Transparency News 10/4/17

Wednesday, October 4, 2017


Nominations are being accepted for VCOG’s Freedom of Information Awards, to be presented in the fall of 2017. Entries should be submitted by October 9, 2017, by filling out the form linked above or by mailing the same information to VCOG, P.O. Box 2576, Williamsburg VA  23187.

State and Local Stories

Franklin County will waive the local YMCA’s rental payments for a period of seven months, a decision that will cost taxpayers some $50,000. The YMCA has struggled to pay its $7,651 monthly rent to the county. In late 2016, the nonprofit missed a payment and eventually fell four months behind. When YMCA officials sought help, the county decided to offer rent relief. The board of supervisors reached consensus on extending the grace period in a closed meeting but never put the issue to a formal vote, said County Administrator Brent Robertson. “As far as the board having to approve or act on the decision to forgive the lease — that’s kind of an administrative direction that’s given to me,” he said.
The Roanoke Times

Radford University and Virginia Tech turned over documents containing personal information, including names, addresses and cellphone numbers of about 40,000 current students, to progressive political group NextGen Virginia, which is working to boost voter turnout among college students in the Nov. 7 election. NextGen Virginia requested the public information through Freedom of Information Act requests sent to every state-supported college and university in Virginia to obtain cellphone numbers of current students. “I am appalled that NextGen Virginia, a political organization, would FOIA our students’ personal information for political uses,” Del. Joseph Yost said in a statement. “This is an invasion of their privacy and, even if it is legal, it is blatantly wrong.”
The Roanoke Times

Hurled profanities and chants of “Shame, shame!” greeted the Prince William Board of County Supervisors at its Oct. 3 meeting, after lawmakers declined to debate a proposal aimed at changing the monikers of county buildings and roadways named after Confederate figures. Supervisor Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge, was proposing a resolution moving the county toward renaming Jefferson Davis Highway (commonly known as U.S. 1), and a volunteer fire station and two schools named for Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in western Prince William. supervisors refused to even discuss Principi’s proposal — his motion to open debate on the issue didn’t earn a “second” from a single one of his fellow board members, so it didn’t move forward. That prompted the dozens of community members and activists in attendance, all of whom spoke in support of Principi’s measure, to erupt in jeers and expressions of disbelief at the board’s reticence. Some were so persistent at heckling the supervisors (and pledging to defeat them in coming elections) that At-Large Chairman Corey Stewart, a Republican, forced all the attendees to leave the board chambers.
InsideNoVa



National Stories
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The U.S. Department of Justice identified 400 pages of documents related to its Community Oriented Policing Services office’s actions in the wake of the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown by then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, but a vast majority were either totally or partially redacted before being released under the Freedom of Information Act. Responding to an almost three-year-old FOIA request from the Post-Dispatch, DOJ FOIA Officer Chaun Eason determined that only 55 pages - mostly mundane COPS office communications about travel to St. Louis, talking-points memos, press releases, and other non-revelatory material – were totally releasable to the newspaper.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The new director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications recently came to Gainesville from Washington, D.C., where he led the Student Press Law Center. After nine years of working on behalf of student journalists, he’s now focused on access to information for anyone in the information business. You don’t have to be a journalist or a lawyer to benefit from freedom of information and open government, he says.  “The polluted water scandal in Flint, Michigan, came to light directly because of the accessibility of public records. We should be at a moment in history where people value and appreciate access to information like never before, but I’m not sure people make that connection. They like knowing that their water is safe to drink, but they don’t always connect that back to transparency laws.” We asked LoMonte for his take on the future of press freedom and open government — and how the Brechner Center can help.
UF News


Editorials/Columns


Richmond City Councilwoman Kim Gray is right. At present, the city charter lets the mayor (or someone he sends in his place) sit in during closed sessions of the City Council. Gray wants to change the charter so the mayor can sit in only at the council’s invitation. Council member Kristen Larson, who used to sit on the School Board, makes a good point. She notes that the superintendent did not enjoy a similar privilege when the board met in closed session. “It’s really unusual to have someone in the room who is not a part of the board ... and who we haven’t invited to be there,” she says. Just so. It likewise would be unusual if the tables were turned, and the City Council could send someone to sit in during closed-door deliberations in the mayor’s office.
Richmond Times-Dispatch