Transparency News 11/17/15

State and Local Stories

Fifty-eight boxes line the walls of a narrow pink-and-teal office on West Washington Street downtown. Stacked three or four high, they stand nearly as tall as Andy Damiani, the 94-year-old former Suffolk mayor who was rummaging through them last week. He was looking for a newsletter he produced in the early 1980s and mailed to about 500 people. An old, wooden Suffolk city seal sat on a stack nearby. “I don’t even know what’s in these boxes,” Damiani said as he searched. “I’m curious myself.” Newspaper clippings, letters, video and audio recordings and more fill the cardboard containers. It’s Damiani’s personal archive, but it’s about to become much more. The Virginia Historical Society in Richmond is taking it on. Lee Shepard, the society’s vice president for collections, said he’s been eager to bulk up the society’s 20th century collection, and Damiani’s materials tell the story of Suffolk and the development of modern-day Virginia and the region.
Virginian-Pilot

An official with the Virginia Coalition for Open Government said that part of the Henry County School Board’s regulations concerning public comments at board meetings "smacks of laws that prevented criticism of the king." Megan H. Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, was referring to the part of the school board regulations that prohibit speakers from the floor (people making public comment) from naming students, teachers, supervisors or other board employees, either singularly or collectively. The Bulletin contacted Rhyne following the Nov. 5 regular monthly meeting of the Henry County School Board. At that meeting, board Chair Betsy Mattox summarized what she said was the board’s regulations concerning public comment. She said: Any member of the public may present or address the board at regular monthly meetings. People who wish to do so are to contact the superintendent at least seven days in advance. There can be no name calling; no mentioning of names of students, teachers, principals or other administrators. There shall be no untruths spoken. If any of that occurs, the speaker can be removed.
Martinsville Bulletin

Independent auditors will review the accounting and tax reporting of any fringe benefitsfor all BVU Authority employees before tax forms are distributed in January. On Monday, authority CEO Don Bowman told the board of directors and the board’s finance committee about plans for auditing firm Blackburn, Childers and Steagall to check all of the documents in the wake of an ongoing federal investigation into corruption issues at BVU.
Herald Courier

A newly-formed ethics committee is seeking to strengthen rules for city councilors and could aim to stop some of the "bickering" among members of the council. Earlier this year, the Hopewell City Council formed an ethics committee involving two councilors and Hopewell City Attorney Stephan Calos. Councilor Jackie Shornak and Councilor Anthony Zevgolis, who were appointed to the ethics committee, have not yet met but plan to put together a new code of ethics for the council.  “The ethics committee has always been in our charter,” Zevgolis said. “The charter specifies that council can punish its members for ethical violations in regard to whatever the ordinances are.” “But the charter does allow us to censure members,” he said. “So maybe if we go ahead and get an ethics committee in place, maybe that will help refrain council members from doing things that one may not consider ethical or stop some of the bickering that seems to go on in the council chambers.”
Progress-Index

National Stories
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The Supreme Court on Monday let stand an appeals court ruling shielding the documents of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in New Hampshire from an anti-abortion group’s request under the open records law. As is its custom, the Supreme Court gave no reasons for turning down the appeal in the case. Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, dissented, saying disagreements in the lower courts over the scope of the open records law, the Freedom of Information Act, warranted Supreme Court review.
New York Times

A member of the judicial panel weighing sanctions against Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin over offensive emails was himself a recipient of pornographic messages exchanged among another justice and law enforcement officials, documents obtained by The Inquirer show. Eugene Dooley, one of 12 members of the state Judicial Conduct Board, was among a small group of friends who received emails containing sexually explicit content from former Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery and others. McCaffery resigned from the bench after the porn scandal erupted last fall. Dooley was on the board when it voted last year to clear Eakin of misconduct over his emails -- a review that was revived last month after Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane made public a troubling set of Eakin emails and lambasted the conduct board, suggesting it had given him a pass.
Governing