Transparency News 5/29/13

Daily Press: Both Virginia Port Authority Chair William H. Fralin Jr. and VPA spokesman Joe Harris indicated the port authority does not currently employ an outside lobbyist. Asked whether the VPA has a lobbying budget, Fralin said "I don't think so," while Harris said the VPA doesn't have a lobbyist at all. But it appears that they were either unaware of lobbying work that's been done on the VPA's behalf or they were making a technical distinction. Meredith McGehee, a public interest lobbyist in Washington and policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, described assertions that the VPA doesn't have a lobbyist as "too cute by half." "Clearly the impression here in Washington is that the Virginia Port Authority is being represented," McGehee said Tuesday. She said federal rules allow an agency like the port authority to hire a lobbyist provided they don't use federal dollars to pay for that activity. "So why hide a permissible act?" McGehee asked. Answering her own question, McGehee suggested agency leaders might be concerned about potential bad public relations arising from the use of state dollars for lobbying activities, but she then added, "it's worse P.R. if they're looking like they're trying to hide it."

Daily Press: York County could be forced to pay a tax refund of $7.8 million if the former owner of the now defunct Yorktown refinery prevails in two Circuit Court cases appealing taxes levied on the facility in 2010 and 2011. James Barnett Jr., the county attorney for York, sent an email to the Board of Supervisors and county administrator on April 10, outlining the potential financial effect of the two assessment appeals. The county inadvertently released the confidential email as part of a request from a county resident under the Freedom of Information Act. The resident, concerned about the potential effect the tax refund would have on the county's budget, sent the email to the Daily Press earlier this month.

Times-Dispatch: Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli today released a report presenting legal alternatives to the current system of restoring the civil rights of nonviolent felons. The report, compiled by a bipartisan commission of lawyers convened by the attorney general in March, suggests the General Assembly could establish and fund a "permanent function" under the governor's office, dedicated to rights applications.

Leesburg Today: The case Brambleton parents have brought against the Loudoun County School Board accuses at least three board members of several acts of “bad faith,” including by forming a voting alliance to support one plan and using private Facebook discussions to rally supporters. Nine parents are named as petitioners in the pleading for judicial review filed in the Loudoun County Circuit Court Thursday. The petitioners accuse board member Kevin Kuesters, who lives in Broadlands, of conducting “private, closed, chat-room discussions using social media, private e-mail accounts, and texts to rally supporters…” The pleading includes screenshots of a private Facebook discussion that shows comments from Kuesters.

National Stories

Months after a secret e-mail search controversy at Harvard College, Evelynn M. Hammonds announced on Tuesday that she will step down as dean on July 1, according to a statement posted online. Hammonds came under fire in March for conducting a search of the e-mail accounts of resident deans in an effort to find who leaked information regarding a cheating scandal involving more than 100 students.
CNET News

They left the Maryland Historical Society tucked inside the coat pockets and notebooks of Barry Landau and his assistant, but the historical documents returned in manila envelopes, neatly packed inside a gray cardboard file box. Authorities continue to reunite more than 10,000 items "of cultural heritage" to museums and libraries along the East Coast that were targeted by Landau and his assistant Jason Savedoff. This month the Maryland Historical Society has received about one-third of 60 documents stolen.
Baltimore Sun
 

Editorials/Columns

Roanoke Times: Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli deserves credit for spearheading a review of Virginia’s arbitrary process for restoring the civil rights of nonviolent felons, a function controlled by the governor. An advisory committee appointed by Cuccinelli has produced a thoughtful analysis of alternatives to a constitutional amendment that would establish an automatic restoration process for offenders who have served their sentences and paid their fines and restitution. While the committee suggested ways to improve the current flawed system, only a constitutional change can produce a fair and efficient method of restoring voting rights to offenders who have paid their debt to society. Virginia is one of only four states that require felons to apply to the governor to have their civil rights restored. Cuccinelli said Tuesday that he supports a constitutional amendment to make the process automatic — even though he opposed it as a member of the state Senate — but he doubts that it could get through a General Assembly controlled by his Republican Party.

Register & Bee: Political debates are a great leveler. On a debate stage, there are no advisors, handlers and pollsters. It’s just two candidates talking about the issues. Of course, if a political party or special interest group rigs the questions or if the person asking the questions winds up asking pretty much the same things that have already been asked and answered in previous debates, then the exercise winds up generating more sound bites.

Charles Haynes, Herald Courier: Students with deep religious convictions are fast turning public schools into the newest battleground over abortion — much to the dismay of beleaguered school officials. The most recent controversy involves Annie Zinos, a sixth-grade student in Minnesota, who was prohibited by her school from sharing pro-life literature with her classmates. In late April, Annie and her family filed suit against school officials for violating her First Amendment rights. Pro-life protesters in schools are a recent development, but students protesting for what they believe during the school day are a familiar part of our history.

Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane, Los Angeles Times: Should you need a license from the government to exercise free speech? The real scandal at the Internal Revenue Service should be seen not as a left-versus-right issue but instead as infringement on the 1st Amendment. The people targeted were political entrepreneurs with unorthodox political voices. More to the point, IRS discrimination was consistent with 40 years of institutionalized hostility by the federal government to such views.