Transparency News 10/21/15

State and Local Stories

The Virginian-Pilot is suing the state to get basic information about law enforcement officers across the state. The Pilot and newspaper reporter Gary Harki filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday in Norfolk Circuit Court against the Department of Criminal Justice Services to get access to a database that tracks training for Virginia’s law enforcement officers. Harki said he wants the names of the state’s more than 40,000 people with police powers, including some 22,000 officers who work for law enforcement agencies like a police department or sheriff’s office. Pilot editors and Harki are also asking for information about where the officers work and for how long. The lawsuit comes after four months of failed negotiations with the Department of Criminal Justice Services, Harki said in the lawsuit.
Virginian-Pilot

State officials in Virginia scrambling to keep documents from the press. The governor’s office directing an agency to misrepresent open records laws. Local reporters pushing back at agency flacks about how to interpret those laws. And a response to a big Freedom of Information Act request from a newspaper that exposed how it all went down behind the scenes.
Columbia Journalism Review

A circuit court judge declined to rule against the Pittsylvania County Agricultural Development Board on Tuesday in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit appeal filed by a group of county citizens. Calling the case political, Judge James J. Reynolds said he would not issue a writ of mandamus against the board but would hold the matter under advisement for the next six months. “It is apparent this case is … more about politics than it is about legality,” Reynolds said. However, he did find the board violated FOIA by not giving proper notice of going into and coming out of closed session during its meeting April 8. FOIA is being used as a “club” by individuals not happy with the board’s performance, Reynolds said. If the board commits more FOIA violations during the six months, “the court will take immediate action,” Reynolds said after a nearly four-hour trial in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court in Chatham. The court will dismiss the writ of mandamus if there are no violations in that period.
Register & Bee

An anti-pipeline group and Franklin County are working together on a FOIA request, and possibly moving in the direction of a deal that satisfies both sides by cutting down on the cost. This after the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League continued to demand public records about the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Franklin County Tuesday afternoon after outrage over a nearly $5,000 estimate for the request.  The group is concerned with the amount of time it has taken to process the request, and the cost. Franklin County said the cost is justified. There is no signed agreement just yet, but a deal could be close. Franklin County Administrator Brent Robertson said he will submit an amended proposal to the requester Wednesday.
WDBJ

The Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney announced Tuesday that prosecutors don't have sufficient evidence to charge Councilman John Uhrin with conflict-of-interest violations, but a federal investigation into Uhrin's votes on the Cavalier Hotel project continues. Commonwealth's Attorney Colin Stolle said he has closed an investigation that had not been publicly announced. He would not say how long it lasted or when it concluded. A spokeswoman said Stolle consulted with federal investigators before issuing a statement Tuesday. "We decided to release the information now after consulting with the U.S. Attorney's Office and ensuring our announcement would not jeopardize anything they were doing," Macie Pridgen wrote in an email.
Virginian-Pilot

The Confederate flag was again much of the focus of the Montgomery County School Board meeting, but for the first time a countywide solution might be within sight. Following a wide range of public input Tuesday night the board voted 6-0 to have a policy drafted that would expand the banning of all clothing, emblems, jewelry or decals, worn or displayed, that would interfere with the learning environment from all school property in the county.
Roanoke Times

A recommendation to create a civilian panel for reviewing complaints about the Fairfax County Police Department was questioned by county supervisors Tuesday, foreshadowing what will probably be a contentious debate over aspects of a package of broad police changes. The questions came as the supervisors accepted the final report of a commission created to review the police department’s practices after an officer-involved shooting of a Springfield man in 2013. “I don’t understand the debate about civilian review,” Hershman said at a news conference after the board meeting. “Our military is headed by a civilian. The chief of police here in Fairfax County is chosen by a civilian. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors — all of whom are civilians — oversee the police department and negotiate a budget for the department. We’re not re-creating the wheel here.”
Washington Post

National Stories
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"Mildly pornographic." No worse than what "appears commonly in Playboy." That was what a Pennsylvania board determined late last year when it cleared state Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin of misconduct _ even though he'd received about 50 pornographic emails on state computers. In a step announced Monday by court officials, the board that polices Pennsylvania judges released the five-page letter it sent Eakin in late 2014 dismissing a complaint against him. The letter said 50 images emailed to the Republican justice between 2009 and 2012 could "best be described as mildly pornographic or sexually suggestive in the vein of material that appears commonly in Playboy magazine." And because Eakin had only received the adult-oriented emails, but had not sent any, the board concluded he was blameless.
Governing

State employees working for the Maine Legislature have had their salary and benefits information shielded from a state-operated, public database that provides the same information on all other state workers. While the salary information for partisan and non-partisan employees at the Maine Legislature remains public information, officials have been unable to explain exactly why that data isn't being loaded into the disclosure website, Maine Open Checkbook. The data gap was discovered during a Sun Journal review of the ten highest paid employees in the Legislature and the governor's office.
Maine Sun Journal


Editorials/Columns

An ethics proposal to separate state lawmakers’ salaries from their office allowances has merit — but not because it would give some lawmakers a raise. The proposal also would provide better transparency regarding use of tax money and would tighten the reins on the use of office funds. That’s a commendable goal — and would be even more so if it could be accomplished without an accompanying $15,000 pay raise for some lawmakers. The best feature of the proposal is that it would eliminate this ambiguity: Salaries would be salaries and office expenses would be offices expenses, and the two could not be commingled. It is a much cleaner, clearer and more accurate arrangement.
Daily Progress