Transparency News 10/4/16

 

The Virginia Beach City Council will vote today on whether to let developers take on $240 million in debt to build an arena they say would draw top musical acts and possibly major sports teams to the Oceanfront. As part of the agreement, the city has agreed to keep the developer’s proprietary information confidential. The project’s financing plan changed recently, and only the council and select city staff members have been briefed in closed sessions on the reasons why. Vice Mayor Louis Jones, who has served on the council since 1990, said the confidentiality agreement is unusual and makes him uncomfortable. He said he has concerns about the deal but can’t express them. “I would prefer to be able to tell the public what is going on,” he said. Councilman John Moss, who has backed the arena project, chafed at not being allowed to explain the full picture to Beach residents. He likened the confidentiality agreement to being in a straitjacket.
Virginian-Pilot

Free speech on college campuses is the focus of a symposium at the University of Virginia School of Law on Oct. 13 and 14. The event — the third biennial Jefferson Symposium — will be co-hosted by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, the organization best known for giving out the Muzzle Awards. The list of scheduled speakers includes First Amendment scholars Eugene Volokh, Geoffrey Stone and Leslie Kendrick; University of Richmond historian Edward Ayers; and humorist Kelly Carlin.
Daily Progress



National Stories
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An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found that half of the 109 state insurance commissioners who have left their posts in the last decade have gone on to work for the industry they used to regulate — many leaving before their terms expire. Just two moved into consumer advocacy. When the Arkansas insurance commissioner weighed the merits of a hospital’s billing complaint against United Healthcare, her interactions with one of the nation’s largest health insurers extended far beyond her department’s hearing room.The revolving door swings in the other direction, too. For almost a year, Connecticut’s insurance commissioner was overseeing a merger involving a company where she had been a lobbyist. She recused herself last month amid a state ethics review. Consumer advocates and some commissioners say the tight bond between regulators and industry — reinforced by campaign contributions, lavish dinners and the prospect of future employment — diminishes consumers’ voices as insurers press rate increases, shape regulations and scuttle investigations.
Governing

The Ohio Court of Claims today begins accepting public records complaints, which staff lawyers will attempt to resolve with mediation between complaining parties and government entities. If mediation fails, a prompt binding ruling will be issued by a “special master” with an expertise in Sunshine laws. His ruling then can be appealed to a court official for legal review.
Columbus Dispatch

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has launched a beta of the FOIA Wiki (www.foia.wiki), a collaborative and evolving digital resource on the federal Freedom of Information Act. The FOIA Wiki is part legal guide, part community space for sharing information that aims to serve as a central hub on all manner of issues surrounding FOIA as the law celebrates its 50th anniversary. Using a “wiki” format to encourage contributions from different persons and organizations, the FOIA Wiki includes explanations of FOIA’s provisions and exemptions, provides places for reporters and members of the public to share strategies and tips, and intelligently categorizes information about caselaw and federal agencies to promote the “right to know.” It complements the Reporters Committee’s existing public records guides, such as the Open Government Guide and will evolve alongside changes to the statute and court cases interpreting it.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

The U.S. intelligence community does not support pending congressional legislation that would curtail the authority of a privacy watchdog that advises the president on government surveillance programs, according to an unclassified memo seen by Reuters. The position amounts to a rare show of support for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, or PCLOB, from the spy agencies it is designed to oversee. It came in a letter to the leaders of congressional intelligence committees that outlined opposition to several sections of an annual intelligence funding bill awaiting action in Congress. President Barack Obama's senior advisers would recommend a veto of the bill if Congress does not address the concerns raised, the letter said.
Reuters


Editorials/Columns

Tonight, Longwood University will host vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence as they square off in a debate about our country’s future. The debate is the first of its kind to be hosted by Longwood, and should be its last — at least so long as Longwood imposes policies that chill its own students’ rights to debate freely. Although it’s unlikely to capture the attention that the first Trump-Clinton debate received, Longwood’s debate will be watched by tens of millions of people. It’s great advertising for the university, portrayed nationally as a place that cherishes debates and discourse. It’s not just great advertising — freedom of expression is what the Constitution demands. Longwood is a public university fully bound by the rigors of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has recognized that “the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital” than on campus and that imposing any “strait jacket” on discourse would “imperil the future of our Nation.” Longwood’s administrators, empowered by vague policies granting them considerable leeway to punish students whose words or arguments offend others, are ready with the strait-jackets.
Adam Steinbaugh, Roanoke Times

Mr. Trump’s 1995 tax return, portions of which were published over the weekend by The New York Times, shows that he had such huge losses in the early 1990s that, thanks to incredibly favorable tax laws, he could have potentially avoided paying federal taxes for up to 18 years. We don’t know how much tax he did avoid, since Mr. Trump won’t release his other returns, and there is no law requiring him to. Mr. Trump isn’t the only candidate who says we’ll just have to trust him. Across the country, there are laws that restrict access to information about public officials’ financial holdings and connections. The result is a veil of secrecy that shields government officials from public scrutiny of potential conflicts of interests and self-dealing.
New York Times