Transparency News 3/6/15
Friday, March 6, 2015
State and Local Stories
A federal appeals court yesterday invalidated a gag order and sealing order that had been entered in the criminal case against Donald Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy Co., who faces charges stemming from the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in 2010 that killed 29 people. The ruling is a victory for the media, which had been unable to access many court filings in the case and had been unable to discuss the substance of the charges with lawyers, parties, victims, victims’ family members, and others, who were subject to a broad gag order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its ruling a short, non-precedential order without much analysis of the First Amendment issues involved. The Court stated: “although we commend the district court’s sincere and forthright proactive effort to ensure to the maximum extent possible that Blankenship’s right to a fair trial before an impartial jury will be protected, we are constrained to conclude that the order here cannot be sustained.”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Fairfax County officials are trying to oust the deputy county attorney who led the legal team advising the county police and Board of Supervisors in the 2013 police shooting death of an unarmed man, according to several people with knowledge of the decision. Cynthia L. Tianti, a 25-year veteran of the county attorney’s office, is “on leave,”according to an e-mail County Attorney David Bobzien sent Wednesday to his staff. And five people with knowledge of the situation said that Tianti’s leave is the first step in forcing her out and reorganizing the office in the wake of its handling of the Geer case. Bobzien, too, had earlier this week announced that he will retire in June 2016. But it was Tianti, several supervisors have said, who led the county attorney office’s involvement in the Geer case. Documents show that Tianti counseled the Fairfax police to withhold investigative files from the county prosecutor investigating the August 2013 shooting, which occurred during a response to a domestic dispute at Geer’s Springfield townhouse.
Washington Post
National Stories
The State Department agreed Thursday to review thousands of emails from a private account that Hillary Rodham Clinton used for government business as secretary of state, but warned that the process could take months to complete. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the department “will undertake this task as rapidly as possible in order to make sure that we are dealing with the sheer volume in a responsible way.” But other State Department officials said the review of about 55,000 pages of emails will last several months, meaning it could further complicate Mrs. Clinton’s anticipated presidential campaign announcement this spring or summer.
Washington Times
Can open records laws be used to access all of the e-mails sent by Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state? A new court ruling this week suggests: probably not. A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative organization, could not use the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the private email of a government official. The judge reasoned that the act can be used only to get email that is held by a government agency. CEI had sought emails from a private account used by Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren -- specifically, e-mails he sent using an account given to him by a former employer. U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler found that the group could only use FOIA to get e-mails that were held by the government agency. Holdren's private e-mails didn't qualify. In her opinion, Kessler wrote that any fear that "agency officials will escape FOIA coverage altogether by conducting government business with their personal accounts" is "misplaced" since the Federal Records Act provides "administrative remedies to safeguard against wrongful removal of agency records."
Washington Post
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and 19 other Republicans are backing legislation to block the Federal Communications Commission’s new rules on net neutrality. Blackburn’s two-page bill, introduced Tuesday, would make sure that the FCC’s regulations approved last week would have “no force of effect.”
The Hill
Lawmakers will scramble over each other to laud transparency and open government when considering legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act. But FOIA reform often faces a difficult path toward passage as speculation mounts over its unintended consequences, sometimes stalling action on the bill by Congress. Who launches this quiet resistance against changing the nation's foremost public records law? Federal agencies, that's who. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), one of the sponsors of a FOIA reform bill introduced this Congress, told E&E Daily that bolstering the public records law can raise bureaucratic eyebrows. "I think a number of the agencies are probably concerned. This is the impression that I get: They think that you shouldn't have this presumption that things should be revealed. In other words, there should be more of a screening process," Cummings said. "It's hard for them to just come outright and say, 'No, we don't like that, we're not going to do it.' But I get that impression that they don't feel that people need to have access to every record."
Energy & Environment Publishing
Editorials/Columns
To its considerable credit, the House of Delegates killed an ill-advised measure that would have created a freedom-of-information exemption for the drugs used in state executions. The public would pay for those drugs, but could not learn what they were, or who made them or how. You don’t have to oppose capital punishment to think the bill was a lousy idea. Indeed, hiding capital punishment behind a veil of secrecy would embolden opponents of the death penalty, who could credibly argue that the state must be doing something highly suspect if it refuses to disclose pertinent details.
