Transparency News, 5/25/2022

Wednesday
May 25, 2022

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state & local news stories

"It got so heated that Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover briefly halted the council meeting so cooler heads could prevail."

The Portsmouth City Council unexpectedly voted 4-3 to fire City Manager Angel Jones Tuesday night during a meeting marred by members cursing and yelling. Council member Mark Whitaker made the motion to fire Jones and was joined in the vote by Vice Mayor De’Andre Barnes, along with council members Paul Battle and Christopher Woodard. Emotions ran high when Whitaker pushed the surprise vote on some unwitting council members. Councilman Bill Moody said Whitaker’s foursome had “blindsided” the three others. Councilwoman Lisa Lucas-Burke was so upset that she yelled obscenities, only to apologize later for her bad language. It got so heated that Mayor Shannon Glover briefly halted the council meeting so cooler heads could prevail. Glover, who voted against the termination, called it a “miscarriage of justice” when addressing the audience ahead of the vote. He said during the meeting that a member of the council — whom he later identified as Whitaker — invited Jones to the member’s church and told her to “either resign or I have four votes to fire you.” Glover then alleged the four members who voted to fire Jones previously met about it. Battle, however, said he didn’t meet with anyone and that it was an unfair insinuation.
The Virginian-Pilot

An investigation into the Richmond Electoral Board did not support criminal charges but found "irregularities during the 2020 election cycle," including materials being removed from the registrar's office and results being counted without enough people to oversee the process. Last year, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, then under Mark Herring, began investigating claims from the Richmond City Republican Committee that Chairman Jim Nachman and Vice Chair Joyce Smith opened sealed 2020 election result envelopes without a party observer present. In a letter to the city's electoral board, Virginia Board of Elections Chairman Bob Brink wrote the state board concluded that the local board failed to "uphold its duties in a manner that promotes an efficient and professional electoral process that is trustworthy, accountable, and transparent." After the attorney general's investigations, the state board decided that all three of the city's electoral board members should have to undergo mandatory training. The training sessions, which had to be done by May 15, include ones on the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, "Introduction to Elections" and "Duties and Responsibilities."
WRIC

William Sadler's grandfather, Howard Gilmer, was a young attorney who had been in Hillsville that day, and he was one of the last people to comfort the mortally wounded judge, Thornton Massie, Gilmer’s neighbor and mentor back home in Pulaski. Most significantly, Sadler knew that he was reading a document that had been missing for more than 100 years. Most of the documents from the subsequent murder trials that followed the shootout had been lost — or were thought to have been lost or stolen. But there they were, hidden in a drawer in the basement of the Wythe County Courthouse, where a longtime clerk discovered them in the fall of 2016. Most likely, someone had intentionally hidden the drawerto keep people from pawing through and perhaps removing the papers.
Cardinal News

Richlands, Va.’s Town Council moved to executive session during Tuesday’s council meeting to discuss one resident’s claim of maladministration with their legal team. Following the executive session, Mayor Rod Curry announced the town will be seeking the state Attorney General’s guidance. Richlands resident Morgan Earp read a letter to council previously, looking to invoke that section of the constitution. The letter cited “poor leadership” and “maladministration” among other grievances.
WVVA

Stacey Carson ended her term as Pound’s mayor eight months early on Tuesday. Citing “continued disrespect and ridicule,” Carson ended 24 months in office by submitting her resignation to the council near the end of Tuesday’s continued council meeting. Carson restated complaints from the May 17 council meeting that she felt she should be reimbursed for cleaning supplies and other expenses she incurred to improve Town Hall. She repeated a request for reimbursement for damage to a microphone she had installed on the council dais. While the post of mayor is a non-voting position except in case of council tie votes, Vice Mayor Leabern Kennedy said she will retain voting power while acting as mayor, until a replacement is elected or appointed to fill Carson’s remaining term.
Times News

Officials with Richmond’s local bus system will continue evaluating how to restart its advertising program after a federal appeals court last week affirmed that its decades-old ban against political ads is unconstitutional. Julie Timm, CEO of the GRTC Transit System, said Tuesday that she and other officials are still reviewing the court ruling, but that the board of directors will discuss next moves this summer after voting to suspend the system’s advertising program in November. While other federal courts have undermined restrictions on political advertisements on public transit over the last decade, according to reporting by Courthouse News, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has opined that bans on political ads could withstand legal challenge if they are detailed and not arbitrarily applied.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A meeting of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors today is not being broadcast on TV or online. The county’s broadcast control room, as well as the equipment located in the room and the cabling in the ceiling, suffered significant water damage Monday, May, during a sprinkler system repair, a county spokesman announced. Due to the damage to the equipment, the Board meeting will not be broadcast or streamed live due to the damaged equipment. An audio recording of the meeting will be posted on the County’s website on May 25. Also, there will be no remote participation during the meeting. To speak during Public Comment Time or on any of the public hearings listed on the agenda, residents should ou will need to appear in person at the McCoart Administration Building, 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge.
Potomac Local News