Transparency News 1/30/17
Monday, January 30, 2017
State and Local Stories
State and Local Stories
A judge has rejected a petition by a Hampton businessman to order the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport to sharply cut the estimated cost of fulfilling an open-records request — but not before that request led to the disclosure of a multi-million dollar payout by the airport commission more than two years ago. Newport News Circuit Court Judge Bryant L. Sugg told attorneys on the case by way of an email early Friday that he had denied Thomas G. McDermott's request that the judge cut the airport's $3,370 cost estimate for fulfilling a Virginia Freedom of Information Act to a tenth of that, or $300. It was revealed through witness testimony at a court hearing on the FOIA issue on Tuesday that airport officials calculated Spirito's $151 hourly rate not merely on his salary alone, but on his broader compensation package — to include his base salary, retirement pay, Social Security payments, vacation time, car allowance, and medical, dental and vision care.
Daily Press
The Peninsula Airport Commission used state funds to pay off the loan it guaranteed for the start-up airline People Express in what Virginia Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne said Friday is the largest-ever unauthorized use of that money. As a result of the commission’s unauthorized use of $3.55 million of state funds, Layne said, he is cutting off all state money to Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. Last year, those payments amounted to $2 million. “I don’t feel I have any choice,” he said.
Daily Press
An attorney representing Portsmouth City Councilman Bill Moody is dropping a lawsuit against the city that stems from a fine imposed on the councilman. Attorney Kevin Martingayle said Portsmouth is paying him $10,000 – a “discounted” fee for his legal services. In return, Martingayle filed paperwork in Portsmouth Circuit Court on Wednesday to dismiss the suit. The settlement comes a few weeks after the City Council killed a rule used by members to fine Moody $1,500 last year over publicly discussing the content of closed sessions. Martingayle said his client didn’t seek compensation for the fee, just reimbursement of legal fees and court costs.
Virginian-Pilot
More than 33,000 documents that date back to 1714 and shed light on some of the earliest American history are in possession of the College of William and Mary. On Jan. 28, they'll make those documents public in the first phase of what the college has referred to as the Georgian Papers Programme. In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II helped establish a rapport between the college, the Royal Archives, the Royal Library and King's College London. The Omohundro Institute of Early American History is also partnering with the program. By 2020, those involved with the Georgian Papers Programme wants to digitize more than 350,000 documents by Kings George I, II, III, IV, William IV, other members of the royal family, and politicians from 1714 to 1837.
Daily Press
In a slap at President Donald Trump, two Democratic legislators are pushing for a state law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to get on the ballot in Virginia. Del. Mark Levine of Alexandria and Sen. Jeremy McPike of Woodbridge filed their legislation after Trump refused to make his tax returns public during the Republican nominee’s successful presidential campaign last fall. It had been a tradition for presidential hopefuls to disclose their tax filings; candidates had done so for 40 years.
Inside NOVA
National Stories
A district judge in Nevada has ordered the state Public Employees' Retirement System to release the names and other personal data of the more than 57,000 recipients of pension benefits. District Judge James Wilson ruled Tuesday that the information is not confidential and approved the petition of the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute that sought it. This is the second court ruling against the retirement system over disclosure of records. The Nevada Supreme Court in 2013 granted the request of Reno newspapers to reveal personal information about those enrolled in the system. After the Supreme Court decision, the research institute said it requested the names of those retired, the years of service, the amount of benefits, the years of employment and the most recent employer. Judge Wilson rejected the argument that making these names public would subject the pensioners to cybercrime. He said this stance was "hypothetical and speculative." There was no evidence, said the judge, that "the requested information would actually cause harm or even increase the risk of harm to retired employees."
Governing
The FBI has posted a heavily redacted report of its threat investigations during the Gamergate controversy in 2014 and 2015. The 173-page document (not counting 61 deleted pages) primarily seems to cover harassment of against critic Anita Sarkeesian and game developer Brianna Wu, including a shooting threat that caused Sarkeesian to cancel a planned talk at Utah State University.
The Verge
Editorials/Columns
FOR the second year in a row, there is an effort in the Virginia General Assembly to diminish the public’s right to know—specifically, the right of residents, including many in the Fredericksburg region, to know what kind of chemicals will be pumped into their soil by energy companies in search of oil and natural gas. Two bills by Del. Roxann Robinson, a Republican from Chesterfield, seek to shield companies that engage in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. Similar bills have been approved by a Senate subcommittee. The Senate bills were amended to at least let the Department of Environmental Quality and other state organizations be consulted about the chemicals. Last year, similar efforts failed. Here’s hoping they fail again.
Free Lance-Star
How useful we all might have found it if we knew the long-hidden fact that our Peninsula Airport Commission guaranteed a line of credit for up to $5 million — an amount equivalent to more than half its annual revenue — to a start-up airline already being sued for payment of more than $50,000 in credit card bills and already in debt for nearly $1 million more to a prominent local business. Especially useful since the commission's use of state funds to pay $4.5 million to TowneBank because of that guarantee violated what Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne calls longstanding state policy, prompting him to cut off all state funds for the airport. Alas, we didn't. This extraordinarily risky financial move was discussed behind closed doors — at least that's the recollection of the commission lawyer, a member of the advisory board of the bank actually making the loan (and therefore protected by that guarantee) and City Manager Jim Bourey. One commission member can't recall. The other doesn't seem to want to talk about it.
