Virginia Coalition for Open Government

Transparency News 12/1/14

Monday, December 1, 2014

 

State and Local Stories

Without notice on the agenda, James City County Supervisors passed a resolution Tuesday endorsing the first part of the Williamsburg James City School Board's plan for a phased-in approach for a new middle school. The vote took place during the work session — a forum where votes on major issues don't normally take place. Work sessions with the Board of Supervisors are typically held in a small meeting room, adjacent to where the board holds its general meetings. There is limited seating and while the meetings are broadcast, the sessions do not usually draw out as many on-lookers as a general meeting does. Nor is time allotted for public comment as it is during regular meetings. The issue was not scheduled for a public hearing. James City County Supervisor John McGlennon said since the board had previously allocated money for the project in its budget, there was no need for a public hearing.
Virginia Gazette

A long-standing practice in Newport News Circuit Court to seal most court orders for telephone records obtained by police has recently been overhauled — in a move spearheaded by the court's longtime clerk. For years, police and prosecutors have gotten orders for phone records under two distinct provisions of law — one that allows the application and order to be permanently sealed, and one that does not. But after a recent request from the Daily Press asking to see the unsealed applications and court orders, Clerk of Court Rex A. Davis said the practice of combining such applications and orders make it impossible to ferret out the part that's supposed to be unsealed after 90 days. "They wrapped it all into one," he said. "Why they did it that way, I don't know. … But when you've got one part of the order that's sealed, and one part of the order that's supposed to become unsealed, it makes it impossible to bifurcate them into two. You can't unseal half."
Daily Press

Virginia Beach City Treasurer John Atkinson would be encouraged to remove the city's investments from TowneBank under a proposal that landed on his desk Wednesday morning. The resolution – proposed Tuesday night by Councilmen John Moss and Bob Dyer – would advise Atkinson against depositing or investing city money in financial institutions in which sitting City Council members have "a personal interest." The guidelines would be nonbinding because Atkinson is an elected officer who doesn't answer to the council. The goal is to provide increased transparency and avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, Dyer said. The proposal isn't sitting well with Atkinson, who's been treasurer for nearly 37 years. He said the city has investments but no other accounts with TowneBank.
Virginian-Pilot

Early in the evening on Aug. 6, the parents of two Brooke Point High School football players asked the school’s leadership for help. Their sons had experienced “constant, continual, escalating and threatening bullying” inside the football program, an email on that date from the parents said. A day later, the two students—one a senior who had played at Brooke Point for four years—would turn in their equipment and walk away from the football team, according to emails provided to The Free Lance–Star through a Freedom of Information Act request. “The invisible wounds that this family has suffered as a result of what our young men endured has cut deep and we are still working to get our young men back on an even plane,” the family of the two former football players said in a statement.
Free Lance-Star

When energy giant Dominion Resources Inc. wanted $30 million in public funds to help build a pipeline that would fuel a new Dominion power plant, the Virginia tobacco commission was happy to oblige. So happy, in fact, that the commission gave away millions of dollars more than commission staff calculated was necessary, records obtained by The Associated Press show. The commission approved the first $10 million grant aimed at inducing Dominion to build a natural gas-fired power plant in Brunswick County in 2012 and has subsequently approved two more grants of the same amount. Commission staffers told the state's inspector general that the first $10 million installment should have only been $6.5 million based on the staff calculations. The staff used a model that includes local unemployment rates, prevailing wage rates and capital investment levels to calculate suggested grant amounts. "However, as explained to us by the commission staff, due to the pressure to pass the program, an award of $10 million for each of 3 years … was passed to build a natural gas-based power plant," according to a draft inspector general's report obtained by AP through a public records request.
Times-Dispatch

One Arlington County Board member refused to shake another’s hand last week. Another member accused his colleagues of betraying their convictions. Three of the members are accusing the two others of spreading misinformation. Long-simmering tensions among the five county leaders burst into the open this month after the board voted to undo 15 years of planning and cancel the Columbia Pike and Crystal City streetcar projects. “Collegiality has almost totally disappeared compared to what it had been in previous years,” said Sandy Horwitt, a 40-year resident long active in county politics. “Things are seriously off track.”
Washington Post

