Transparency News, 4/20/20

Members of Virginia’s General Assembly cast thousands of votes each regular legislative session during committee meetings and on the floor of the House of Delegates and Senate. They’ll reconvene Wednesday for the one-day session to consider amendments from and a veto by Gov. Ralph Northam in sessions relocated outside the Capitol building because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The public mostly focuses on whether or not bills pass, and sometimes people take note of when a legislator breaks ranks from the party. What receives less scrutiny, though, is when legislators in attendance miss or deliberately skip votes. It’s tricky to tell when that happens, and it can be best tracked by people watching the floor proceedings in person. That’s what The Roanoke Times did this past legislative session to informally monitor when legislators skipped floor votes. A reporter observed both chambers throughout session when legislators ducked votes. Legislators’ votes are all maintained online for public review on lis.virginia.gov. Whenever legislators don’t vote — whether it’s because they were absent that day, deliberately skipped a vote or were away from their desk and didn’t intend to miss a vote — those actions are all labeled the same way online, with an X. So it’s hard to determine why legislators didn’t cast votes, especially when they were present that day.
The Roanoke Times

With a rash of new cases last week, Isle of Wight County now has the highest rate of confirmed coronaviros infections in Hampton Roads.  But good luck getting any firm answers on exactly where in the county the spike is occurring. Isle of Wight had 69 cases as of Friday — nearly triple the 24 it had a week earlier, according to Virginia Department of Health numbers. With 37,600 residents, the county now has the seventh-highest coronavirus rate in the state, outpacing 126 other cities and counties when adjusted for population, according to an analysis of state data by The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press. Two members of the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors say they’ve gotten some limited further information about the spike. But they said they’ve been told by county officials not to discuss it publicly because of state policy and federal health care privacy rules.
Daily Press

All criminal charges handed up by the special grand jury investigating the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority have been dropped, according to Special Prosecutor Michael Parker. Parker stated via email that “these are dismissals without prejudice,” which “means the same charges, and more charges if appropriate, can be brought at any time in the future.” Charges dropped included felony counts related to financial improprieties against former EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald, former EDA Administrative Assistant Michelle Henry, former B&G Goods store owner William Lambert and McDonald’s husband Samuel North. Those individuals were scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon, hearings that Parker said were canceled as a judge had already signed off on a request to drop the charges. Parker stated in an email that “I assure you I am not pleased about this” and that “I also assure you this is not the end.”
The Northern Virginia Daily

Due to social distancing guidelines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Abingdon Town Council chambers will be closed to the public. Yet citizens who wish to attend the meeting and address the Town Council during the public comment portion of the meeting or a public hearing can do so at Town Hall. Those who wish to address the Town Council must enter the building on the first floor. Citizens who sign up to speak will be directed to the Arthur Campbell Room one at a time, where their comments will be livestreamed directly into the council chambers. The council, in turn, has urged the public to watch the meeting on a livestream through the Town of Abingdon YouTube page.
Bristol Herald Courier

They make close-quarter arrests in a time of social distancing. They rush those sickened with the coronavirus to the hospital. They are responsible for guarding inmates in jails with covid-19 outbreaks. Police officers, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers are on the front lines of the pandemic. Many public safety agencies, including police and fire departments in the District, have announced when their members become ill. But others have taken the opposite stance regarding the number of covid-19 cases within their ranks: silence.
The Washington Post

 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration doesn’t plan to show lawmakers and the public a nearly $1 billion mask contract until it has “assurance the supply is going to be arriving,” despite already having wired half of the money, an administration official testified Thursday. “We have concerns about releasing too many details about it because our goal is to get the supply into California for the people who need it,” Christina Curry, chief deputy director of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, told lawmakers during a budget hearing. “As you can imagine with something in such high demand and with such high interest, there are a lot of things that could come into play to definitively disrupt that… We do intend to provide that once we have assurances the supply is going to be arriving.” States have struggled to buy enough masks to protect their essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic and have been competing against one another on the open market. Christina Curry, chief deputy director of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, did not explain during the hearing how disclosing the contract would jeopardize the mask shipments.
McClatchy

The U.S. House of Representatives is inching toward “temporary, low-tech remote voting,” according to recommendations that House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern made on a conference call with House Democrats on Thursday. The Massachusetts Democrat recommended proxy voting, which would allow an absent member to designate a colleague to vote on their behalf, and unlike proposals floated previously, there would be no “general proxy” to allow minority and majority leaders to serve as proxies for members of their respective parties for a verbal roll call vote. “Members would have to direct each and every vote,” McGovern said in a statement issued after Thursday’s call.
Governing
 

 

Virginia’s government is establishing a regrettable pattern of withholding a wide range of vital and relevant information about the coronavirus outbreak from its people and the press during a public health emergency so dire that it has halted businesses, frozen livelihoods and ordered home sequestrations for months. Yet even in the face of a crisis that has turned nursing homes into charnel houses, refrigerator trucks into makeshift overflow morgues and made mass graves dug by backhoes a reality, the state’s leaders are delaying and denying requests for essential statewide data, citing a specious and selective interpretation of a state law. Megan Rhyne keeps tabs on complaints about Freedom of Information Act responses from state and local governments as part of her job as executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. Raw numbers of complaints are up only slightly in recent weeks, but she sees a remarkable trend: where complaints in normal times span a wide range of concerns and issues, they’re now all about the COVID-19 outbreak. 
Bob Lewis, Virginia Mercury

It is obvious that some delays and detours are necessary as governments adjust to the new normal and step up their public health response. But the virus in the United States also should be an opportunity for governments to rethink how they maintain — and yes — enhance the ability of the public to track government actions and data whenever possible in real time. Daily briefings are good, but there is so much more that governments can do to keep the public informed, especially during a public health crisis of this magnitude.
Miranda S. Spivack, Newsday