Transparency News 11/22/19

		Friday November 22, 2019
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state & local news stories

"The concern was that individual councilors could make commitments on behalf of the entire body without the entire body’s consent, while also hiding those decisions from the public eye."

Johana Hicks was elected to town council earlier this month after saying she opposed the amount of closed sessions some of her soon-to-be colleagues choose to have. And before she takes office, Hicks is already taking a stand. The current council asked her to sign a nondisclosure agreement in order to participate in executive sessions before she takes office on Jan. 1 , which would require her to not divulge anything she hears behind closed doors. Hicks’ response: No. Hicks’ refusal to sign the nondisclosure agreement was at the root of an abruptly halted meeting on Nov. 14 that was organized to interview law firms for contract town attorney services.
The Roanoke Times

Petersburg City Council considered two pieces of legislation Tuesday that were said to improve transparency within the decision-making body. One proposed the complete elimination of standing committees, while another would limit councilors’ individual conversations with groups or developers outside of meetings. “If you are approached by someone who is trying to encourage council to adopt something outside of a formal meeting, the response would be, ‘I’m going to refer that to the City Manager and ask that you put it on an agenda at a public meeting,’” said City Attorney Anthony Williams. The concern was that individual councilors could make commitments on behalf of the entire body without the entire body’s consent, while also hiding those decisions from the public eye. Ward 4 Councilor Charles H. Cuthbert said the ordinance could be a hindrance of first amendment rights, stopping the public’s right to talk with councilors, and council’s right to speak with developers. The vote on ex parte communication was tabled until a later meeting when councilors can meet with the city attorney for more information about the rule change’s meaning.
The Progress-Index

Warren County is not the only community to be victimized by an embezzlement scandal and this weekend citizens can learn about what was perhaps the largest municipal fraud case in American history. Kelly Richmond Pope, a forensic accounting expert, will hold a 2 p.m. Sunday screening at the Warren County Community Center, 538 Villa Ave., of her “All The Queen’s Horses” documentary. The documentary details a $53 million embezzlement perpetrated by one Dixon, Illinois, government official. The documentary tells the story of Dixon’s former comptroller Rita Crundwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for carrying out a two-decade embezzlement scheme to fund a horse-breeding operation.
The Northern Virginia Daily

The Suffolk Economic Development Authority has been advised that it will need to hire its own attorney, rather than use one provided by the city. City Attorney Helivi Holland told the EDA board at its meeting Thursday that it would be a conflict of interest to have a city attorney represent the EDA while it also represents the city. “What has happened now, in regards to a legal analysis of what would happen if the EDA had a different opinion than the city, we would be in a situation of a conflict,” Holland said.
Suffolk News-Herald

Some elected officials in Tazewell County will have to make it known whether or not they are current on local taxes in the future. During its Nov. 7 meeting the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors approved an amendment to the county’s conflict of interest policy to add that requirement. The move came a month after Southern District Supervisor Mike Hymes proposed that the board adopt a policy requiring that elected officials or those running for office state whether or not they are current on all local taxes. The policy adopted requires elected officials who exercise dominion over public monies certify or affirm that they, their spouse and any businesses they have an interest in are current on all local taxes. It does provide for officials, who are on a payment plan for their taxes and current with payments to be considered up to date.
The News & Press

stories of national interest

The D.C. Council held a hearing Thursday to gauge the effectiveness of the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA), responding to a city auditor’s report that criticized the agency’s handling of a whistleblower and amid a scandal involving a city lawmaker. D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson released a report in early October saying BEGA “failed to live up to its mission” by not responding to repeated notifications of a complaint about a city official improperly directing funds to an affordable housing developer. Mrs. Patterson also found the agency had insufficient procedures for tracking complaints.
The Washington Times

Once Ring doorbell owners give law enforcement access to video captured by their cameras, police can keep the video as long as they like and share it at their discretion, a Ring executive told a U.S. senator. In response to questions submitted by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the Santa Monica-based technology company also said it had considered implementing facial recognition technology in its internet-connected doorbells, but had not yet done so. The questioning illustrates the heightened privacy concerns surrounding the company, which has already faced criticism for its partnerships with police departments and the potential implications of its video on civil liberties and cases involving racial profiling.
Governing

A Pinterest-like page to track Washington state’s election spending? Campaign-finance officials say it may be an idea whose time has arrived. Election spending in Washington continues to break records, from last year’s unsuccessful carbon-fee initiative, to an Eastside state Senate race in 2017. Meanwhile, micro-targeted online advertising — such as through Facebook and Google — has made it possible for political campaigns to reach small slices of voters without the broader public being aware. So on Wednesday, state campaign-finance officials discussed the idea of giving Washington’s campaign-disclosure system a boost: building a searchable digital archive that collects campaign ads and information related to them. At a Wednesday meeting of the Senate State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee, officials for the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) said a digital archive could shine sunlight on political ads bought through social-media companies like Google and Facebook. A searchable database could also help voters make sense of a dizzying amount of election messaging and the sources behind it.
Governing