Transparency News, 3/9/21

I don’t know if releasing Martin was right or wrong. I don’t know the intricacies of his case or those of the others investigated by OSIG. Further, when I’m at work, I don’t have an opinion about whether parole in Virginia — in its past, present or future state — is a good thing or a bad thing. As an access advocate, what I do know is that the release of the OSIG report last summer was bungled, that the reaction to the leaked report last month compounded the problem and opportunities to address the underlying allegations were squandered. It’s a mistake politicians make day in and day out: If we can just withhold all the information we can, we can make this go away. It never works, yet the optimists among them seem to think that this time will be different. It isn’t different. It won’t be different.
Megan Rhyne, Virginia Mercury

The main state investigator who confirmed wrongdoing at the Virginia Parole Board filed a whistleblower lawsuit Monday, alleging that Gov. Ralph Northam’s staff intimidated her agency after a critical report, resulting in her job being threatened. Jennifer A. Moschetti also alleged that the office of Attorney General Mark Herring redacted “substantial sustained facts” from an investigative report that outlined wrongdoing by the parole board. And she said in her lawsuit that she had cooperated with a federal law enforcement investigation involving the parole board. Moschetti, an investigator at the Office of the State Inspector General, filed the lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court against Inspector General Michael Westfall. She asks that a judge find her to be a whistleblower under state law and order her agency to return her to work from her current status of paid leave. Moschetti said in her lawsuit that she has never released any documents to news media.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Moschetti’s suit says she was visited at home last Friday by other OSIG officials who seized her work laptop and told her she was being put on “pre-disciplinary leave with pay.” Virginia’s whistleblower protection law states that no employer can “discharge, threaten or otherwise discriminate or retaliate against a whistle blower” who reveals information about suspected wrongdoing in “good faith and upon a reasonable belief that the information is accurate.” The law does not protect disclosures of information that is “false, confidential by law, or malicious.”
Virginia Mercury
The lawsuit also says that shortly after the six-page report was made public by news outlets that obtained it, she was summoned to the governor’s office. There, she said, she was “interrogated” by various administration members regarding her reports, investigations and findings. Present at the meeting were: Clark Mercer, chief of staff for Gov. Ralph Northam; Brian Moran, secretary of public safety and homeland security; Westfall, and others, according to the lawsuit. She said she then told everyone at the meeting that “a more comprehensive report” on Martin existed, but Westfall “refused to release his approved report to the administration,” according to the lawsuit.
Associated Press

After hearing concerns about how City Council planned to vote on measures that had been forwarded from its four recently formed committees, City Manager Dan Hoffman updated the agenda for tonight’s council meeting. The issue arose late last week with the publication of council’s agenda for tonight’s meeting and work session. Three items that had been forwarded from committees with recommendations for approval were placed on the consent agenda for council’s business meeting. Consent agendas include items that have been forwarded from council work sessions without objection and are voted on in a single block. While councilors can ask to have any or all of the items pulled from a consent agenda for further discussion, there is otherwise no debate before everything is decided in a single vote. Taking items straight from one of council’s three-member committees and placing them on the full nine-member council’s consent agendas would deprive City Council members who don’t serve on the committees from hearing about the panels’ findings in an open, public forum.
The Winchester Star

Richlands Mayor Paul Crawford announced on Friday he retracted is resignation. The change comes not long after he submitted the letter announcing he is stepping down. “One thing I have always disliked in people is lack of decisiveness and here I am being indecisive. After talking with several people whose opinion I value highly, I have reconsidered my decision to resign as mayor.” The town attorney and voting board are checking the laws to see if this is even allowed.
WVNS
 

STATE Sens. Bryce Reeves, R–Spotsylvania, and John Bell, D–Loudoun, recently sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman John Edwards, D–Roanoke, asking him to set up a select committee with full investigative and subpoena power to probe new “damaging allegations” that the Virginia Parole Board violated state law when it released convicted robber and cop killer Vincent Martin. This should be done without further delay. Although Northam and Moran reportedly never saw the draft report, the fact that Attorney General Mark Herring’s office received a copy of it one month before the shortened and heavily redacted version was released suggests that Herring was also involved in the cover-up.
The Free Lance-Star

House Bill 327 and Senate Bill 301, sponsored by two Knoxville lawmakers at the request of the Knox County Commission, would permit almost half of a county legislative body to participate and vote in a given meeting by calling in instead of appearing in person if they meet certain requirements. A healthy debate should take place on whether legislating by phone and not in front of constituents is a good idea. The Tennessee Constitution prevents state lawmakers from doing this. The enthusiasm of an elected official for more personal convenience should be tempered with the duty of appearing before the public they represent and conducting business in the open.
Deborah Fisher, Bristol Herald Courier