Transparency News 12/10/15

State and Local Stories

This message from Fredericksburg City Attorney Kathleen Dooley:
The Fredericksburg Police Department in fact did not violate FOIA during the recent press audit.  The auditor submitted a written request in the first place, for police incident reports.  She walked in with the request in writing.  The police department publishes summaries of those reports, with the information required by FOIA.  The person who handles FOIA requests was not present when the auditor walked in, so the auditor left her phone number (her name was illegible).  Our FOIA officer called the phone number 3 times to offer the report summaries or to further clarify her request.  He never received a call back. The Free Lance-Star published this correction but of course the incorrect story led to the City being named a FOIA violator in numerous press outlets.

And now for a lesson in civics and government: City councils are not the catch-all entity for disgruntled citizens. Uber riders, lamenting the company’s ban at Norfolk International Airport, swamped Norfolk council members’ inboxes with emails asking for change. The transportation network company isn’t allowed to operate on airport property until it pays $15,000 in permitting and security fees and agrees to a $2 surcharge for each drop-off and pickup. The council heard the complaints, but there’s just one problem: It can’t do anything about it. That duty lies with the Airport Authority. But Uber sent a mass email to riders about the issue and included a button that generated an email, addressed to all the council members, with boilerplate text asking them to “please step in and help bring Uber back to Norfolk International Airport.”
Virginian-Pilot

Members of both the Danville Police Department and Virginia Organizing announced expansions in availability of citizen complaint forms and highlighted the process during a news conference Wednesday. Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot said the department has a rigorous internal process for handing and evaluating complaints. For several years, complaint forms have been available both on the police department website and at the department. Broadfoot also gave statistics on complaints received by the department. Since 2005, the department recorded 172 complaints. He said he was proud that 56 of the complaints came from fellow police officers, because it meant the department was practicing self-policing.
Register & Bee

Police in Arlington County, Virginia, are encouraging local residents to download a smartphone app that allows users to anonymously report suspicious activity in the wake of last Wednesday’s shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California. Virginia became the third state in the country to adopt the See Something, Send Something app for iPhone and Android devices in 2013. The app allows users to share photographs and tips with local authorities in the event that they encounter something suspicious.
Washington Times


National Stories
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A federal judge declined Tuesday to order the State Department to provide immediate responses to a series of Freedom of Information Act requests in which the Daily Caller sought information relating to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her aides and her use of private email for official business. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell said the conservative news outlet had failed to meet the legal burden to get the a preliminary injunction to force release of the records within 20 business days. In denying the injunction, Howell cited a surge in requests to State in recent months — a surplus that appears to coincide with the revelation that Clinton exclusively used a private email account during her tenure as secretary.
Politico

Jeffco’s (Colorado) five new school board members will take about two hours at their next meeting to hear legal advice on “the Colorado Open Meetings Law, the Colorado Open Records Act, conflicts of interest and standards of conduct for local public officials.” The sunshine-law training will be held behind closed doors in an executive session. Attorneys associated with the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition said that general advice or teaching would not fall under the Open Meetings Law exemption for executive sessions, according to CFOIC executive director Jeff Roberts. The law allows elected bodies to go behind closed doors to seek specific legal advice — not general training, Roberts said. School board President Ron Mitchell said the meeting will be behind closed doors at the advice of an attorney for the district, who advised that while some information will be general in nature, the discussion could move into areas covered by attorney-client privilege.
Canyon Courier

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has found another novel method to deny the public access to government records. In at least two recent cases, the administration says it doesn’t have to keep certain “transitory” records and therefore can’t release records it doesn’t have. Open government advocates and experts on the state’s Public Records Law dispute that interpretation of the policy for the records at issue, which include text messages between top administration officials related to a failed $500,000 state loan to a struggling Milwaukee construction company owned by a top Walker donor.
Wisconsin State Journal

To carry or not to carry — that is the question some journalists were asking after the San Bernardino massacre last week. The topic of whether community journalists should start packing concealed guns at public meetings or in the office was the busiest topic this week on the listserv of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. The issue was first posed by editor Patric Hedlund of The Mountain Express in Frazier Park, California. She asked, “Does this now become a question for journalists who cover so many public events to consider?”
Poynter

Ocean County (New Jersey) Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato has reassigned the lawyer in his office responsible for enforcing the state Open Public Records Act (OPRA), after that assistant prosecutor made statements on social media criticizing the law and President Barack Obama. Otto Nicholas Monaco, 53, a Republican appointee, used his personal Facebook page to post unflattering statements about Obama and statements that the counsel fee provision of OPRA was being abused by record-seekers who were retaining lawyers for the purpose of obtaining large legal awards from public agencies in disputes over access.
USA TODAY