Transparency News 1/10/14

In a surprise move Thursday, the Henrico County School Board hired Deputy Superintendent Patrick C. Kinlaw as the division’s new superintendent. Board members had reached consensus to hire Kinlaw, who has been running the division since then-Superintendent Patrick Russo was put on paid leave in August, in a series of recent one-on-one discussions, the board’s new chairwoman, Lisa A. Marshall, said Thursday after the unanimous vote. Kinlaw said after the meeting that he “grew into this interest” in taking on the full position during his time leading the division in Russo’s absence. He said he had been in negotiations for the position for two or three weeks. Marshall said the decision to skip a fuller search and simply hire Kinlaw was “a clear consensus of the board.” That consensus was reached through a series of one-on-one conversations between board members, conducted outside of formal meetings, she said.
Times-Dispatch

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the city is violating public records laws by not retaining certain text messages of council members. The suit was filed in Norfolk Circuit Court and asks that a judge rule that the city violated Virginia's Freedom of Information Act and Public Records Act by not preserving public records in the form of text messages and not providing them in response to a PETA request. The suit asks for an injunction ordering the city "to cease the illegal destruction and withholding of public records in the form of text messages." The city responded that the government didn't have a way to access those messages.
Virginian-Pilot
Note: FOIA does not require the retention of records. The Public Records Act says records should be retained, but does not impose penalties for failure to do so.

Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control’s top two officials are leaving their posts today, according to internal agency memos. ABC board Chairman J. Neal Insley emailed a farewell message to employees Thursday, and a senior agency administrator sent a separate email stating that today would the last day in office for both Insley and Commissioner Sandra Canada. Both internal memos were obtained Thursday by The Daily Progress.
Daily Progress

The former town manager Wednesday filed a $25,000 defamation lawsuit in Culpeper General District Court against Culpeper Mayor Chip Coleman and the town of Culpeper over apparent rumors of sexual relations involving married councilmen.  Kimberly Alexander was fired a year ago by Culpeper Town Council after she launched an investigation into Culpeper Police Captain Chris Settle for alleged wrongdoing. The 36-year-old single mother, former Dumfries Town Manager, served as Culpeper Town Manager for about 17 months before she was fired in January 2013.  Fairfax-based attorney Broderick Dunn is representing Alexander in the pending defamation suit against Coleman and the town with an initial hearing in the case set for Feb. 14 in Culpeper GDC. Dunn had no comment Thursday.
Star-Exponent

With a new year comes a complete makeover for the digital face of Hanover County. “We’ve come to realize over the years that there’s almost too much information on our website,” said Tom Harris, County spokesperson and a member of the project’s governance team. County staff started the process by looking at which parts of the site are neglected. Harris said an estimated 1,400 pages and 6,200 PDF files are on the site, but 5,000 of the PDFs were not viewed in the last year. He added that, in a way, there is too much information to view and digest. Currently, information can be found by searching county departments. “If you don’t know what kind of department has the information you’re looking for, it’s harder to find the information you need,” Harris said.
Herald-Progress

Much of the discussion [at the oral arguments in the FOIA case against UVA to get emails of former professor Michael Mann], as expected, was around how to construe the legislative intent of various exemptions under FOIA. The justices engaged all of the attorneys at length as to whether academic work was copyrightable, and to whom the work produced belonged, which would affect how it is considered for disclosure under current FOIA law. Justice Bill Mims expressed concern that any exemption under FOIA should be narrowly construed, and wondered if the American Tradition Institute’s understanding of FOIA law was equally plausible to the university’s. The court clearly understood the potential consequences of the actions it is being asked to take, with multiple justices talking about how the interpretive standard they set will apply not just to this case but to tens of thousands of cases. “A public university would be at such a gross disadvantage to a private university that nobody would ever want to work there,” suggested Justice Donald Lemons. Yet the justices made clear that their decision would rest on their reading of the law and its intent. “While I might agree with everything you just said,” said Justice Lemons to the UVa attorneys, “We have a statute to interpret.”
The Equation

National Stories

On Wednesday, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills demanded in a letter that Gov. Paul LePage release a publicly funded report crafted by the controversial Alexander Group to anyone who requested it. When asked in an interview how he responded, LePage said simply: "Tell her to sue me."
Governing

