Transparency News 4/1/14

Sandton Capital Partners will be restricted in how much it can credit-bid on the assets of The Free Lance–Star Publishing Co., a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens limited Sandton to a $13.9 million credit bid on the FLS’ assets. The ruling followed an afternoon hearing that was closed to the public and featured testimony from the FLS’ financial advisor.
Free Lance-Star

Stephen Holbrook, a candidate for Arlington County Board strongly opposed to using public land for affordable housing, said Monday that his three opponents, and those who vote for them, are likely to go to hell.Holbrook, running as an independent, said in an interview that anyone who votes to take money or property not willingly given is a thief, and “those who gave their votes for them are just as guilty.”
Washington Post

National Stories

The LePage administration has imposed a ban on Maine state employees’ use of text messages, instant messages or personal email to conduct state business. The policy change was made to conform state practices with the Maine Freedom of Access Act, which mandates that all communications for public business be retained for state records and open to public inspection, unless designated by law as confidential. Text messages are subject to the law, but the messages exchanged on certain devices, particularly BlackBerry smartphones, are not stored on state servers, so they are virtually untraceable and inaccessible for public records requests.
Portland Press Herald

Black columns run vertically down 700 pages, devoid of any information about the federal workers who spent thousands of hours doing union work while on the government payroll. This is what the U.S. Department of Agriculture considers public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. In the name of protecting employees’ privacy, USDA withheld their names, duty stations, job titles, pay grades and salaries. It even deleted names of the unions benefiting from the hours spent by these USDA workers who continued to draw full pay and benefits, courtesy of the taxpayers.
Washington Examiner

FOIA LOVE: A COMEDY SHOW ABOUT PUBLIC RECORDS is a monthly comedy show! There will be sketches. There will be improv. There will be things that do not fit into categories. The Freedom of Information Act ensures any citizen has the right to information about the government. FOIA LOVE: A COMEDY SHOW ABOUT PUBLIC RECORDS ensures you can then laugh at that information. This month's edition of the show will focus on Television, from Big Bang Theory to FCC complaints to TV theme songs.
Broadway World

Opaque governments, pay attention. Jacksonville, Fla., is showing how to do transparency right. On March 5, Mayor Alvin Brown announced the city’s new open data webpage, called JaxScore 1.0, which provides basic metrics about various city services for all to see. This transparency effort, officials say, is a push toward Brown’s goals of improving performance and efficiency, and increasing public participation in government. JaxScore 1.0 displays boxes in a grid format; each box shows a metric for a city agency, such as Animal Care & Protective Services, Information Technologies Division and the Jacksonville Children's Commission. If residents want to know how many jobs were created in one year by the Office of Economic Development, for instance, it’s easy to see that the number is 1,712 (as of March 31). Clicking on that box brings up a PDF where users can view basic trend data in a graph, and a chart outlining more advanced data.
Governing

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) blocked the release of the names of hospitals where 19 veterans died because of delays in medical screenings, leading to calls for transparency from news outlets and a bipartisan group of Capitol Hill lawmakers. Earlier this month, the VA denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Tampa Tribune reporter Howard Altman, who had been investigating the deaths.
Washington Times

The Central Intelligence Agency misled the U.S. government and public for years about aspects of its brutal interrogation program, concealing details about harsh treatment of detainees and other issues, according to a report in the Washington Post. U.S. officials who have seen a Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA interrogation program described damning new information about a network of secret detention facilities, also called "black sites", the Washington Post said.
Reuters
 

Editorials/Columns

We would be much happier were we able to ignore the civil litigation which returned Ryan Maziarka to our attention. Honestly, we would be content to see the white supremacist leader and Gloucester County resident fade from the headlines. However, his recent legal trouble illuminated a flaw of the commonwealth's Public Records Law by which officials keep rights-restoration applications concealed. These documents help determine voting eligibility and they should be readily accessible for public scrutiny. Yet, transparency is critical to having a trustworthy process. Decisions about who can vote and who cannot must be made in the public's view and denying access to the pertinent documents cannot persist. How can we know the process is fair and if all are receiving equal treatment if we cannot review the records?
Daily Press

Gov. Terry McAuliffe did the right thing: He vetoed a bill that would have let National Guard chaplains make sectarian prayers. The measure, sponsored by one of the General Assembly’s staunchest social conservatives, passed the Senate unanimously and the House of Delegates by a lopsided margin. But majority votes cannot trump constitutional principles, and the principle at stake in this one is clear.
Times-Dispatch

If you associate the First Amendment more with the rarified air of constitutional debate, or powdered wigs and Colonial days, try thinking in more modern terms — say speed traps and blinking headlights. For most of us, much of the Bill of Rights comes into play infrequently, if ever. A few examples: According to a 2013 survey, only one in three U.S. households are home to a firearm (Second Amendment). And thankfully, protection in our lifetimes against illegal search and seizure (Fourth) or self-incrimination (Fifth) will be more legal theory rather than active tool. But the First Amendment — the nation’s “blue collar” amendment — goes to work every day alongside us. We regularly, if not daily, use the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition to worship as we will, to speak our minds freely, and to ask our elected leaders to make changes on matters of public interest.
Gene Policinski, First Amendment Center

Following diligent research, sixth grade student Suvir Mirchandani from Pittsburgh learned that ink is more expensive by volume than Chanel No. 5. Some might adore an ad in which models sprayed printer's ink on themselves. That may say more about their personal artistic tastes. As CNN reports, Mirchandani has purer ideas. Using APFill Ink Coverage Software, he analyzed just how much ink was being used by common letters such as "e," "o," and "t." He then tested different typefaces to see which might simply use the least. He settled on Garamond, with its more thinly sculpted strokes. He got out his calculator and discovered he could save his school $21,000 a year. Next, he published his results in the Journal For Emerging Investigators, which is in no way affiliated with the NSA. This fine publication then asked Mirchandani a simple question: "Hey, how much do you think the government could save?" The young brain got to work and soon deduced that, again by switching to Garamond, the savings would be, oh, $136 million.
CNET News