Transparency News 3/28/17
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
State and Local Stories
State and Local Stories
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has amended legislation that would have required police to release suicide investigation records to family members, allowing them to release a summary instead. Senate Bill 1102 grew out of at least two cases where law enforcement refused to release records to the families of people who died in apparent suicides. When the bill left the General Assembly, on a unanimous vote, it required departments to release records to immediate family once they've determined no charges will be initiated. McAuliffe is changing that to require release of a case summary instead of the actual letters. He also added language that says information can be withheld if a family member is a suspect or person of interest, something the General Assembly debated adding during session.
Daily Press
The Daily Press and lawyers for the state's court system administrators and circuit court clerks' association will argue April 21 before the Virginia Supreme Court whether a statewide database of court case information is a record the public should be able to see in its totality. The newspaper has been asking for access to the entire database for nearly three years, arguing that it is a public record subject to the Freedom of Information Act and that access to it is essential to see how fairly and how effectively Virginia's circuit courts dispense justice.
Daily Press
The Virginia Supreme Court refused Friday to overturn a judge’s order suspending Norfolk Treasurer Anthony Burfoot. The ruling leaves Burfoot relieved of his duties and paycheck at least until his April 17 sentencing in federal court. The state’s highest court could still later consider whether the judge’s Feb. 17 suspension order was legally correct. But with two words posted to its website Friday – “Disposition: Refused” – the court declined a request from Burfoot’s lawyer to reverse the order while the case is still pending. Andrew Sacks, Burfoot’s attorney, said he was disappointed but not surprised because the Supreme Court rarely receives or grants such requests in the midst of a case. Norfolk Circuit Judge Everett Martin left the case open and signaled in his ruling that he could remove Burfoot from office permanently after the sentencing in federal court.
Virginian-Pilot
National Stories
Courthouse records appear to substantiate a whistleblower’s claim that the wives of district attorneys in Rockingham and Person/Caswell counties in North Carolina were paid salaries for full-time work but showed up in those courthouses only a few days out of the nearly two years they were employed in those offices. Beginning in January 2015, Pamela Bradsher, the wife of Wallace Bradsher, the Person/Caswell County district attorney, worked in neighboring Rockingham County under District Attorney Craig Blitzer. Her employment spanned 156 business days, but electronic keycard data evaluated by the News & Record indicates that she only visited the courthouse on 36 of those days. Cindy Blitzer, the wife of the Rockingham County district attorney, worked for Wallace Bradsher but did not have a keycard for either courthouse in Person and Caswell counties. She did, however, have a keycard that worked for only the Rockingham County Courthouse that remained active until March 10, the day her husband resigned from office.
Register & Bee
A group of First Amendment attorneys sued the Trump administration on Monday over access to data showing how often U.S. citizens and visitors had their electronic devices searched and the contents catalogued at American border crossings. The complaint by Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute said the Department of Homeland Security hasn't moved quickly on its request, which sought information about the number of people whose devices were searched at the border, complaints about the practice and government training materials. The Knight Institute had asked for a detailed number of travelers whose electronic devices, such as cell phones and computers, were searched and how often their data were shared. It also sought a breakdown of those device seizures by race, ethnicity, nationality and citizenship status, as well as details from a government database that tracks device searches.
U.S. News & World Report
Health insurance provider Cigna claims it should have been awarded a $160 million contract with Illinois and the state is withholding information the company needs to prove it. In a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, Cigna claims its competitor Aetna Life Insurance Company used inaccurate information in its proposal for five state contracts to provide medical benefits to public employees in order to get the award. When Cigna decided to protest the Illinois Department of Central Management Services’ decision announced in January, it says CMS failed to provide all of the documents it asked for. The Illinois Procurement Code states that all documents related to contract proposals must be made available for inspection. “In violation of this mandate, CMS has refused to produce the complete procurement file to Cigna, which has prevented Cigna from discovering all facts relevant to its protest,” the company says in its complaint. Cigna claims it went so far as to file a Freedom of Information Act request, but that too was denied, with CMS citing an exemption for Aetna’s trade secrets.
Courthouse News Service
Bremerton, Washington, City Councilwoman Leslie Daugs, arrested in January on a charge of “disrupting Congress,” has been offered a plea deal by federal prosecutors in the nation's capital. The deal would allow dismissal of the criminal charge if she performs 32 hours of community service in Washington state. But Daugs isn’t taking it. Washington State councilwoman arrested for outburst at Sessions hearing. “I’m going to fight this,” Daugs said Monday following her arraignment at the H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse in Washington, D.C. “I feel very optimistic.” Daugs was arrested by Capitol Police Jan. 31 during Senate confirmation hearings for then-Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, now the country’s attorney general. Daugs said, “This is bull****,” in response to two men who she said were being disruptive by “high-fiving and fist-bumping” in support of Sessions. She was escorted out of the hearing and arrested before being released the same day. “(Daug’s) behavior disrupted and interfered with the Senate proceedings and the orderly conduct of business,” Metropolitan Police Officer Eric Jeter wrote in the report of her arrest.