A Republican lawmaker from Colorado is pushing to strengthen his state’s media shield law to better protect journalists, citing FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter’s recent legal battle to keep her sources secret. State Sen. Bernie Herpin said he was inspired by Winter’s case. He wants to change Colorado's law so it more closely matches New York’s version – considered to be the country's strongest in terms of protecting journalists.  Herpin, who introduced his bill Wednesday, said getting the measure passed is his top priority this legislative session. “If you are going to be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment like I am, you have to be a strong supporter of the First Amendment — especially when it comes to the press,” Herpin said. “They act as a watchdog for the people. And if confidential sources are worried about being named, they aren’t going to come forward.”
Fox News

Ohioans who witness government fraud can now report those acts through a new iPhone app unveiled Wednesday. The free Ohio Stops Fraud app allows tipsters to call the fraud hotline in the Ohio Auditor Dave Yost's office or send a report using their phones. App users can attach photo or video evidence of the fraud to the report in addition to naming the persons and agency involved and details of where the fraud occurred. All submissions are anonymous unless the tipster leaves his or her contact information.
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Emails disclosed Wednesday raise questions about whether the Chris Christie administration complied with a public-records request filed by The Record last month. The newspaper requested documents related to the Port Authority’s decision to close local lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September. Part of that request, filed on Dec. 17 under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, sought emails sent between David Wildstein — the Christie appointee at the Port Authority who ordered the lane closures — and certain employees in the Governor’s Office, including Michael Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman. At least one of the documents that became public Wednesday meets that description. Wildstein sent a message from his personal email account to Drewniak’s official account and to a personal account of Bridget Anne Kelly, a member of Christie’s senior staff who emerged Wednesday at the center of the controversy. The Sept. 12 email contained a statement that was later issued by the Port Authority saying that the bridge lane closures were part of a “traffic safety” review.
NorthJersey.com

The Pennsylvania State Police doesn't have to honor a newspaper's request to divulge the names of police officers across Pennsylvania who are accredited by the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission, Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday. The decision, which hinges on logistical rather than security grounds, overturns a state Open Records Office ruling that granted the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette most of the records it has been seeking for nearly a year. In an April ruling, the Open Records Office ordered the state police to provide the names of the thousands of officers accredited by the commission and their departments, but allowed the agency for security reasons to redact the names of officers on undercover duty.
The Patriot-News
 

Editorials/Columns

Roanoke Times: Lawyers for the American Tradition Institute and the University of Virginia faced off Thursday before the Virginia Supreme Court in a dispute over whether the conservative organization has a right to emails of former UVa professor Michael Mann and other climate scientists. The notice about the hearing was more easily obtainable on the website for the Virginia Coalition for Open Government than it was on the court's own site. Sorry you missed it. Because you had to be there to hear the discussion. The state Supreme Court provides neither audio recordings of oral arguments nor transcripts that members of the public can read if they want more than the Cliffs Notes version they'll find in the newspaper or hear on TV, or if they are interested in a case that doesn't draw media attention at all. The most obvious solution to that problem would be for justices to listen during the hearings and mumble later. Or they could turn off their microphones when mumbling, if mumble they must. Or they could have all mumbling redacted before audio recordings are released.

News Leader: Apology accepted. That was the warm message the General Assembly gave Gov. Bob McDonnell on Wednesday night during his State of the Commonwealth address, which he ended with appropriate remorse about his ethical lapses. We, too, appreciated his contrition and acknowledge that while McDonnell is the only recent governor to leave office under a cloud of possible federal indictment, he is also the only governor to get a transportation bill passed. Mark Warner wanted a transportation deal. So did Tim Kaine. Bob McDonnell is the one who got it done. We can now hope the General Assembly continues to pleasantly surprise us by strengthening Virginia’s shamefully lax ethics laws.

Herald-Progress: While the digital world was changing, much of Hanover’s online presence stayed the same. With that in mind, county officials are working to revamp Hanover’s official website, a much-needed move that we definitely support. We would, however, remind the county that a government website needs to do more than look good. The Web makes it easier for citizens to connect with their government and stay informed. While the county does a good job at posting meeting notices and the like, we encourage them to go one step further. New technology makes live-streaming of county meetings possible. Streaming meetings would enable citizens to see their government in action at their own convenience and would hopefully lead to a better-informed public. This was one of outgoing Gov. Bob McDonnell’s goals at the state level, one never actually realized but a worthwhile idea that shouldn’t be tucked away in a dusty corner. If video logistics are too tricky, the county could at least upload audio recordings of government meetings alongside their minutes.