Transparency News 4/17/18

The case seeks disclosure of the detailed billing records of attorneys used by the City of Virginia Beach in a land-use dispute with Dr. Allan Bergano, a city dentist. Dr. Bergano, who won the underlying land-use case, received heavily redacted copies of the billing records: only the dates, number of hours and the name of the timekeeper were disclosed. The hourly rates and the tasks performed were blacked out. The city claimed the redactions were necessary to protect the attorney-client privilege.

The brief, authored by VCOG board member Christopher E. Gatewood of Threshold Counsel, PC, in Richmond, asks the high court to overrule a circuit court ruling in the city’s favor, and cites a Virginia attorney general’s opinion on point: “it is my opinion that the attorney-client privilege exception does not apply to the itemized billing statements in question.”

“It is certainly possible that some of the attorney . . . time entries on these invoices might have included privileged communications from lawyer to client,” the brief says, “It is not the case, however, that all of them are privileged.”

Dr. Bergano is being represented by L. Steven Emmert, a Virginia Beach appellate attorney.

The Knight FOI Fund, administered by the National FOI Coalition, provided a grant to underwrite the costs of preparing and filing the brief.

The brief is posted online at:
https://www.opengovva.org/bergano-v-virginia-beach-amicus-brief

Virginian-Pilot reporter Tim Eberly was named as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the investigative reporting category Monday for his series on Virginia’s “three strikes” law, which denied the chance for parole to some felons. Eberly’s story, published in November, exposed a 1982 law that put inmates – many of them first-time, non-violent offenders – behind bars for longer than typical first-degree murder convicts. For decades, the state interpreted the law in a way that allowed inmates who committed three crimes in a single spree to become three-strikers. Less than a week after the story ran, the parole board announced that it was changing its interpretation of the three-strikes law. As a result, the board made two changes that could make more than 250 inmates eligible for parole.
The Virginian-Pilot

Abingdon Town Council voted unanimously to add an additional Freedom of Information Act officer for the town during a called meeting Monday. Councilman Bob Howard made a two-part motion to name Floyd Bailey, the town’s information technology officer, as an additional FOIA officer and to authorize the town FOIA officers to consult with the PennStuart law firm in Abingdon “as they deem necessary.” Bailey will join Town Attorney Deborah Icenhour, who is the current FOIA officer for the town. The meeting lasted a little more than an hour. Icenhour, Bailey, Town Manager Greg Kelly and Deputy Clerk Kim Kingsley were also present in the closed meeting for approximately 43 minutes. “We have a velocity of FOIA requests …. and we want to fill them as effectively and efficiently as possible,” Lowe told the Bristol Herald Courier on Monday.
Bristol Herald Courier

Judge Barry Willett did not render a decision Friday afternoon, but he made clear his suspicions. The Jefferson County (Kentucky) circuit court judge told attorneys for the University of Louisville he viewed the school’s position regarding an open records request for documents justifying then-President James Ramsey’s decision to withhold the men’s basketball team from postseason play as “disingenuous,” as “hiding the ball,” as “intentionally making it as hard as possible” for a private citizen to access the documents of a public institution.
Louisville Courier Journal

On Thursday morning, Gary Berreth stepped outside of his house in the Green Meadows neighborhood and found an unexpected letter attached to his front door. The letter featured the Washington state seal and claimed to be from the Office of the Governor. It warned of “an adjustment in property taxes” due to the shutdown of an oil terminal and an agreement with BNSF to prohibit the shipping of oil, lumber and coal by rail through Vancouver. At the end of the letter was a carefully scrawled signature: “Jay Inslee,” Washington’s Democratic governor. CC’d on the letter were Clark County Assessor Peter Van Nortwick and Treasurer Doug Lasher. Berreth was correct in assuming the letter was a hoax. In an era of growing concerns of fake news spreading online, someone (or a group of people) has taken up a more old-fashioned approach to spreading misinformation.
Governing