Transparency News 3/15/15

Monday, March 15, 2015

We know you like transparency, and we know you probably like free food, so come enjoy BOTH at Captial Ale House in downtown Richmond TOMORROW, from 5-7, for a Sunshine Week Happy Hour. Sponsored by Transparency Virginia.

State and Local Stories

An application for funding for a multimodal transportation facility in downtown Roanoke identifies three potential sites for the combination train and bus station, but city officials caution that the information is highly preliminary and based on a cursory review by a consultant. Roanoke’s application to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation seeks $3.2 million to acquire land for the facility, which would in part serve as a hub for passengers traveling to and from Roanoke on Amtrak when passenger rail service returns to the city in 2017. The Roanoke Times obtained the application from DRPT. The city declined to release it, citing the Virginia Freedom of Information Act’s exemption for making “working papers” public.
Roanoke Times

A construction trailer has been set up at the future home of Stone Brewing Co. in Richmond, but key documents governing the $23 million, publicly funded project remain shrouded in secrecy. Almost five months after the Stone project was announced, Richmond officials say they have not signed a contract with the builder or a lease with the brewery, which is expected to pay back the city investment through rent payments over 25 years. As a result, even though the project is proceeding apace, the fine print laying out each party’s rights and responsibilities cannot be reviewed by the public because of exceptions to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for contract negotiations.
Times-Dispatch

Dominion Virginia Power's request to withhold certain records from state regulators was denied Friday. The State Corporation Commission issued an order saying the company is legally obligated to file a complete application for the state's review of Dominion's base electricity rates for the past two years. Dominion argued in a Feb. 27 filing with the SCC that the company should be allowed to withhold certain documents related to future earnings because of recent legislation. SCC staff said the records were needed for a full and transparent look at the company's finances.
Virginian-Pilot

The Fairfax County police commission created to deal with problems exposed by the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in 2013 has added nine members, following complaints that it was too heavily dominated by people with law-enforcement backgrounds. The commission, which now has 34 members, was established by county board of supervisors chairman Sharon Bulova (D) to address public anger over the county’s handling of the investigation into the shooting of John Geer by Fairfax police officer Adam D. Torres. It has scheduled its first meeting for March 23 and is supposed to deliver recommendations for policy changes by October.
Washington Post

Norfolk's mayor gets a 10th-floor City Hall office with a view. He also gets an expensive car. The city provides Mayor Paul Fraim with a vehicle that he drives for both business and personal use, The Virginian-Pilot has learned. No other city in South Hampton Roads has such an arrangement for its mayor. Fraim's ride - a "tuxedo black" 2010 Ford Expedition - cost $50,879.68 to lease and purchase, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The city paid as much as $1,454 a month for the car. The city also has covered more than $8,000 in repairs for damage, mostly caused by Fraim.
Virginian-Pilot


National Stories
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As Hillary Rodham Clinton this week defended her use of a personal email account to conduct State Department business, she emphasized that because she was corresponding frequently with other department officials on their government accounts, the messages were preserved on government servers. But the State Department disclosed on Friday that until last month it had no way of routinely preserving senior officials’ emails. Instead, the department relied on individual employees to decide if certain emails should be considered public records, and if so, to move them onto a special record-keeping sever, or print them out and manually file them for preservation. This patchwork system, reflecting a broader confusion and slowness throughout the government as federal agencies struggle to catch up with the digital age, raises the possibility that some emails from Mrs. Clinton to other State Department officials may have been lost altogether.
New York Times

The Freedom of Information Act of 1966 was first envisioned as a tool for traditional media to seek documents, data and information they deemed important to the public's interest. It also was meant to allow ordinary Americans to seek information from the federal government about themselves. Nearly a half-century later, news organizations continue to pepper federal agencies with written and electronic requests for records and other information under FOIA, a review of agency logs shows, though they are cash-strapped and less likely to press their claims in court. Meanwhile, over the past decade there's been a surge of requests from bloggers, advocacy groups, corporate lawyers, researchers and even foreign nationals tapping the promise of open records. This changing landscape means that the information obtained under FOIA may reach the public in a raw, less contextual form. Or it may reach the public through a particular political prism. Or it may not reach the public at all, remaining in the hands of the private interests that sought it out.
USA Today

