Transparency News, 10/14/2022
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October 14, 2022
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state & local news stories
"The Executive Secretary’s dominance of access was so pervasive that one clerk compared the Executive Secretary’s software to the Wizard of Oz."
Traveling more than 1,000 miles over the course of five days, Courthouse News journalists visited 25 Virginia circuit courts to report on civil complaints filed in those courthouses. Their goal was to demonstrate what it would take to cover the public record of the Virginia courts by visiting each courthouse in person. During their travels, they also found a network of working clerks who wanted to give reporters online access but said they could not. Nearly all the clerks freely gave public access to a “vault” that contained paper land records and often civil case records, while also serving as a historical library for the court. Within the vaults were computer terminals that displayed an icon that says “CPS,” standing for Circuit Public Search, a program developed and maintained by the Richmond-based Office of the Executive Secretary, often referred to as OES. The records seen through the Circuit Public Search program were the same records that can be seen online through a program called Officer of the Court Remote Access, or OCRA, also developed and maintained by the Executive Secretary. The journalists discovered that the local clerks were caught in a web of payments to the Executive Secretary, contracts with the Executive Secretary, and rules made by the Executive Secretary. All of which prevented the clerks from allowing the journalists to sign up for online access. The Executive Secretary’s dominance of access was so pervasive that one clerk compared the Executive Secretary’s software to the Wizard of Oz because it controlled “everything.”
Courthouse News Service
Circuit Court judge on Wednesday overturned the dismissal of a lawsuit filed earlier this year alleging that members of the Spotsylvania School Board violated Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. The case was dismissed in July by the Spotsylvania General District Court, and attorneys for the plaintiff, Courtland High School graduate Makaila Keyes, and the School Board were in court Tuesday morning for a hearing on Keyes’s appeal of the dismissal. Circuit Court judge Ricardo Rigual found that Keyes—who is being represented by Fred and Jenna Edwards—has standing to claim that “rights and privileges” granted to her by FOIA were denied when School Board members went into a closed session at its Jan. 10 meeting without first holding a public vote to enter into the session. Jeremy Capps, attorney for the School Board, argued at the hearing Tuesday that since the closed meeting was exempt from FOIA for a legitimate reason—discussion of personnel—Keyes does not have any rights that were denied. “The procedure outlined for a public body to overcome the presumption that its meetings are public must be followed, and any exception to this presumption must be properly invoked,” Rigual wrote. “The petitioner correctly asserts that [Virginia Code] setting forth the procedure for a closed meeting is a right or privilege conferred by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.”
The Free Lance-Star
Newly obtained records show that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s top aides expressed concern over the Virginia Tourism Corporation choosing — without competitive bidding — the digital media agency the governor uses for politics to produce a state-funded tourism ad to air in Virginia airports and welcome centers. The records released by Virginia Tourism Corporation under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act revealed no attempt at any influence by the governor’s office on the front end of an April decision by tourism officials to pick Poolhouse Agency for an ad featuring Youngkin at a time he’s considering a run for president in 2024 and seeking to bolster his national image. Agency guidelines recommend six bids for such a project, but Rita McClenny, the CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation, has the power under the law to do that, reach out to fewer vendors, or simply handpick a company for a contract. She said last week that she picked Poolhouse and that neither the governor nor his staff suggested it to her. McClenny has said she chose Poolhouse because of the firm’s experience working with Youngkin. But tourism officials said last week that around April, someone on the governor’s staff raised a concern about the appearance of bias in the selection of Poolhouse and wanted bids. The public records back that up.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Following a closed session to discuss “contract negotiations,” Smithfield’s Town Council voted on Oct. 5 to commit up to $1.4 million toward moving the Smithfield Farmers Market to former Smithfield Foods Chairman Joseph W. Luter’s proposed “Grange at 10Main” development. Luter has offered land and a $1 million contribution toward building a permanent home for the market, conditioned on the town and Isle of Wight County jointly raising another $2.7 million. Town Councilman Randy Pack abstained from both the closed session and subsequent vote. He’d recused himself in February from any future vote on Luter’s proposal, noting he and his brother, Brian, are among the interested parties in running the proposed restaurant space.
The Smithfield Times
stories of national interest
The Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission ruled Wednesday that Gov. Ned Lamont's office violated state open records laws by taking more than two years to fulfill a request filed by The Associated Press in 2020 for documents related to the COVID-19 reopening committee. The commission, which voted unanimously in favor of a hearing officer's recommendation that Lamont's office be ordered to “strictly comply” with the state's FOI law, also voted to require staff to undergo training in the law.
U.S. News & World Report
Acting LA City Council President Mitch O'Farrell abruptly canceled Friday's meeting because two members have refused widespread calls to step down after they were caught in a leaked recording taking part in a conversation that included racist remarks and disparaging comments about colleagues. O'Farrell made the announcement Thursday on Twitter as civic leaders were transfixed by the evolving scandal involving council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León and former President Nury Martinez, who resigned a day earlier. “The people’s business cannot be conducted until we have these next two resignations,” the acting president said.
Politico
