Transparency News 5/17/13

 

Friday, May 17, 2013

State and Local Stories

Leesburg Today: Three months after Sterling-area Democrats launched a recall petition drive to request that a Circuit Court judge remove Loudoun Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) from office, organizers say they have the minimum number of signatures required to start the proceedings. However, they are not ready to file, and have launched a second phase of outreach.

Document Cloud: Attorney General’s letter suggests the office is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

 

National Stories

As many as 11 sexual assaults were reported to campus police at Elizabeth City State University from before 2008 to 2011, according to city police, but they were not disclosed in annual campus crime reports as required by the federal government, a review shows. The assaults were among more than 120 crimes reported that city police have discovered were not investigated by the school, leading to the resignation of the campus police chief. He already was on leave pending a state investigation into allegations of witness intimidation and obstruction of justice by campus police in a sexual assault case this year.
Virginian-Pilot

A national movement to grant more teens the right to vote scored its first victory this week with the passage of legislation in Takoma Park, to lower the voting age in municipal elections to 16. But momentum continued Wednesday as advocates in Massachusetts spoke at the State House in favor of allowing 17-year-olds to vote.
Washington Times

A federal appeals court unsealed a redacted version of an opinion Thursday in a high-profile but secretive Washington, D.C. corruption case, in response to a letter from the Reporters Committee.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

In the midst of the Internal Revenue Service scandal involving the targeting of conservative political groups, PETA would like to inform the world: Hey, we’ve been targeted, too. Jeffrey Kerr, general counsel to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, sent a letter to the Treasury Department on Thursday asking that the IRS’s inquiry into its own misconduct also include an analysis of three audits of PETA (1990 to 1992, 2003 to 2005 and 2009).
Politico

In the wake of the AP scandal, in which federal investigators obtained the phone records of journalists using only a subpoena, four lawmakers have introduced legislation in the House that would prevent federal agencies from seizing any phone records without a court order. Currently, the Telephone Records Act allows the feds to demand phone records from service providers by using only an administrative subpoena to obtain basic subscriber information. Basic subscriber information can include a customer’s name, address, credit card number, and phone records.
Wired

 

Daily Press: This month's Daily Press Open Door award goes to the Virginia Public Access Project, which is launching a "VPAP Honor Roll," which will include all General Assembly candidates who file campaign finance documents electronically and score 95 points or more based on five criteria: Timeliness, Donors' Occupation/Employer, Donations via Third-Party Vendors, Description of Goods/Services (expenditures) and Credit/debit card expenses.

Times-Dispatch: Many details about the relationship between Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams Sr. and Gov. Bob McDonnell remain unclear, but this much is crystal: Virginia’s laws governing the disclosure of gifts to state officials are too vague.

Virginian-Pilot: The steady stream of uncomfortable revelations tying Gov. Bob McDonnell ever closer to a controversial political donor have all but ensured federal authorities will investigate the relationship for most, if not all, of what’s left of the governor’s term.

News Leader: Simply stunning. That reaction remains days after news broke that, in April and May 2012, the Department of Justice secretly obtained records for more than 20 phones assigned to the Associated Press and its journalists. Some of the involved lines belonged to home and cellphones. We are told that call content was not subpoenaed — only lists of incoming and outgoing calls — but that provides cold comfort. Justice Department guidelines specifically call for the subpoena of a reporter’s phone records to be “as narrowly drawn as possible.” This huge record grab smashed any notion of narrow and crossed far into fishing expedition territory.

Los Angeles Times: President Obama may be engaging in political damage control in proposing that Congress resurrect legislation to protect the confidentiality of journalists' sources. But his call for action on a federal shield law is welcome even if it is inspired by a desire to deflect criticism of the Justice Department's seizure of the phone records of the Associated Press.