Transparency News 1/29/14

With the same 20-plus-one majority that fueled Republicans’ claim to power two years ago, Senate Democrats on Tuesday muscled new rules through the Senate that give Democrats control of the body. One day after the 11-vote special-election victory of Democrat Lynwood Lewis in the 6th Senate District, Democrats changed committee makeup and put Democrats in charge of Senate committees. Doing so will pave the way for Democratic priorities, particularly Medicaid expansion, which senators said will likely show up in a Democrat-written Senate budget. Republicans saved much of their protest for a new rule change from Democrats that allows any Senate bill that is substantially amended by the House to be diverted to the Senate Rules Committee, rather than to the full Senate or to a committee that deals with that bill’s subject matter.
Free Lance-Star

It’s okay for former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife to talk with their family, right? That’s what their attorneys in a federal corruption case asked a judge to clarify in court filings Tuesday. The filings — the latest in a string of actions that suggest that McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, plan to litigate the case aggressively — assert that a magistrate judge’s order that the couple “have no contact with any witnesses or representatives of the government” could apply to relatives and close friends.
Washington Post

The Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce has teamed with the Virginia Extension to offer a seminar called “How to Run for Public Office,” on Feb. 13 beginning at 4:15 p.m. at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The seminar will last until about 7 p.m. “I want to encourage all citizens in this community who have interest in public service to attend the workshop,” Linda Lawrence Dalton, chair of the chamber’s legislative committee, said in a news release. “Whether you have made the decision to put your name on the ballot or are just considering the possibility of running for public office some day, this seminar is designed for you. It will be full of helpful information about what steps to take to run an election campaign.”
Register & Bee

A Loudoun County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday ordered Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio to appear in court next week for a hearing into whether he should be removed from officeafter a group of Sterling residents filed a petition alleging that he was not fit to represent their district. Delgaudio (R-Sterling), one of the region’s most controversial politicians in part for his denunciation of gays as “perverts” and “freaks,” was the subject of a criminal investigation last year sparked when a former aide said he used county resources and staff to benefit his political campaign. Judge Burke F. McCahill ordered the hearing shortly after the grass-roots group, Sterling Deserves Better, submitted the petition requesting Delgaudio’s removal. It alleges “neglect of duty” and “misuse of office.”
Washington Post

The author of a historical map showing locations of slave-trading sites in Shockoe Bottom has asked Richmond officials to stop using it in public presentations that make the case for a Shockoe baseball stadium.
Times-Dispatch

The Warren County School Board is considering adopting a web-based packet system that would allow users to view, modify and add agenda items, insert their own comments and electronically vote for motions using internet-connected devices. It could also be used to reference board policies and codes, and search through past meeting minutes, according to Director of Finance Rob Ballentine. "If you want to look up the last time that you talked about the dress code, type in 'dress code' and it'll bring up anything in there related to the dress code," he said.
Northern Virginia Daily

National Stories

Assessing whether or not economic development subsidies are paying off requires examining a range of information, including lists of companies receiving money and payroll data to evaluate whether they’ve kept commitments. In several states, though, this crucial data isn’t yet publicly available online. A report published this morning by watchdog group Good Jobs First (GJF) reviews 246 subsidy programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, finding some states lag far behind others in disclosing information online. "For most deals, taxpayers cannot even begin to weigh costs versus benefits for the tens of billions of dollars states spend in the name of jobs," the report states.
(Virginia is ranked 18th)
Governing

The U.S. Department of Justice can make progress on one of its longtime challenges—stopping mismanagement and misuse of federal grant programs—by making more information publicly available, the agency’s inspector general told Congress Tuesday. At a hearing before a House subcommittee, Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, said grant recipients are already required to keep information internally on the receipt of federal dollars. Congress, he said, should consider giving DOJ oversight of that data and making that information publicly available on websites such as USAspending.gov.
National Law Journal

More than three years after U.S. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning handed over hundreds of thousands of sensitive State Department cables to WikiLeaks, the department’s inspector general has warned in stark terms that State has done little since 2010 to fix an info-tech system that is riddled with security gaps, and has no plan yet for how to fix it. At risk, the IG says, is not only “classified information vital to the preservation of national security in high-risk environments across the globe,” but the personal information on file concerning about 192 million American passport-holders.
Fox News

A man accused of trying to carry out a suicide bomb attack for al-Qaida at the Kansas airport where he worked was awarded a medal and several commendations as a Marine in the 1970s and early '80s and left the military in good standing. Military records obtained last week by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act show Terry L. Loewen earned the National Defense Service Medal, which typically is awarded for honorable military service during a designated combat time, such as the wars in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and everything since 9/11, according to the Department of Defense. Loewen's time in the military coincided briefly with the Vietnam War.
San Francisco Chronicle
 

Editorials/Columns

Star-Exponent: Usually, our issues of the week come from discussions held in public meetings or on topics that are from one of our articles the week prior. This week's however, comes from a simple conversation we had with a friend last week. It all stemmed from discussing the merits of the new Apple IPad, when the friend — who lives in Northern Culpeper County — pointed out they don't have WiFi at their house because they don't have a high-speed connection. Come again? In the 21st century, we often take for granted that most people have high-speed Internet. But we forget that several areas of Culpeper County, despite being as high-tech as it is, do not have access to that convenience.

Dick Hammerstrom, Free Lance-Star: It’s generally not a good idea to tamper with submissions sent to the newspaper’s opinion pages, but when the opinions are based on clearly inaccurate information, they should be clarified. That’s why I’m writing today about an op-ed piece submitted by former Stafford County Supervisor George Schwartz that appeared Sunday in The Free Lance–Star’s Viewpoints section.  Much of it dealt with his opinions about ethics in Virginia government, but he also was critical of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. There are innumerable reasons to criticize the state law—and I often do myself—but Schwartz was simply wrong when he wrote that there is no enforcement mechanism in the state’s FOIA.

Stephen Wells, Huffington Post: Information leaks have made such compelling local (Chris Christie) and global (Wikileaks) headlines in large part because of the culture of government secrecy they upend. There's little question that government agencies complicit in truly dangerous or cruel activities don't want us to know what they're up to. Public records laws like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) are intended to protect the rights of Americans by providing for more transparency in government. Access to information is crucial to protect animals — because secrecy allows violations to continue.That is why the national nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) must take on so many cases where the government attempts to prevent full disclosure of public records.