Transparency News 12/11/17
Monday, December 11, 2017
State and Local Stories
Getting public records can be challenging in Virginia, where the state attorney general’s office once charged nearly $15,000 for the release of emails related to then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s (R) ties to a well-connected businessman. But 2018 may be a year for greater transparency, with two journalists entering the House of Delegates determined to revise Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act and Fairfax County — the state’s largest jurisdiction — launching a policy officials say will make it easier for the public to get public records.
Washington Post
The Front Royal Town Council plans to go behind closed doors Monday to talk about employee salaries and a compensation study. The motion goes on to cite two sections of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act that allow the council, at its choosing, to discuss certain topics in closed session: the assignment, appointment, promotion or performance of specific employees or appointees of the town and the investment of public funds where competition or bargaining is involved where, if made public initially, the financial interest of the governmental unit would be adversely affected. But representatives with the FOIA Advisory Council and the Coalition for Open Government say the council’s use of a closed session to talk about the compensation study straddles an ethical line.
Northern Virginia Daily
The Town of Purcellville is considering offering credit monitoring services to employees whose personal information may have been compromised during the investigation into Chief of Police Cynthia McAlister. Mayor Kwasi Fraser recently held a staff meeting with town employees, during which one of the items discussed was providing credit monitoring coverage for employees. The meeting came after the revelation that Georgia Nuckolls, the human resources investigator examining claims against McAlister, has a criminal past that includes felonies related to credit fraud. Nuckolls, during her inquiry, may have had access to all town personnel files.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
National stories
Facebook and Twitter have become central parts of our political and civic lives. It’s not just President Donald Trump on Twitter and political ads on Facebook. Politicians and agencies across the country use social media to communicate policy, share information and hear from constituents. Those politicians and agencies also have the ability to block those who comment on their posts. We were curious about that. So, in August, we filed public-records request with every governor and 22 federal agencies for lists of people blocked on their official Facebook and Twitter accounts. We found that nearly 1,300 accounts were blocked — more than half by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. Bevin’s a Republican, but both Democrat and Republican governors block people.
ProPublica
The Yale Law School Center for Global Legal Challenges has filed a complaint with the U.S. State Department claiming the agency has not acted on a Freedom of Information Act request for certain documents related to international treaty agreements. In the complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Yale is seeking immediate access to precise legal citations for unclassified non-Article II treaty international agreements between the U.S. government and foreign states during the last four presidential administrations. The U.S. enters into hundred of international agreements each year on topics ranging from trade policy to nuclear energy to criminal law enforcement. The Yale complaint states that, while the State Department has made available texts of unclassified non-Article II treaty international agreements to which it is a party, it hasn’t released records specifying which of the three sources of authority underlie each agreement.
Connecticut Law Tribune
California and 13 other states sued the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday for ignoring an Oct. 1 deadline to update the nation's map of areas with unhealthy smog levels, saying the delay is endangering children and people who suffer from lung disease. Environmental groups had filed a similar suit in the same court Monday. state Attorney General Xavier Becerra earlier sued the Trump administration on behalf of the state over the EPA's loosened regulations of pesticides and emissions of planet-warming methane gas, and for delaying new motor vehicle fuel-economy standards.
Governing
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday granted a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to block the release of documents concerning his decision to end a program that shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of young adults dubbed “Dreamers” brought into the country illegally as children.
Reuters
Ohio's auditor has faulted a small village and its police chief for failing to keep proper records of camera-enforced traffic fines that produce much of the village's revenue. An audit of Brice released last week says auditors couldn't find sufficient documentation for the tickets. The village roughly 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of Columbus reported the fines brought in more than $170,000 in 2016, accounting for nearly 75 percent of Brice's general fund total. The Columbus Dispatch reports Brice faces a class-action lawsuit over fines collected from 2013 to 2015.
McClatchy
