Transparency News, 10/26/2022

Wednesday
October 26, 2022

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state & local news stories

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office pushed the State Board of Education to ban in-person public comments related to proposed policies concerning the treatment of transgender students. In an Oct. 18 email obtained by VPM News, Senior Assistant Attorney General Deborah Love told Daniel Gecker, chair of the board of education, that the board had no authority over the policies. Allowing the public to comment on them in that venue, Love wrote in the email, would violate the board’s bylaws and result in comments that could not formally be considered by the body actually in charge of the policies: the Virginia Department of Education. “There is significant potential for confusion should the Board receive comments from the public on the proposed Model Policies,” Love wrote. She urged Gecker to refer people who wanted to comment on the policies to the official channel, a state website called Town Hall. Gecker, who was first appointed to the board by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, rejected what he described in an email as “unsolicited advice” that would have “limited our accessibility to the public and would be bad policy.” The attorney general office’s legal argument hinges on a line in the board’s bylaws stating that the public “may address the Board during the public comment portion of the meeting on any matter related to public education which includes the action of the Board.”
VPM

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening officially turned the process to pick a replacement board member over to the court system following yet another feisty exchange that ultimately ended in a call for unity. The special called meeting was scheduled to hear from applicants — in closed session — seeking to fill the open Banister District seat left vacant by the resignation of Vice Chair Jessie Barksdale in September. Until a special election set for November 2023, the board is tasked with filling the seat or handing the decision over to a circuit court judge. Ron Scearce, representing the Westover district, made a motion to amend the agenda with particular points. First, he wanted to ban recording devices — including cellphones — from the closed session. Scearce also sought to allow applicants up to 10 minutes to give comments to the board — one by one — with no questions allowed from supervisors.
Danville Register & Bee

The Cordish Companies’ first public appearance before Petersburg City Council provided few answers about where the Baltimore-based developer proposes to build a casino resort in the economically struggling Southside city. Cordish officials talked about corporate culture, employee benefits and commitments to minority contractors in the meeting on Tuesday, but they didn’t say how much capital they propose to invest in the project, how many jobs they expect it to create or even where it would be. Members of the public say they look forward to some answers to their questions about a proposal that has been shrouded in mystery since Council approved a surprise resolution on Oct. 18 to explore a partnership with Cordish for developing a casino and destination resort.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

 

stories of national interest

Top aides to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis played key roles in planning and executing Florida’s controversial migrant flight program, according to public records released late Friday. While the program was carried out by a private contractor, the new records show the deep involvement of Larry Keefe, DeSantis’ public safety czar, and James Uthmeier, his chief of staff, in an operation that has led to at least one criminal investigation, a separate U.S. Treasury Department probe and several lawsuits — potentially heightening their exposure to the various inquiries underway. “Current plan is for event to occur next Wednesday ... Will be more precise about ETA there as event approaches,” Keefe wrote to Uthmeier in a Sept. 8 text message. The records were released at 9:23 p.m. Friday, in response to requests from the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a watchdog group that has sued the governor’s office over delays in producing records.
Miami Herald

Should the First Amendment protect social media companies’ editorial discretion? Or should states have a say in what content they host? The answers to these questions hang in the balance as the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to review a Florida bill that attempts to prevent social media companies from “deplatforming” political candidates. The legislation in question, Senate Bill 7072, looks to levy fines and impose penalties against platforms that block or inhibit content from political candidates and media organizations. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation on May 24, 2021, but shortly afterwards, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association sued the state, resulting in a judge blocking the bill because of First Amendment concerns. A similar social media law in Texas was upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and then put on hold again last week as tech groups seek review from the Supreme Court.
Governing

A Beckley attorney is representing a woman who claims Del. Austin Haynes, a Republican from the 32nd Dist. in Fayette County, sexually harassed her through texts. At 25, Haynes is one of the youngest lawmakers in the legislature, and he’s in the midst of his first re-election campaign in Dist. 50. Attorney Steve New says Haynes met his client back in 2020 when she was working as a citizen activist for Native American rights in West Virginia. New adds his client, who is a Republican like Haynes, exchanged cell phone numbers with Haynes, and then Haynes’ communications took an unprofessional turn. “He then began texting her inappropriate things, sexually suggestive, inappropriate things late at night,” said New. “There was mention of quid pro quo in exchange for favorable action on a bill. The statement by Del. Haynes (was) ‘this is just the way things are, this happens all the time in Charleston.’”
WVVA

 

editorials & columns

The Virginia Supreme Court made a powerful statement about public access to the judicial system last week. The result should be greater transparency in the courts and, by extension, greater confidence in the criminal justice system. The state Supreme Court had never weighed in on the issue of a closed bond hearing, so the justices’ decision will serve as valuable precedent for Virginia going forward. The commonwealth can hope that judges recognize the importance of maintaining public access to the judicial system whenever possible and that decisions to close hearings such as this be exceedingly rare. Despite being home to James Madison, who authored the Bill of Rights, Virginia’s record on public access and transparency leaves much to be desired. On this, however, the court did well to side with citizens and openness, and that ruling should lend greater confidence that the justice system will act impartially and in full view of the public.
The Virginian-Pilot