There was a time  in Washington, a half-century or so ago, when things were different, when Republicans and Democrats talked to each other, where they lived near each other and where the 1963 Congressional Directory included the home address of nearly every senator, congressman and senior government official. Back in 1963, you could find that then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson lived in the District at 4040 52nd St. NW. And you’d be reminded what a small club the Senate was in those days when you found that Sen. Stuart Symington (D-Mo.) lived at 3263 N St. NW in Georgetown while GOP Sen. Hugh Scott (Pa.) lived directly across the street at 3260. Cabinet members’ addresses generally were not listed, except for Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon, who lived on Belmont Road NW, but deputies and other senior officials were. Deputy attorney general and later Supreme Court Justice Byron White, for example, was living at 5174 Watson St. NW. And even FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s address was in the book, listed at 4936 30th Place NW.  Associate director Clyde Tolson, lived at 4000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.
Washington Post

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling for a new email retention policy for state leaders following criticism about his administration's practice of generally purging emails after 90 days. The Democratic governor will meet with other top state officials to create a single email retention policy for all officials and government agencies, according to a statement from spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa. The policy of automatically deleting official emails after only 90 days sparked concerns from government watchdogs and some lawmakers who said it was an affront to government accountability and transparency. On Friday several good-government groups urged Cuomo to require state emails to be kept for at least seven years.
ABC News

Transparency is a divisive issue in the state and local financial market. The main sticking point is time. Governments, the argument goes, cannot be expected to operate at the speed or with the savviness that corporate markets do. But for those dragging their feet on the issue, keep this in mind: States and localities are potentially leaving billions of dollars on the table by not having financial transparency on par with the corporate world. A new study from the University of Oregon supports this idea. 
Governing

Private university police beat a man suspected of stealing a bicycle. The violent episode was captured on a dash camera, but when questions arose the police refused to release the complete video. City officials used their personal email accounts to discuss government business, just as Hillary Clinton did as secretary of state. When a citizen sought the local records, which are public under Texas law, city employees claimed their power was limited because they didn't have custody of the documents. As matters of widespread public concern come to light — including allegations about potential misconduct in state contracting or that special education students were mistreated — journalists have evaluated and reported on the accusations. But a Texas court case recently called into question the freedom to report on third-party allegations that aren't yet part of a police report or state investigation.
News-Journal

South Carolinians didn’t always have access to routine public information. Before the state’s first Freedom of Information Act was adopted in 1974, it was common for public agencies to keep all kinds of information under wraps – from school budgets to officials’ salaries to crime reports. “The political culture was such that secrecy was the norm,” said longtime media lawyer Jay Bender. Since 1974, the law has been amended numerous times, for matters like making clear that public officials’ salaries are public, as are police crime reports. Still, South Carolina is not as open as it could be. There is no law that requires top local and state agency officials to use state email accounts that could be subject to Freedom of Information requests. And some officials still stonewall legitimate requests for public information, forcing time-consuming and expensive lawsuits.
The State



Editorials/Columns

There’s a bill on offer in the Michigan legislature. As proposed, the bill would make the state’s Freedom of Information Act applicable to both the governor and the legislature.
I wish the Michiganders well. Getting lawmakers and a governor to voluntarily expose themselves to the glare of the open records light is an uphill battle, no doubt. It’s one of those issues that lawmakers have trouble seeing the forest of good government through the trees of their own self-interest. Virginia waded through that battle years ago and miraculously came out on the other side with both the executive and legislative branch subject to FOIA. This is a good thing, and I’m proud that my home state sees the light.
But what we have now in Virginia is more like what Cher in “Clueless” calls “a full-on Monet”: “It’s like a painting, see? From far away, it’s OK, but up close, it’s a big old mess.” The so-called working papers exemption is largely (if not exclusively) to blame for making this big old mess.
Megan Rhyne, Roanoke Times

Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act isn’t just for journalists — it’s for you, the people who live in the commonwealth. It is true that reporters have not shied away from invoking FOIA to gain access to records that public bodies are otherwise reluctant to release — open records requests helped uncover a scandal involving former Gov. Bob McDonnell and a wealthy businessman that ultimately resulted in McDonnell’s conviction on corruption charges. But as we embark on Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of access to public information and what it means to your community, it marks a good time to remember that FOIA (Virginia code section 2.2-3700) is also for the citizens, and they have the power to hold their governments accountable.
Jeremy Slayton, Times-Dispatch

The preamble of Virginia's Freedom of Information Act states clearly that, "The affairs of government are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government." Yet, in the years since the General Assembly last overhauled the statute, lawmakers have diluted its potency by approving more than 100 exemptions that make it more difficult, and in some cases impossible, to access meetings and obtain records.  We believe strongly in the necessity of transparency by public officials and the value of open government laws. And we are concerned that the commonwealth's FOIA is so riddled with loopholes that it no longer functions effectively.
Daily Press

You can understand why Hillary Clinton might feel as she does. She and her husband have circulated in rarefied realms for decades. They are used to doing pretty much as they please with few long-term consequences. Bill Clinton endured public humiliation and impeachment, but he is now a widely loved elder statesman. Pushing the envelope, taking some temporary heat, and then moving on is a method that has worked well for them. Call it the Clinton Way. You also can understand why Virginia’s politicos feel as they do. They have enjoyed the perks and profits of public office for so long it seems almost unnatural to change. They are used to doing pretty much as they please with few long-term consequences, too. Accepting gifts as a fringe benefit of public office has worked well for them. It’s something of a Virginia Way. Like the Clinton Way, it appears to be premised on the belief, perhaps subconscious, that rank has its privileges.
Times-Dispatch

Current and former lawmakers, along with dozens of state attorneys general from across the U.S., have come to former Gov. Bob McDonnell's defense. In their brief, the lawmakers claim support in case law by acknowledging this sad fact: "Indeed, in some sense, '[a]ll payments to elected officials are intended to influence their official conduct.'" "And no politician who learns the 'identity and business interests of his donors is entirely without 'knowledge as to the inspiration behind the donation.'... That is why 'a goodwill gift to an official to foster a favorable business climate, given simply with the generalized hope or expectation of ultimate benefit on the part of the donor, does not constitute a bribe.'" That brief, as well as that of the state attorneys general, also relies on a particularly reassuring line in the landmark Citizens United decision, in which a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court blessed limitless individual and corporate spending on political causes and candidates: "Ingratiation and access... are not corruption."
Virginian-Pilot

Three days. That's how long it took Dominion Virginia Power to abandon its pledge of transparency for a law that eliminated state regulation of its base electricity rates until 2020. Republican and Democratic supporters of SB1349, sponsored by Virginia Beach's Sen. Frank Wagner, touted the measure as a way to lock in current base rates and protect Dominion's customers from paying more because of federal environmental regulations. In exchange, the utility agreed to absorb any losses, let this year's review of base rates proceed, boost its use of renewable energy sources and permit state regulators to inspect its financials. Even Sen. Frank Wagner, who championed SB1349 on Dominion's behalf, questioned the utility's standing to seek relief from existing paperwork requirements, given that his bill didn't have an emergency enactment clause. "They probably should be turning over those things as part of the review," he said.
Virginian-Pilot

In a push to privatize government services, proponents touted the opportunity to empower the private sector and restore economic vigor by shifting tasks to private companies. For one thing, private companies have a better efficiency record than does government; moving some tasks to the private sector promised to save tax dollars. But the benefits also came with problems. Privatization allows public activities to be shielded, as documented by a new study — “Closing the Books: How Government Contractors Hide Public Records,” from the research group In the Public Interest. Public bodies are subject to freedom-of-information laws requiring that almost all their information be open to the public. Members of the public have every right to know what’s going on with their governments and their tax money. But private entities are not subject to the same transparency requirements. Government activities carried out by private contractors therefore are shielded from public accountability.
Daily Progress