National Stories

In almost any city you can read your local leaders’ emails if you formally ask for them. In Gainesville, Fla., all you have to do is go here. In most states you can find out how tax dollars are being spent if you officially request expenditure records. In Wisconsin, you just click here. For the last 50 years, governments have given up public records in response to Freedom of Information requests. But a number of public agencies are learning the value of proactively providing information before anyone has to ask for it. The trend is part of the open-data movement that most large cities and the federal government have already begun to embrace. The information itself can range from simple emails to complex datasets, but the general idea is the same: Deliver information directly to the public using digital tools that can save money and serve the goal of government transparency.
PBS

Indiana began a big crackdown on identity crooks this year and the results are startling: The state has saved $85 million so far by not paying out bogus tax refunds. The savings came from using research firm LexisNexis' giant database to verify the identities on state income tax returns. By spotting false or stolen identities, the state can determine which returns are concocted and block the refunds. The Indiana Department of Revenue's identity-matching effort is indicative of the types of data-driven programs most states have undertaken to combat an exploding number of sham tax refund filings, false Medicaid and unemployment claims and public assistance fraud that can cost governments billions of dollars.
Governing
 

Editorials/Columns

None too soon, two state lawmakers have recommended prohibiting public officials from accepting gifts worth more than $100. The bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Chap Petersen from Fairfax and Republican Sen. Richard Stuart from Stafford would ban gifts for any elected officials or employees of state government and their families. It also would establish an ethics panel with the authority to review intangible gifts such as travel or tickets and determine whether the state employee or elected official could accept the gift. Fines for first offenses would be $250; subsequent violations would be misdemeanors. The proposal is more stringent than that suggested by the Commission to Ensure Integrity and Public Confidence in State Government.
Virginian-Pilot

Nearly 400 years ago, the Jamestown settlement organized the first representative legislative body in what was considered the New World. From its earliest days, the General Assembly consisted of settlers who drafted laws, resolved conflict and established a framework of governance for the commonwealth. When we recall that history, it conjures the notion of citizen-lawmakers whose service was both earnest and selfless. It is, in some measure, a perception that exists today — especially in regard to the rules, responsibilities and standards to which we now hold lawmakers. Gone are the days of powdered wigs, but in their place remains the dusty notion that our legislature operates in a manner best suited to our modern era. And it is time we strip away the veneer and look honestly and thoughtfully at how the General Assembly can better serve citizens. The Daily Press recently published an eight-part series about the legislature, called "The Virginia Way." The articles examined hundreds of documents and interviewed dozens of lawmakers, past and present, to explain the financial system surrounding the General Assembly. The Editorial Board intends to propose some remedies to address some of the more glaring problems and shortfalls we see endemic in Richmond. That begins with an overview of the legislature and the need to examine it thoroughly.
Daily Press

The Illinois legislature is once again poised to hack away at people’s access to taxpayer-funded government documents and information. The first effort before lawmakers is Senate Bill 2799, which removes the provision of FOIA law requiring that attorney fees must be paid by the government to records requesters who were denied access, took the matter to court and prevailed, according to the Illinois Press Association. How many can afford to hire a lawyer to sue village hall over police files it illegally refused to provide you? It also broadens the so-called “deliberative process” exemption in the FOIA law, which would allow governmental bodies to withhold even more records than they already do — specifically, records created during a public body’s internal decision-making process, which means taxpayers would have even less insight than they do now — which is saying a lot — into how elected officials come to their decisions on policies and spending tax money. For some reason, proposed changes would be retroactive to 2010.
State Journal-Register

It has become a never-ending quest to define millennials. Those between the ages of 18 and 34 are often portrayed as a self-absorbed, narcissistic generation obsessed with technology. They are a group more likely to check their Twitter or Instagram apps than keep up with world events. In fact, voters ages 18-29 made up a mere 13 percent of the vote in last month’s midterm elections. So you’re probably thinking, “Millennials are not engaged with the news.” Since Time magazine dubbed millennials as the “Me Me Me Generation,” that has been the prevailing thought. But that is not true. Recent studies show that America’s 80 million millennials are a generation of civically minded, globally aware individuals who rely on newspaper media to be engaged and informed. There will be media pundits who push through with their millennial stereotypes while ignoring the data.
Caroline Little, Times-Dispatch