Daily Press
The District of Columbia, citing the "novelty" of this Open Meetings Act enforcement action, got more time over the holidays for the mayor's Caribbean Community Affairs Commission to figure out its next step in the case. The commission is one of the D.C. mayor's many public advisory bodies, and is alleged to have failed in fulfilling the law's requirements to inform the public in advance about meetings and to furnish a record of each meeting promptly afterwards. Filed in October 2016, the case is the first court action by the Office of Open Government, an independent agency created by the D.C. Council in the 2011 Act to be the enforcement watchdog. Prior complaints, including several by the Coalition, led to investigations and opinions by the Office requiring compliance.
DC Open Government Coalition
Daily Press
The Peninsula Airport Commission used state funds to pay off the loan it guaranteed for the start-up airline People Express in what Virginia Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne said Friday is the largest-ever unauthorized use of that money. As a result of the commission’s unauthorized use of $3.55 million of state funds, Layne said, he is cutting off all state money to Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. Last year, those payments amounted to $2 million. “I don’t feel I have any choice,” he said.
Daily Press
An attorney representing Portsmouth City Councilman Bill Moody is dropping a lawsuit against the city that stems from a fine imposed on the councilman. Attorney Kevin Martingayle said Portsmouth is paying him $10,000 – a “discounted” fee for his legal services. In return, Martingayle filed paperwork in Portsmouth Circuit Court on Wednesday to dismiss the suit. The settlement comes a few weeks after the City Council killed a rule used by members to fine Moody $1,500 last year over publicly discussing the content of closed sessions. Martingayle said his client didn’t seek compensation for the fee, just reimbursement of legal fees and court costs.
Virginian-Pilot
More than 33,000 documents that date back to 1714 and shed light on some of the earliest American history are in possession of the College of William and Mary. On Jan. 28, they'll make those documents public in the first phase of what the college has referred to as the Georgian Papers Programme. In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II helped establish a rapport between the college, the Royal Archives, the Royal Library and King's College London. The Omohundro Institute of Early American History is also partnering with the program. By 2020, those involved with the Georgian Papers Programme wants to digitize more than 350,000 documents by Kings George I, II, III, IV, William IV, other members of the royal family, and politicians from 1714 to 1837.
Daily Press
In a slap at President Donald Trump, two Democratic legislators are pushing for a state law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to get on the ballot in Virginia. Del. Mark Levine of Alexandria and Sen. Jeremy McPike of Woodbridge filed their legislation after Trump refused to make his tax returns public during the Republican nominee’s successful presidential campaign last fall. It had been a tradition for presidential hopefuls to disclose their tax filings; candidates had done so for 40 years.
Inside NOVA
National Stories
A district judge in Nevada has ordered the state Public Employees' Retirement System to release the names and other personal data of the more than 57,000 recipients of pension benefits. District Judge James Wilson ruled Tuesday that the information is not confidential and approved the petition of the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute that sought it. This is the second court ruling against the retirement system over disclosure of records. The Nevada Supreme Court in 2013 granted the request of Reno newspapers to reveal personal information about those enrolled in the system. After the Supreme Court decision, the research institute said it requested the names of those retired, the years of service, the amount of benefits, the years of employment and the most recent employer. Judge Wilson rejected the argument that making these names public would subject the pensioners to cybercrime. He said this stance was "hypothetical and speculative." There was no evidence, said the judge, that "the requested information would actually cause harm or even increase the risk of harm to retired employees."
Governing
The FBI has posted a heavily redacted report of its threat investigations during the Gamergate controversy in 2014 and 2015. The 173-page document (not counting 61 deleted pages) primarily seems to cover harassment of against critic Anita Sarkeesian and game developer Brianna Wu, including a shooting threat that caused Sarkeesian to cancel a planned talk at Utah State University.
The Verge
Editorials/Columns
FOR the second year in a row, there is an effort in the Virginia General Assembly to diminish the public’s right to know—specifically, the right of residents, including many in the Fredericksburg region, to know what kind of chemicals will be pumped into their soil by energy companies in search of oil and natural gas. Two bills by Del. Roxann Robinson, a Republican from Chesterfield, seek to shield companies that engage in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. Similar bills have been approved by a Senate subcommittee. The Senate bills were amended to at least let the Department of Environmental Quality and other state organizations be consulted about the chemicals. Last year, similar efforts failed. Here’s hoping they fail again.
Free Lance-Star
How useful we all might have found it if we knew the long-hidden fact that our Peninsula Airport Commission guaranteed a line of credit for up to $5 million — an amount equivalent to more than half its annual revenue — to a start-up airline already being sued for payment of more than $50,000 in credit card bills and already in debt for nearly $1 million more to a prominent local business. Especially useful since the commission's use of state funds to pay $4.5 million to TowneBank because of that guarantee violated what Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne calls longstanding state policy, prompting him to cut off all state funds for the airport. Alas, we didn't. This extraordinarily risky financial move was discussed behind closed doors — at least that's the recollection of the commission lawyer, a member of the advisory board of the bank actually making the loan (and therefore protected by that guarantee) and City Manager Jim Bourey. One commission member can't recall. The other doesn't seem to want to talk about it.
Daily Press
The District of Columbia, citing the "novelty" of this Open Meetings Act enforcement action, got more time over the holidays for the mayor's Caribbean Community Affairs Commission to figure out its next step in the case. The commission is one of the D.C. mayor's many public advisory bodies, and is alleged to have failed in fulfilling the law's requirements to inform the public in advance about meetings and to furnish a record of each meeting promptly afterwards. Filed in October 2016, the case is the first court action by the Office of Open Government, an independent agency created by the D.C. Council in the 2011 Act to be the enforcement watchdog. Prior complaints, including several by the Coalition, led to investigations and opinions by the Office requiring compliance.
DC Open Government Coalition
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