Transparency News 1/14/15
State and Local Stories
Expands the open meeting exemption for the discussion of plans to protect public safety as it relates to terrorism and security of governmental facilities to include the discussion of specific cybersecurity threats or vulnerabilities, including the discussion of related records excluded from FOIA, where discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the safety of any person or the security of any facility, building, structure, information technology system, or software program.
SB1109
If Dominion gets the permit needed to build a $5 billion natural gas pipeline, Virginia citizens should have access to the information the company gathers when it takes private land through forced sales, a local lawmaker said. Del. Richard P. "Dickie" Bell, R-Staunton, has a bill before the General Assembly that would make utilities that can use eminent domain subject to the state's public information laws under the Freedom of Information Act. The proposal doesn't target Dominion specifically, but the idea came from conversations Bell has had with people in the Augusta County area over the company's Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, which would run through the county. "They are not happy with the property rights issues that surround the pipeline, particularly eminent domain, which I'm not a big fan of," Bell said Tuesday. The openness the proposed legislation is likely to encourage would be good for the state and citizens, he added.
News Leader
Almost 20 nonprofits and advocacy groups have formed a new coalition called Transparency Virginia that intends to track how accessible the General Assembly’s work is to citizens during this year’s session. The group, announced in a news conference Tuesday, plans to focus on three areas: meeting notices, recording of votes in committees and subcommittees, and ensuring that all bills are heard in committee before the session adjourns. “This is a good government effort,” said Anne Sterling, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia, one of the organizations behind the effort. “Citizens’ ability to observe the legislative process and to engage in that process is part of a rich tradition, both here in Virginia and elsewhere around the country, and it must be preserved,” said Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
Times-Dispatch
The Hanover County School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to amend its policies for handling controversial classroom materials, adding a new requirement that teachers must notify parents before using materials considered controversial. Under the amended controversial-materials policies, teachers also must provide alternative assignments for situations when parents want their children to opt out of an assignment. These changes were the result of a comprehensive review of the School Board’s instructional-material policies that was prompted by numerous complaints last fall about a controversial film shown in classrooms at Hanover High School. The film, “Thomas L. Friedman Reporting: Searching for the Roots of 9/11,” included Muslim perspectives on the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On Tuesday, the School Board voted to amend the policies without discussion.
Times-Dispatch
A Shenandoah County supervisor and staunch critic of the regional jail won’t sit on that facility’s leadership board. In fact, Supervisor Cindy Bailey won’t represent the board on any local or regional committee. Chairman David Ferguson would not assign Bailey to serve on the RSW Regional Jail Authority Board as she had asked. Ferguson instead assigned Vice Chairman Conrad Helsley to the jail board for another year. At the end of the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Ferguson passed out a list of committee assignments for members. As chairman, Ferguson assigns supervisors to represent the board on local and regional committees. Ferguson said he came up with the list after contacting each member about his or her assignments. Ferguson asked assigned members to represent the board and then report back on the committee activities. Helsley then pointed out that Bailey is not assigned to any committees. “The committee that she asked to be on I had selected someone else and she has chosen not to accept any other committees assignments,” Ferguson said. “The only problem I see with that is what if the other five of us did the same thing,” Helsley said.“That would make it pretty difficult when you have nothing on any of these committees or have no influence on any of them.” Bailey made no comments about the assignments.
Northern Virginia Daily
The top internal auditor for a state agency that has a say in your electric bill might have had to choose between keeping a job and telling the honest-to-goodness truth. The chief internal auditor of the State Corporation Commission has been reporting to the chief administrative officer, instead of directly to the agency’s three General Assembly-appointed commissioners. The arrangement sets up a potential conflict of interest, a new audit from the Auditor of Public Accounts says. The chief internal auditor, meant to operate as independently as possible, could have risked putting his job on the line to report any administrative failings to his boss, or the chief administrative officer could have left out embarrassing details.
Watchdog.com Virginia Bureau
Local real estate developer Chris Henderson drew sharp criticism from county officials for an email he said was unintentionally sent last Friday to a James City County planner. The email was in reaction to staff recommendations on an application to redesignate BASF Corp. Land, represented by Henderson, for mixed use development. As a result of the email, county administrator Bryan Hill said he's barred Henderson, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis in Newport News, from having direct talks with anyone at the staff level except for Hill, director of development Allen Murphy, or county attorney Adam Kinsman. Henderson has apologized for the email and said he never intended to include the county planner, Leanne Pollock, on the message.
