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“You could drive a truck through these.”
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Interested in the Transparent GMU case that seeks to subject university foundation records to FOIA? Check out our clearinghouse page of court documents, from the pretrial order in 2017 on through the amicus brief we filed Monday.
VCOG website
In most localities, most candidates running for local office can choose how they file campaign finance reports — paper or online. The former means the public has to drive to the courthouse or city hall to see who is funding local elections. Increasingly, local candidates are choosing the latter, meaning everyone can browse their reports online.
Virginia Public Access Project
New rules issued by the Virginia Supreme Court say court officials around the state aren’t subject to the government in the sunshine law and can keep many of their internal records from the public. The court has said its aim with issuing the rules is to protect Virginia’s separation of the judiciary from the legislature and the executive branch, adding that it “supports reasonable and responsible transparency.” “You could drive a truck through these,” said Del. Mike Mullin, D-Newport News. Mullin said there’s a 400-year-old body of law that says judges’ working papers are private, but that the new rules go far beyond that. He said he’s particularly concerned that it shields information about the court system’s finances and administration.
Daily Press
Members of the initial Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board say they have reached a breaking point with Charlottesville’s police chief. At its meeting Tuesday, board members said they have been unable to schedule a public meeting with Police Chief RaShall Brackney to draft a memorandum of understanding with the department. “If we can’t schedule this public meeting, I personally have no interest in meeting privately with her to discuss a MOU that she will not come discuss with the board and the public,” member Josh Bowers said. Bowers said the chief has met privately with some board members to have discussions about the CRB’s work. “One of the reasons why this can’t be hashed out in private is pursuant to Virginia’s [Freedom of Information Act] law that only two of us can be at these meetings,” Bowers said. “The public meeting would be the opportunity for the board to talk to the chief as a whole.”
The Daily Progress
The Portsmouth city manager said Tuesday night that last month’s ouster of Police Chief Tonya Chapman was “an employment issue based solely on concerns with leadership of the department.” Lydia Pettis Patton’s written statement — her first public hint that the chief did not leave voluntarily — comes more than a month after Chapman’s March 18 resignation. Until this week, Pettis Patton had refused to comment on the reasons for Chapman’s departure, calling it a “personnel matter” in a March 25 statement. Her statement Tuesday did not explain why she had now decided to speak publicly about it.
The Virginian-Pilot
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors since at least 1975 has adopted election-year policies that prohibit the board from scheduling land-use cases from the November election date through Jan. 1 the following year, when the new board takes office. But the Vienna Town Council, which in coming weeks will hold public hearings on two rezoning cases in the controversial Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zone, has no similar policy, and statutorily cannot implement such a moratorium, said Town Attorney Steven Briglia. Briglia cited Town Code: “The Council shall be a continuing body, and no measures pending before such body, or any contract or obligation incurred, shall abate or be discontinued by reason of the expiration of the term of office or removal of any of its members.” “What I read in that is, the show must go on,” Briglia said. “It’s a term of art for government. It just means no one person is that important.”
InsideNoVa
Jennifer McDonald, the former director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, lost $753,207 gambling from 2014 to 2018, according to unsealed court documents relating to the Virginia State Police investigation into possible financial improprieties. When McDonald resigned as director on Dec. 20, she sent the EDA board an email stating that she is liable for $2.7 million in EDA losses. Last month, the EDA filed a $17.6 million lawsuit against McDonald and nine other defendants detailing alleged embezzlement involving land dealings and misappropriation of town and county credit lines.
The Northern Virginia Daily
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“Newspaper closures and declining coverage of state and local government in general have led to more partisan polarization, fewer candidates running for office, higher municipal borrowing costs and increased pollution.”
“Allegations of sexual misconduct in the lab, or undisclosed financial ties between a researcher or an organization affiliated with a public university and a private entity could go undiscovered.”