Transparency News 12/14/17

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Big changes are coming. Watch this space....

State and Local Stories

As Richmond’s City Council continues its search for a new city auditor, its members are seeking to split the City Hall watchdog position into two separate jobs. The council signed off on a request to the General Assembly on Monday to form a council-appointed office of the inspector general with investigatory powers that have resided with the city’s auditor in the past. Under the proposed change, the auditor would handle oversight of the city’s accounting and bookkeeping, and the inspector general would investigate wrongdoing related to fraud, waste and abuse within City Hall.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Monday’s regular monthly meeting of the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors provided plenty of fodder and a few fireworks, including two supervisors firing back at those who are repeatedly critical of the county government’s management. But first, board chairman Roger Welch got the ball rolling by announcing that he’s been the victim of an internet-based “scam,” or data breach, in which an unknown hacker stole his computer password and sent emails to fellow supervisors asking that a “consulting fee” be paid to a fabricated party. Welch said he’s since created a more secure password. County resident Deak Deakins, meanwhile, informed the supervisors that a drone recently invaded his privacy.
The Rappahannock News



National Stories
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Washington Rep. Paul Graves (R) of Fall City, in his second year as a state legislator, is proposing an end to a form of special treatment for state legislators. In advance of the 2018 legislative session, he is introducing a bill to amend the state’s 40-year-old Public Records Act by removing a 1995 exemption for state legislators.
Seattle Weekly

Advocates for servicemembers and veterans filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government Wednesday to release data that they say is critical to protecting people who serve from sexual assault and the retaliation that can follow when victims report the abuse. Charging that the military is obfuscating and illegally denying its requests for information, the nonprofit Protect Our Defenders joined forces with the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center in asking a U.S. district judge to compel all four branches to release the data under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, that is meant to ensure public information is accessible to anyone who asks for it.
Stars and Stripes

The White House said Wednesday the U.S. government needs a major overhaul of information technology systems and should take steps to better protect data and accelerate efforts to use cloud-based technology. “Difficulties in agency prioritization of resources in support of IT modernization, ability to procure services quickly, and technical issues have resulted in an unwieldy and out-of-date federal IT infrastructure,” the White House said in a report. The report outlined a timeline over the next year for IT reforms and a detailed implementation plan. The report said one unnamed cloud-based email provider has agreed to assist in keeping track of government spending on cloud-based email migration.
Reuters



Editorials/Columns


With the public, city and state officials, community and corporate leaders focused on the needs of our schools and children, what does this (Richmond) School Board do? It reverts to old-school politics and makes decisions behind closed doors that exclude the public and benefit the few, rather than the many.  One of the most politically tone-deaf actions by this School Board is its Dec. 4 vote to approve a $224.8 million plan to improve facilities — without a public hearing. And perhaps, worst of all, the plan offers supersized elementary schools of 1,000 pupils, a 1,500-student middle school and a 2,000-student high school. This vote offends because it violates the basics of open government procedure given it was widely reported — and board minutes are clear — that it was to be delayed until the Dec. 12. meeting. Insiders speculate that the item on the Dec. 4 agenda was a mistake that should have been removed prior to the agenda's adoption. It was not, which gave Chairwoman Dawn Page and her supporters the opening they needed to disregard the concerns of colleagues who argued that the public had a right to know how much the plan would cost prior to the vote.
Carol A. O. Wolf, Style Weekly