Transparency News 12/28/15

State and Local Stories

Top Stories of 2015: FOIA – lots of attitude, and a challenge == No. 2
Daily Press

Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms is to appear before a judge for the first time this morning on allegations that he violated the state’s conflict of interest law on five occasions. The case is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Virginia Beach General District Court. The prosecution and defense are prepared to go forward with a trial. Earlier this month, the trial was delayed after all Virginia Beach District Court judges recused themselves from the case, citing conflicts arising from Sessoms’ position as mayor. Last year, Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Colin Stolle also recused himself from investigating Sessoms. Special Prosecutor Mike Doucette of Lynchburg is handling the matter and announced criminal charges Nov. 4.
Virginian-Pilot


National Stories
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What began as a graduate school thesis project has led freelance journalist Phil Eil on a years-long quest for documents that has spiraled into a legal battle with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration over access to records. In a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in federal court in Rhode Island, Eil is seeking evidence presented to the jury in the 2011 trial of Paul Volkman, an Ohio doctor serving four life sentences for his role in operating a pain management clinic like a "pill mill," leading to patients' deaths. Eil is asking U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. to order the records released and to find they were wrongfully withheld by the DEA. "There is great public interest in seeing where the line is drawn between medicine and drug dealing," said Eil, 30, of Providence, a former news editor of the defunct Providence Phoenix and an adjunct writing professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. The DEA, which investigated Volkman's case, is refusing to release some of the records and heavily redacting others. They argue that witnesses's private medical information is at stake and that disclosure of such information is not required or permitted under federal law. The federal government is asking that Eil's complaint be dismissed. U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha's office is representing the DEA and declined comment through a spokesman.
Providence Journal

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) released a handful of sensitive documents Thursday morning dealing with terrorism suspect Anwar al-Awlaki and the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The Christmas Eve document dump includes 16 pages of heavily blacked-out emails about the events surrounding the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi that killed four Americans.  The DNI emails about Benghazi are heavily redacted and appear to contain little new information. Several of the emails discuss the drafting of an assessment of the threat level ahead of the attack, which was being prepared for Congress in the months after four Americans were killed in the attack. Other emails include periodic press clippings about the state of Benghazi in the years after the incident, which were meant to give staffers “situational awareness.”
The Hill

The Michigan Supreme Court denied a request for appeal from Michigan State on Wednesday, a decision stemming from a suit filed by ESPN after names of students were redacted from incident reports the network requested. It means Michigan State will have to disclose the names of suspects who were among the 301 student-athletes that ESPN had identified in its original request under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. Michigan State released those reports but the names were redacted. ESPN then sued to have the information released.
Detroit News

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock's promise to take two weeks to fulfill a public-records request violates the state Freedom of Information Act, a lawyer suing the school states in his second lawsuit alleging the university has been breaking public-record laws. Attorney Matt Campbell sued the school, law school Dean Michael Schwartz and university attorney Joann Maxey in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Monday over their response to his Freedom of Information request for emails from faculty and staff at the W.H. Bowen School of Law. According to his nine-page lawsuit, Campbell submitted an open-records request to Schwartz last week for emails exchanged during a 26-day period beginning Nov. 20 among Bowen faculty, staff and administrators. The emails relate to Campbell's Freedom of Information lawsuit against the school on behalf of law professor Robert Steinbuch, a recognized authority on Arkansas' open-record law. Maxey responded on behalf of the dean the day after Campbell sent his request, stating in an email that the school would not fulfill Campbell's request until Jan. 4 because the school closed for winter break beginning last Friday, the suit states.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

It is one of the most hallowed precepts in modern constitutional law: Freedom of speech may not be curbed unless it poses a “clear and present danger” — an actual, imminent threat, not the mere advocacy of harmful acts or ideas. But in response to the Islamic State’s success in grooming jihadists over the Internet, some legal scholars are asking whether it is time to reconsider that constitutional line. Appeals for a tougher response to the Islamic State’s online recruiting efforts have, not surprisingly, emerged from the political realm. Donald J. Trump said the government should call on Bill Gates and others to somehow close off dangerous Internet sites, and called First Amendment concerns foolish. Hillary Clinton said the government should work with host companies to shut jihadist websites and chat rooms. That would be constitutional if voluntary, legal experts say, but not if the government exerted pressure on private firms to cooperate in censorship.
New York Times

Nearly a thousand times this year, an American police officer has shot and killed a civilian. In a year-long study, The Washington Post found that the kind of incidents that have ignited protests in many U.S. communities — most often, white police officers killing unarmed black men — represent less than 4 percent of fatal police shootings. Meanwhile, The Post found that the great majority of people who died at the hands of the police fit at least one of three categories: they were wielding weapons, they were suicidal or mentally troubled, or they ran when officers told them to halt. The Post sought to compile a record of every fatal police shooting in the nation in 2015, something no government agency had done. The project began after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014, provoking several nights of fiery riots, weeks of protests and a national reckoning with the nexus of race, crime and police use of force.
Washington Post

Editorials/Columns

A BIPARTISAN panel of Virginia leaders has outlined smart, simple guidelines to improve ethics and increase transparency in government. The General Assembly, which convenes in two weeks, should move these recommendations to the top of its agenda. Virginia isn’t Illinois or Louisiana or New Jersey, where government corruption is practically expected. But with former Del. Phil Hamilton in prison, former Gov. Bob McDonnell appealing his 2014 convictions and the state earning a failing grade from the Center for Public Integrity for transparency and accountability, it’s past time to elevate our standards.
Virginian-Pilot