Transparency News 8/2/17

Wednesday, August 2, 2017



State and Local Stories

The FOIA Council's first opinion under its new executive director, Alan Gernhardt, tackles the three-day notice rule for public meetings.
http://www.opengovva.org/foi-advisory-council-opinion-ao-06-17

The Charlottesville City Council is trying to figure out what it can do in response to a planned rally at Emancipation Park next weekend. Councilors are expected to hold a special meeting inside City Hall Wednesday, August 2, to go over legal and planning options for the Unite the Right rally. The meeting will not be open to the public, though officials tell NBC29 that councilors will speak to the press after they are done.
NBC29

The journalist who wrote articles suggesting a Hanover County supervisor was interfering with county schools stood by his reporting on the third day of a defamation trial Tuesday. Peter Galuszka told jurors he believed everything he reported in two articles that appeared in 2015 in Style Weekly and one published in the Washington Post suggesting Supervisor Sean Davis was improperly using his position on the Board of Supervisors to influence Hanover schools. Davis has sued Galuszka and Style Weekly over claims the articles defamed him and is seeking at least $1.35 million in damages. Davis’ attorney Steven Biss peppered Galuszka, who no longer is employed by Style Weekly, with questions about the reliability of his sources and reporting methods.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A federal district judge has dismissed a case by Lansdowne resident Brian Davison alleging members of the Loudoun County School Board violated his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and defamed him. Davison says he plans to appeal the decision. More than a year ago, Davison, a father of two students, filed a suit against members of the School Board accusing them of engaging in a pattern of retaliation against him after he says he challenged the school administration over its practices.  Davison claims his accusations resulted in him being prevented from speaking at public meetings, going to the school grounds of his children, posting on several of the School Board members' Facebook pages and attending other public events hosted by the school system. 
Loudoun Times-Mirror



National Stories
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In the premiere edition of a new report, a nonprofit think tank has recognized states for their innovation when it comes to data. The Best States for Data Innovation, released on Monday, July 31 by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Data Innovation, ranked Massachusetts, Washington and Maryland as the No. 1, 2 and 3 states overall. Delaware followed fourth-ranked California in rounding out the top five, while Utah placed sixth; Virginia got spot No. 7; Oregon placed eighth; transportation innovator Colorado ran ninth; and New York was 10th.
GovTech



Editorials/Columns


Pay attention, public officials. There’s a simple rule you should follow if you want to at least give the impression that you believe in good government: When a federal investigation – or even the rumor of one – is underway, turn off the shredder. Unplug it, if you must, so you won’t be tempted. Oh, and don’t delete emails. Even the ones about your yoga poses. Yes, this applies to former secretaries of state as well as city officials. The feds are investigating former Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe. According to reports, it appears the investigators may be interested in certain jail contracts for health care and food services. Yet, according to a recent story in The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk city honchos OK’d the shredding of some documents that concerned a jail health care contract “one week before a deadline to turn over records on the matter to federal authorities.” Not good.
Kerry Dougherty, Virginian-Pilot