Transparency News 5/18/16
State and Local Stories
The Mountain Valley Pipeline has caused a lot of discussion in Franklin County since it was proposed. The natural gas pipeline would span about 300 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, going right through Franklin County. Tuesday an anti-pipeline group in Franklin County revealed its findings from a public records request. The group says after digging through e-mails and documents, they found evidence that the Franklin County Board of Supervisors is not taking a neutral stand on the proposed pipeline.
WDBJ
Voter registration has surged this year across Virginia compared to the white-hot 2012 presidential election — and some Peninsula communities are outpacing the state's double-digit increase, state Elections Department data show. Statewide, as hundreds of thousands flock to a new online registration system and Virginians contemplate some of the most provocative presidential candidates in American history, the number of voters added to the rolls during the first quarter of the year is up 35 percent from the 2012 total.
Daily Press
Legislators who don't know any better reach out to judges on behalf of constituents who'd like to see a case go one way, or the other, according to a pair of lawyer-legislators on the House committee that vets Virginia judges. It's an innocent mistake, both men said, and neither knew of an example of full-fledged attempted tampering. "Every time I've run across it, it's because a legislator doesn't know any better," House Courts of Justice Chairman Dave Albo said. "And it's usually something real innocuous."
Daily Press
National Stories
Records show that the University of Georgia processed no open records requests regarding recruiting from opposing schools over the last six months. There were just two requests overall regarding potential recruits, and both were made by media. That information runs contrary to what a state legislator said was the reasoning behind sponsoring recent legislation that now will give UGA 90 days to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The new legislation, which was attached near midnight to an economic development bill on the next-to-last day of the legislative session, is due to take effect on July 1. It applies only to athletics departments in the state of Georgia, and not to personnel contracts.
Dawg Nation
Business plans and other confidential information shouldn't be submitted to the NIH in a conflict-of-interest report because it could be made available to the public, the agency's grants compliance director advised May 12. Any information provided to the National Institutes of Health is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which is why Diane Dean of the agency's grants program recommended not submitting any confidential information to the agency. It's also why the NIH's financial conflicts of interest policy says research institutions should submit only key elements of a plan to manage conflicts of interest—such as the role and duties of the investigator and any safeguards to ensure objectivity in the research—but not the plan itself.
Bloomberg BNA
A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday postponed a deadline for prosecutors in New Jersey to reveal a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the so-called "Bridgegate" criminal case involving allies of Governor Chris Christie. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a last-minute emergency request from one of the people on the list, less than two hours before U.S. prosecutors were set to file the names in federal court in New Jersey. The document could make clear how many Christie associates were aware of an alleged scheme to close down lanes at the George Washington Bridge in what prosecutors claim was an act of political retribution against a local mayor.
Reuters
Editorials/Columns
VIRGINIA’S VACUUM in public ethics was laid bare two years ago in the matter of former governor Robert F. McDonnell (R), who failed to break a single state law despite his sticky-palmed profligacy. The Supreme Court is now deliberating the question of whether his greed and poor judgment met the definition of bribery under federal corruption statutes. In the meantime, officials in Richmond are still wrestling with the concept of what constitutes a freebie — and, gee, does that really mean we can’t take those luxury-box tickets to see Washington’s NFL team? In three consecutive sessions of the state legislature, including the one that ended recently, lawmakers have done their best to tweak the rules to send the message that they take public ethics seriously — but not so seriously that all the bennies of elective office are eliminated.
Washington Post