Times-Dispatch
The "landmark" legislation is in fact lame. We'd barely call it a good start. The only remarkable thing about it is that after watching the former governor and his wife take their perp walks, legislators scarcely cracked the entitlement culture that gave rise to this embarrassment. General Assembly members say the issue is complex, with all those pesky donation disclosure forms. They bellyached their way to passing this year's legislation, some complaining they were only doing so to quiet the media. To hear them tell it, the public at large doesn't care about the gifts and freebies. Perhaps the public has given up on lawmakers subjecting themselves to real ethics reform.
News Leader
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” The immortal line is spoken by the warden (played by Strother Martin) in “Cool Hand Luke.” It came to mind when we read Graham Moomaw’s March 5 story, “Former head of RRHA will get $154,447 in severance pay.” Adrienne Goolsby resigned as CEO of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority in January. The city did not immediately release details of her severance. The Times-Dispatch filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the information. The city said No, because, it explained, severance involves personnel issues not covered by the FOIA. After the paper cited a 2013 opinion from the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council that said the amount of a severance package for a departing official should be disclosed although documentation regarding severance agreements remains confidential. Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. Authorities ought routinely to release details of severance and related issues. The Times-Dispatch should not need to rely on the FOIA to gain information that belongs on the public record. The city’s lack of transparency is not cool.
Times-Dispatch
Hanover County has gone through quite a bit in the almost two years I’ve been away. Some developments are great (the upcoming live streaming of Board of Supervisors meetings is a big win for transparency). Others are less great, such as the school division’s recent policy on “controversial” materials. Nevertheless, out of this unfortunate policy comes a reminder that Hanover has excellent students in its ranks. As reported in last week’s Herald-Progress, local teenagers have banded together to form Hanover Students for Freedom of Information and Learning. These students want to stay apprised of School Board decisions that affect their education. Possible future plans include putting respectful pressure on the board to amend its newly revised policies. Good for them.
Herald-Progress
State and Local Stories
A federal appeals court yesterday invalidated a gag order and sealing order that had been entered in the criminal case against Donald Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy Co., who faces charges stemming from the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in 2010 that killed 29 people. The ruling is a victory for the media, which had been unable to access many court filings in the case and had been unable to discuss the substance of the charges with lawyers, parties, victims, victims’ family members, and others, who were subject to a broad gag order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its ruling a short, non-precedential order without much analysis of the First Amendment issues involved. The Court stated: “although we commend the district court’s sincere and forthright proactive effort to ensure to the maximum extent possible that Blankenship’s right to a fair trial before an impartial jury will be protected, we are constrained to conclude that the order here cannot be sustained.”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Fairfax County officials are trying to oust the deputy county attorney who led the legal team advising the county police and Board of Supervisors in the 2013 police shooting death of an unarmed man, according to several people with knowledge of the decision. Cynthia L. Tianti, a 25-year veteran of the county attorney’s office, is “on leave,”according to an e-mail County Attorney David Bobzien sent Wednesday to his staff. And five people with knowledge of the situation said that Tianti’s leave is the first step in forcing her out and reorganizing the office in the wake of its handling of the Geer case. Bobzien, too, had earlier this week announced that he will retire in June 2016. But it was Tianti, several supervisors have said, who led the county attorney office’s involvement in the Geer case. Documents show that Tianti counseled the Fairfax police to withhold investigative files from the county prosecutor investigating the August 2013 shooting, which occurred during a response to a domestic dispute at Geer’s Springfield townhouse.
Washington Post
National Stories
The State Department agreed Thursday to review thousands of emails from a private account that Hillary Rodham Clinton used for government business as secretary of state, but warned that the process could take months to complete. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the department “will undertake this task as rapidly as possible in order to make sure that we are dealing with the sheer volume in a responsible way.” But other State Department officials said the review of about 55,000 pages of emails will last several months, meaning it could further complicate Mrs. Clinton’s anticipated presidential campaign announcement this spring or summer.
