actual conflicts should lead legislators to abstain from voting on legislation that affects their outside income, not sponsor it. The lofty sum William & Mary pays Norment is not illegal. But then, many things that are perfectly legal nevertheless can be unseemly. That is a truth about public life as old as Ancient Rome.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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