Transparency News 10/16/17

Monday, October 16, 2017



State and Local Stories

Morale aboard a US warship operating in the Pacific reached such a low ebb that one sailor described serving aboard the ship as being akin to being on “a floating prison,” according to surveys obtained via the Freedom of Information Act. The Navy Times obtained three command climate surveys featuring hundreds of pages of anonymous comments from sailors revealing widespread morale issues aboard the USS Shiloh, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser based in Yokosuka, Japan. Two Navy officials told CNN that the information reported from the surveys was accurate.
WTVR

The State Corporation Commission proposes to reduce fees for providing copies of its records. The commission is considering a plan to provide up to 25 pages of paper copies without charge. The current charge is 50 cents per page. The proposed schedule would charge $10 if the number of copies provided is between 26 and 50 and $20 if the number of copied pages is 51 or more. The fee for certifying a paper copy would increase from $3 to $6. Revised rules also would allow the commission to charge “reasonable fees” for providing structured electronic records and for abstracting or summarizing data or creating a record that does not already exist, if the commission chooses to fulfill such a request. The SCC is accepting comments on the proposed changes through Nov. 20.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly

The city of Richmond spent $570,012 in response to the Sept. 16 pro-Confederate rally and counterprotest on Monument Avenue. More than $506,000 of that total was billed by the Richmond Police Department — $252,328 for personnel and $254,041 for equipment and other operating expenses. n comparison, Charlottesville spent a little less than $70,000 on its response to the Aug. 12 white nationalist rally that left dozens injured and a 32-year-old woman dead. Two state police troopers who had been monitoring the protests also died in a helicopter crash.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Thomas F. Farrell II was just a tall 40-year-old lawyer with a blank legal pad when he walked into a General Assembly meeting room in early 1995. The three members of the State Corporation Commission were waiting for Thomas E. Capps, chairman and CEO of Dominion Resources Inc., the parent company of Virginia Power. They hoped to resolve a political battle between the commission and energy company over legislation to give regulators clear authority to protect monopoly utilities like Virginia Power from interference by their corporate parents. But Capps was late in returning from business in New York, so the commissioners met for the first time with Farrell, an unknown attorney from Alexandria for a Richmond law firm then called McGuire, Woods, Battle and Boothe. Within six months, Farrell would begin his meteoric rise to the top of the utility holding company and a dominant role in Virginia politics.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera has asked for an audit of his Internal Affairs office to make sure it’s handling citizen complaints properly and to build trust with residents. Internal Affairs handles investigations when the public has a complaint about officers as well as administrative issues, such as documenting evidence. The specific programs city auditor Lyndon Remias will look into haven’t been determined yet, but the audit will include the department’s processes for receiving, investigating and following up on complaints. It will take three to four months to complete, Remias said. Cervera said the audit will help residents and officers trust the process more.
Virginian-Pilot

The federal judge hearing the $6.35 million lawsuit brought by a former Loudoun detective against Sheriff Mike Chapman (R) and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has dismissed the case. The original lawsuit was filed in July by former Loudoun detective Mark 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. “The law in this circuit is clear that sheriffs in Virginia have the right to lawfully terminate their deputies for political affiliation reasons,” Trenga said in the Oct. 12 memorandum explaining his decision to dismiss the case. “McCaffrey's position in the LCSO was partisan,” he wrote. Trenga also ruled McCaffrey was essentially a “policymaker,” referring to McCaffrey's original complaint describing himself as “the lead detective in complex, high-profile cases, including rape, robbery and homicide investigations.”  Referencing case law, Trenga added, “A deputy with McCaffrey’s alleged experience, seniority and responsibilities within a sheriff’s office is a policymaker ... Chapman’s failure to reappoint McCaffrey in retaliation for his support of Chapman’s political rival therefore did not violate the First Amendment.” 
Loudoun Times-Mirror



National Stories
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Last week, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a coalition of 20 media organizations submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the case of In re National Security Letter. The coalition brief is in response to a decision by a panel of the 9th Circuit that allows the government to prohibit wire or electronic communication service providers, such as social media companies and email and Internet service providers, from disclosing any information about National Security Letters (NSLs) they receive requesting information about subscribers, including the receipt of a letter itself. The brief urges the court to rehear the case, arguing that the nondisclosure requirement violates the First Amendment rights of those who receive NSLs because it restrains their speech about government conduct and hinders journalists’ ability to inform the public about this type of government activity. 
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

A federal judge dismissed virtually all of Josh Duggar's claims against Springdale and Washington County officials who released decade-old, redacted police investigative reports about Duggar molesting four of his sisters to a celebrity magazine that published the information. U.S. District Judge Tim Brooks also dismissed Bauer Publishing and its attorneys from both Duggar's case and a case filed by four of his sisters, saying Bauer had a First Amendment right to publish information given to it under a Freedom of Information Act request. Bauer owns In Touch Weekly magazine and related websites. Brooks said neither Duggar nor his sisters made allegations in their lawsuits that Bauer ever published untruthful information about them. He said the police documents were given to Bauer pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request. "Even if one assumes that the disclosure failed to comply with Arkansas statutory redaction requirements, it is clear that the Bauer defendants cannot be held liable," Brooks wrote. Brooks noted there is no liability on Bauer's part for merely giving further publicity to information about a person which is already public.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

U.S. Rep. Martha McSally pulled a provision that would have allowed CBP to evade FOIA laws from a border bill moving through the House on Wednesday, after TucsonSentinel.combroke the news about the measure the previous day. Removing the Freedom of Information Act loophole was an "important issue to clear up," the Republican congresswoman said. "Transparency is an important part of governance."
Tuscon Sentinel