Washington Times
Can open records laws be used to access all of the e-mails sent by Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state? A new court ruling this week suggests: probably not. A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative organization, could not use the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the private email of a government official. The judge reasoned that the act can be used only to get email that is held by a government agency. CEI had sought emails from a private account used by Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren -- specifically, e-mails he sent using an account given to him by a former employer. U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler found that the group could only use FOIA to get e-mails that were held by the government agency. Holdren's private e-mails didn't qualify. In her opinion, Kessler wrote that any fear that "agency officials will escape FOIA coverage altogether by conducting government business with their personal accounts" is "misplaced" since the Federal Records Act provides "administrative remedies to safeguard against wrongful removal of agency records."
Washington Post
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and 19 other Republicans are backing legislation to block the Federal Communications Commission’s new rules on net neutrality. Blackburn’s two-page bill, introduced Tuesday, would make sure that the FCC’s regulations approved last week would have “no force of effect.”
The Hill
Lawmakers will scramble over each other to laud transparency and open government when considering legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act. But FOIA reform often faces a difficult path toward passage as speculation mounts over its unintended consequences, sometimes stalling action on the bill by Congress. Who launches this quiet resistance against changing the nation's foremost public records law? Federal agencies, that's who. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), one of the sponsors of a FOIA reform bill introduced this Congress, told E&E Daily that bolstering the public records law can raise bureaucratic eyebrows. "I think a number of the agencies are probably concerned. This is the impression that I get: They think that you shouldn't have this presumption that things should be revealed. In other words, there should be more of a screening process," Cummings said. "It's hard for them to just come outright and say, 'No, we don't like that, we're not going to do it.' But I get that impression that they don't feel that people need to have access to every record."
Energy & Environment Publishing
Editorials/Columns
To its considerable credit, the House of Delegates killed an ill-advised measure that would have created a freedom-of-information exemption for the drugs used in state executions. The public would pay for those drugs, but could not learn what they were, or who made them or how. You don’t have to oppose capital punishment to think the bill was a lousy idea. Indeed, hiding capital punishment behind a veil of secrecy would embolden opponents of the death penalty, who could credibly argue that the state must be doing something highly suspect if it refuses to disclose pertinent details.
Times-Dispatch
The "landmark" legislation is in fact lame. We'd barely call it a good start. The only remarkable thing about it is that after watching the former governor and his wife take their perp walks, legislators scarcely cracked the entitlement culture that gave rise to this embarrassment. General Assembly members say the issue is complex, with all those pesky donation disclosure forms. They bellyached their way to passing this year's legislation, some complaining they were only doing so to quiet the media. To hear them tell it, the public at large doesn't care about the gifts and freebies. Perhaps the public has given up on lawmakers subjecting themselves to real ethics reform.
News Leader
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” The immortal line is spoken by the warden (played by Strother Martin) in “Cool Hand Luke.” It came to mind when we read Graham Moomaw’s March 5 story, “Former head of RRHA will get $154,447 in severance pay.” Adrienne Goolsby resigned as CEO of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority in January. The city did not immediately release details of her severance. The Times-Dispatch filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the information. The city said No, because, it explained, severance involves personnel issues not covered by the FOIA. After the paper cited a 2013 opinion from the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council that said the amount of a severance package for a departing official should be disclosed although documentation regarding severance agreements remains confidential. Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. Authorities ought routinely to release details of severance and related issues. The Times-Dispatch should not need to rely on the FOIA to gain information that belongs on the public record. The city’s lack of transparency is not cool.
Times-Dispatch
Hanover County has gone through quite a bit in the almost two years I’ve been away. Some developments are great (the upcoming live streaming of Board of Supervisors meetings is a big win for transparency). Others are less great, such as the school division’s recent policy on “controversial” materials. Nevertheless, out of this unfortunate policy comes a reminder that Hanover has excellent students in its ranks. As reported in last week’s Herald-Progress, local teenagers have banded together to form Hanover Students for Freedom of Information and Learning. These students want to stay apprised of School Board decisions that affect their education. Possible future plans include putting respectful pressure on the board to amend its newly revised policies. Good for them.
Herald-Progress
Categories:
