Transparency News 10/6/17

Friday, October 6, 2017



State and Local Stories

Nottoway County has been fined a total of $2,000 for “critical” animal shelter violations which, according to the state, resulted in “egregious suffering” of three puppies, two of which died. It’s the second time in two years that Nottoway has paid civil penalties for animal care infractions. This time, however, there’s been no public discussion by the Board of Supervisors, perhaps to avoid further public criticism on an issue that has embarrassed officials at the Courthouse and upset a growing number of county residents. Payment already has been made, according to state records, without any recorded vote by the governing body. According to state records obtained by the Courier-Record, the County paid the four, $500 penalties with a $2,000 check on Aug. 14th. July 20th is the date Supervisors held their regular monthly meeting for July. No approval of such payment was made in open session that night, nor has there been any public discussion by Supervisors about the state’s latest investigation and complaint.
Courier-Record (on VCOG’s website)
(A hearing on a FOIA case related to records about complaints against animal control officers is set for today.)

For the better part of the last 15 years, far longer than the superintendent and five Chesterfield School Board members have held their current posts, Brenda Stewart has stood at a dais in the front of the county’s Public Meeting Room and delivered pointed, public critiques of the local school administration. During a June 13 meeting, Stewart scolds the School Board for what she sees as an erroneous interpretation of school system policy. Exactly three minutes after she begins speaking, School Board Chairman Javaid Siddiqi interrupts Stewart and informs her that her time has expired. Some county residents regard the June incident as emblematic of a School Board that has been embarrassed by multiple high-profile administrative failures and is attempting to put a lid on public criticism.
Chesterfield Observer

Saying that county officials orchestrated events that led to an arrest and trial that damaged his reputation beyond repair, slandered him, libeled him and cost him the ability to earn a living, former Wythe County Administrator Allen Lamberson has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the county, the town of Wytheville, the Wytheville Police Department and 24 others. The lawsuit was filed after a judge in August dismissed an attempted abduction charge that Lamberson faced. After the traffic stop, some of the defendants libeled and slandered Lamberson by making statements and leaking information to various officials and the media, according to the suit.
The Roanoke Times

A hearing in the $6.35 million lawsuit brought by a former Loudoun detective against Sheriff Mike Chapman (R) and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will be held Friday in Alexandria. The hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia will center around Chapman and the Board of Supervisors' motion to dismiss the suit, along with a separate motion for summary judgment filed by the attorney of former Loudoun detective Mark McCaffrey, who brought the suit against Chapman and the county. The original lawsuit was filed in July by McCaffrey, who claimed he was wrongfully terminated from his position after supporting Chapman's Republican primary election challenger for sheriff in 2015, Eric Noble. The former LCSO detective said his termination violated the U.S. and Virginia constitutions.
Loudoun Times-Mirror



National Stories

Considering the content of Guilford County (NC) School Board member Anita Sharpe’s email to a school employee, it’s easy to understand why she wouldn’t want the public to know what she’s up to. But it’s also absolutely obvious why it’s against the law to conceal it: We the people have the right to know what the government is doing in our name and with our tax dollars. It comes down to power. “Unfortunately, we have the four votes to fire the superintendent but cannot seem to get the 5th vote,” Sharpe mused to a school employee in a Sept. 7 email from a personal account. And just to underscore the sensitivity of the subject, Sharpe prefaced her plot to oust Superintendent Sharon Contreras with this caveat: “I encourage you to delete this email on your end and I intend to delete it on mine. (Against the law for me but these are extenuating times).”
Triad City Beat

The judicial committee figuring out how to finally digitize Maine court records has recommended spending up to $15 million on a system that would block the public from accessing most court documents online, even though they are public and available at courthouses. Lawyers and people with cases before the courts would be able to look at their own case files over the internet but the general public would still have to walk into a courthouse to see these public documents, under the plan released Tuesday by the Transparency and Privacy Task Force.
Maine Public Radio

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Baltimore's policy prohibiting alleged victims of police brutality from disparaging police after they receive cash settlements. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz granted motions by the city and the Police Department to dismiss Ashley Overbey's lawsuit against them. The judge wrote that the non-disparagement clause the city used in its settlement with Overbey is "valid" and did not violate her First Amendment rights. The American Civil Liberties of Maryland plans to appeal the ruling.
McClatchy


Editorials/Columns

Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a powerful message in support of free speech on college campuses, warning that the American university is being transformed into an "echo chamber of political correctness and homogeneous thought." He also promised that the Justice Department would support students who have gone to court to challenge restrictions on their speech. There was a lot of truth in the attorney general's indictmentduring his speech at Georgetown University Law Center. We, too, have expressed concerns that controversial speakers might be silenced because universities fear violent protests, effectively granting protesters a "heckler's veto." We have criticized college administrations that have confined students expressing their opinions and passing out literature to tiny "free speech zones." But while we find much to admire in the attorney general's message, he is a flawed messenger.
Daily Progress

The ACLU has a long and proud history of defending the rights of minorities. Unlike the protesters at W&M, it recognizes that doing so requires defending the rights of others, too. By definition, the concept of equal rights — note that word, “equal” — is reflexive and symmetric. Minority-rights activists who insist otherwise foolishly contradict the animating principle of their very own movement.
Richmond Times-Dispatch