USA TODAY
Daily Press
The Daily Press and lawyers for the state's court system administrators and circuit court clerks' association will argue April 21 before the Virginia Supreme Court whether a statewide database of court case information is a record the public should be able to see in its totality. The newspaper has been asking for access to the entire database for nearly three years, arguing that it is a public record subject to the Freedom of Information Act and that access to it is essential to see how fairly and how effectively Virginia's circuit courts dispense justice.
Daily Press
The Virginia Supreme Court refused Friday to overturn a judge’s order suspending Norfolk Treasurer Anthony Burfoot. The ruling leaves Burfoot relieved of his duties and paycheck at least until his April 17 sentencing in federal court. The state’s highest court could still later consider whether the judge’s Feb. 17 suspension order was legally correct. But with two words posted to its website Friday – “Disposition: Refused” – the court declined a request from Burfoot’s lawyer to reverse the order while the case is still pending. Andrew Sacks, Burfoot’s attorney, said he was disappointed but not surprised because the Supreme Court rarely receives or grants such requests in the midst of a case. Norfolk Circuit Judge Everett Martin left the case open and signaled in his ruling that he could remove Burfoot from office permanently after the sentencing in federal court.
Virginian-Pilot
National Stories
Courthouse records appear to substantiate a whistleblower’s claim that the wives of district attorneys in Rockingham and Person/Caswell counties in North Carolina were paid salaries for full-time work but showed up in those courthouses only a few days out of the nearly two years they were employed in those offices. Beginning in January 2015, Pamela Bradsher, the wife of Wallace Bradsher, the Person/Caswell County district attorney, worked in neighboring Rockingham County under District Attorney Craig Blitzer. Her employment spanned 156 business days, but electronic keycard data evaluated by the News & Record indicates that she only visited the courthouse on 36 of those days. Cindy Blitzer, the wife of the Rockingham County district attorney, worked for Wallace Bradsher but did not have a keycard for either courthouse in Person and Caswell counties. She did, however, have a keycard that worked for only the Rockingham County Courthouse that remained active until March 10, the day her husband resigned from office.
Register & Bee
A group of First Amendment attorneys sued the Trump administration on Monday over access to data showing how often U.S. citizens and visitors had their electronic devices searched and the contents catalogued at American border crossings. The complaint by Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute said the Department of Homeland Security hasn't moved quickly on its request, which sought information about the number of people whose devices were searched at the border, complaints about the practice and government training materials. The Knight Institute had asked for a detailed number of travelers whose electronic devices, such as cell phones and computers, were searched and how often their data were shared. It also sought a breakdown of those device seizures by race, ethnicity, nationality and citizenship status, as well as details from a government database that tracks device searches.
U.S. News & World Report
Health insurance provider Cigna claims it should have been awarded a $160 million contract with Illinois and the state is withholding information the company needs to prove it. In a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, Cigna claims its competitor Aetna Life Insurance Company used inaccurate information in its proposal for five state contracts to provide medical benefits to public employees in order to get the award. When Cigna decided to protest the Illinois Department of Central Management Services’ decision announced in January, it says CMS failed to provide all of the documents it asked for. The Illinois Procurement Code states that all documents related to contract proposals must be made available for inspection. “In violation of this mandate, CMS has refused to produce the complete procurement file to Cigna, which has prevented Cigna from discovering all facts relevant to its protest,” the company says in its complaint. Cigna claims it went so far as to file a Freedom of Information Act request, but that too was denied, with CMS citing an exemption for Aetna’s trade secrets.
Courthouse News Service
Bremerton, Washington, City Councilwoman Leslie Daugs, arrested in January on a charge of “disrupting Congress,” has been offered a plea deal by federal prosecutors in the nation's capital. The deal would allow dismissal of the criminal charge if she performs 32 hours of community service in Washington state. But Daugs isn’t taking it. Washington State councilwoman arrested for outburst at Sessions hearing. “I’m going to fight this,” Daugs said Monday following her arraignment at the H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse in Washington, D.C. “I feel very optimistic.” Daugs was arrested by Capitol Police Jan. 31 during Senate confirmation hearings for then-Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, now the country’s attorney general. Daugs said, “This is bull****,” in response to two men who she said were being disruptive by “high-fiving and fist-bumping” in support of Sessions. She was escorted out of the hearing and arrested before being released the same day. “(Daug’s) behavior disrupted and interfered with the Senate proceedings and the orderly conduct of business,” Metropolitan Police Officer Eric Jeter wrote in the report of her arrest.
USA TODAY
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