Transparency News 9/8/17

Friday, September 8, 2017




VCOG's annual conference is Nov. 16, featuring panels and speakers on current open government issues and the comedy of Beau Cribbs.
Click for details and for early-bird registration

National Stories
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A federal judge in Washington has kept alive a lawsuit from King & Spalding that seeks records from federal enforcement and regulatory agencies about information the firm believes was at the heart of an investigation targeting a pharmaceutical client. The firm last year sued the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for records about the government’s investigation of the Massachusetts-based medical device company Abiomed Inc. Abiomed received some records from federal investigators, but not everything. At issue in the case now: 67 pages of records that, if released to the public, could reveal the identity of an unnamed source who provided information to the government. Justice Department lawyers argued in the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that disclosure of certain records “would invade the privacy of third parties.”
National Law Journal

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is conducting a survey in advance of planned improvements to iFOIA, its free online system for creating, sending, and tracking federal and state freedom of information requests.  The survey seeks feedback on improvements to existing features as well as input on what new features should be introduced, such as fax submission option for government agencies that do not (or no longer) accept requests via email.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press



Editorials/Columns


Every tragedy needs leavening with comic relief, as any good playwright knows. So it was fitting that the trials and tribulations of Petersburg were interrupted recently by a scene involving the city’s former attorney, Brian Telfair. It is not funny that Telfair was convicted of lying to the police about faking a racist threat. But the nature of the threat and the manner in which Telfair made it will be remembered as antic, at the least. The lawyer had been under pressure to cancel a City Council meeting in February, a period when residents were furious about high water bills and more. Telfair came up with the bright idea of phoning in a racist threat. So he gave money to the clerk of the City Council to buy a “burner phone,” and have it activated. Then Telfair used the phone to call his own office, and claimed the mystery caller made threats to city officials and used racial epithets.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Law-enforcement agencies across the country use license-plate readers, mounted on vehicles or on stationary poles near roadways, to capture millions of images of license plates each week. The potential invasion of privacy is enormous. Whether it becomes an actual invasion of privacy could turn on who prevails in the courts: The ACLU, or ... the ACLU. The California Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which argued that the license plate reader (LPR) data collected by the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s departments are not confidential and must be publicly disclosed. In the meantime, the Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal brought by the ACLU of Virginia on behalf of a Fairfax man. A Virginia statute stipulates that goverment agencies “shall not collect personal information except as explicitly or implicitly authorized by law.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch