Transparency News 11/17/17

Friday, November 17, 2017


State and Local Stories

Check our Facebook page for photos from our conference yesterday. More than 80 people registered for the event held at the Richmond Times-Dispatch Building in Richmond.
p.s. Give us a "like" while you're there.

Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Brat’s Facebook page is a hub of activity, and members of the Liberal Women of Chesterfield County are among the major players, regularly sharing their thoughts. One person, a woman named Sara James, routinely took issue with their comments. “Read much? Watch the video much? The post isn’t misleading at all if you calm down and actually do either,” James responded Sept. 5 to a woman who said a Brat post cited incorrect statistics that came from Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Members of the Liberal Women wondered who Sara James was. It turns out James is on Brat’s payroll; in fact, she is the top recipient of his campaign money, according to data on OpenSecrets.org, the website for the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in federal politics and culls data from the Federal Election Commission. Brat’s campaign paid James $78,452 in 2015 and 2016 combined, and it has paid her $44,559 so far in 2017. Members of the Liberal Women said James should have been open about her campaign job.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A university investigation into an alleged threatening post on the Facebook page of a Virginia Tech graduate teaching assistant found the comments weren’t made by him, according to documents he provided to The Roanoke Times. The Oct. 2 post — which also triggered a police investigation — was published on Mark Neuhoff’s account and referenced Tori Coan, a Tech student who filed a harassment and discrimination complaint against him. The post listed Coan’s personal phone number with the caption “f--- her up, destroy her.” The name of the person school officials believe made the post is redacted from the university report Neuhoff provided. That document says the person responsible for the post has been banned from campus. Neuhoff has said a family member made the post. University officials would not acknowledge the report.
The Roanoke Times

Maybe it happened because it was a Tuesday meeting rather than the usual Thursday slot, but the Arlington School Board’s two male members – James Lander and Reid Goldstein – committed sartorial faux pas by failing to wear ties on the dais. Superintendent Patrick Murphy was [appropriately] attired for the formal meeting.
Inside NoVa

Five people, including two state transportation officials, pleaded guilty this week to a bribery scheme involving more than $10.3 million in snow removal contracts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Two supervisors at the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Burke office admitted to secretly soliciting and accepting cash bribes in exchange for lucrative snow removal work, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Joshua Stueve said
Inside NoVa



National Stories
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Circumventing Florida’s public records law, and destroying public documents, has cost Martin County commissioners more than $12 million -- and the toll keeps rising. The commission on Tuesday agreed to a $12 million payout to Lake Point, a rock quarry company that has plans to become a water company, sued the county for breach of contract and for violating the state’s Sunshine Law. The agreement will put an end to a four-year legal dispute but not the end of the county’s woes. A grand jury is investigating allegations that at least one county commissioner destroyed records relating to the case, which could draw criminal penalties.
Tampa Bay Times

A total of 5,784 patent applications remained subject to invention secrecy orders at the end of Fiscal Year 17, according to new data provided by the US Patent and Trademark Office.  The secrecy orders, issued under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, restrict disclosure of patent applications considered to be "detrimental to national security" if published. That total number was up slightly from the 5,680 secrecy orders that were in effect a year earlier.
Secrecy News



Editorials/Columns


Late last month, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the reconstituted Board of Corrections was months late in getting up to speed on one of its most import new tasks: investigating and reporting on deaths of inmates in the regional and local jail systems throughout the commonwealth. This page and other Virginia newspapers called out the board for its tardiness in hiring the positions created by a state law that went into effect July 1. At the time of the Times-Dispatch report, the panel had yet to meet and the investigatory positions were unfilled. That’s now changed. The panel held its first meeting Nov. 15 in Richmond and announced the hiring of two seasoned law enforcement professionals: Stephen Goff, a 34-year veteran of the Virginia State Police, and former corrections department employee Brian Sutherland.
The News & Advance