Virginia Gazette
For years, the number of books in the Fairfax County Public Library system has steadily decreased, as the library budget has fallen and the system has tried to make room for other activities besides reading. Fairfax now spends, by far, the lowest per capita amount on its libraries of any jurisdiction in the Washington area. The net loss of more than 440,000 books in the past decade has alarmed a group of ardent Fairfax book lovers, who have banded together to stop the library’s perceived decay. They want not only to preserve the collection — some of which has been replaced by e-books and databases — but also to fill dozens of long-vacant jobs in the libraries of one of America’s wealthiest counties. “The reason we formed,” said Dennis K. Hays, head of the Fairfax Library Advocates, “is because we want to keep doing everything to preserve our libraries. The reality is enormous numbers of books are being taken off the shelves and destroyed . . . With limited budgets, why would you cut down on the variety and availability of books?”
Washington Post
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday proposed raising members’ salaries by $20,000 and the chairman’s salary by $25,000, changes that supporters said would encourage more people to run for office but opponents called ill-timed given this year’s budget problems. The 8-to-2 motion to hold a public hearing on the issue Jan. 27 comes on the heels of a move by the county’s School Board to double salaries for its members. If approved, both increases would take effect in 2016, after countywide elections in November. Virginia law prohibits local boards from approving raises that will take effect during members’ current elected term. Members of the Board of Supervisors and Chairman Sharon Bulova (D-At Large) are paid $75,000 a year. The board’s motion seeks to change all board positions from part time to full time and says the chairman should be paid more than other members.
Washington Post
National Stories
Two new lawsuits are challenging the continued secrecy of the grand jury investigations related to the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y. The suits demonstrate just how secret the information gathered by a grand jury is, while also making a compelling case for the public interest in greater access. Last week, an anonymous member of the Ferguson grand jury filed a federal lawsuit to establish his or her right to speak out about the grand jury experience. A Missouri state law makes it a misdemeanor for grand jurors to talk about the grand jury proceedings, and the juror, identified in public court documents as "Grand Juror Doe," seeks both a ruling that the law is unconstitutional as applied in this case and an injunction to prevent prosecutors from bringing charges against Doe if he or she speaks to the media about the proceedings. Meanwhile, Letitia James, the New York City Public Advocate, and the New York Civil Liberties Union, are asking a state court judge in New York to release grand jury evidence in the Eric Garner case. The court will hear oral argument on the motions on January 29.Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Editorials/Columns
A court settlement over the nature of public records stands as a victory for open government — and as an admonition to public officials. Acting with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the ACLU of Virginia has obtained a court settlement in which the city of Norfolk agrees to treat text messages as public records when the messages are sent and received in the course of public business. “Government actors must understand they cannot use new forms of communication as a vehicle to hide their official activities,” said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia. Members of the public must be able to follow the course of official actions and decisions, in order to understand how their government works and how it affects them. Without this information, they cannot hold government accountable. And not just “government” as an impersonal entity, but also individual officials.Daily Progress
Judge David S. Schell made a proper and principled decision in refusing to muzzle the Fairfax County trial of Jesse Matthew Jr. by a gag order. Matthew is accused of abduction, sexual assault and attempted murder. Defense attorneys had sought an order to stop anyone involved in the case from talking to the media. Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said that, as a public official, he has a duty to keep the public informed. He stressed that he talks only about the proceedings in the case, not the facts or evidence. Defense lawyers countered that his comments may boost sympathy toward the victim and taint a jury. The right of a defendant to a fair trial must be honored, but so must the public’s right to know about what goes on in public courts. An overwhelming necessity for silence must exist before a judge can impose a gag order. The judge acted correctly in this case.
Daily Progress
A group called the Sons of Confederate Veterans has asked Texas to issue a license plate featuring the Confederate battle flag, which many consider an emblem of slavery. Texas said no, and the sons are suing because the state accepts other messages for specialty plates. The sons have a point. North Carolina issues a license reading, "Choose Life." When lawmakers there refused to allow a competing abortion-rights message, the American Civil Liberties Union sued. The ACLU has a point, as well. States have jumped on the slippery slope of letting various business and social interests promote themselves on the specialty license plates. Now they have slid into the U.S. Supreme Court, which has taken the Sons of Confederate Veterans case.
Froma Harrop, News-Virginian
Let the record show Del. Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, is taking on Dominion Transmissions. We are not sure this has ever happened before in Virginia's General Assembly. Bell has introduced House Bill 1696, which makes any public service corporation trying to use eminent domain subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act on projects for which it is exercising eminent domain. If this bill passes, all documents related to the Dominion's proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would cut through Augusta County, would be open to public inspection. Does this bill have any chance of passing? Probably not. But are we glad to see it introduced, especially by a local delegate? Emphatically, yes.
News Leader
