Transparency News 5/30/13

Times-Dispatch: Richmond City Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell of the 8th District, a persistent and clamorous critic of Mayor Dwight C. Jones and his security detail, thought she had finally put a dent in the budget for Jones’ taxpayer-paid protection. At a marathon budget meeting earlier this month to hash out amendments to Jones’ $1.4 billion proposed spending plan, Trammell and four other council members voiced support for cutting $100,000 from the $311,000 budget for the protection unit of three police officers. Trammell has contended the mayor does not merit such protection, especially when he is not on city business. “If it’s legal, it should not be legal, because I have not seen this done before,” she told council president Charles R. Samuels and the rest of the council. “You did this to me. You hurt me.” Other council members disapproved of the fact that the change was made outside of an open meeting.

Times-Dispatch: Echoing themes of redemption and second chances, Gov. Bob McDonnell on Wednesday formally announced his plan to automatically restore the civil rights of thousands of Virginia’s nonviolent felons. “I think it brings about the final measure of reconciliation and the final measure of healing, both for the offender and for society,” McDonnell told civil-rights activists, public officials and former prisoners gathered at the Cedar Street Baptist Church of God in Richmond’s Church Hill.

Virginian-Pilot: A Circuit Court judge Wednesday dismissed a conflict-of-interest complaint filed by a former mayoral candidate against Mayor Will Sessoms last year. The complaint, filed by candidate Rick Kowalewitch, alleged Sessoms had a conflict of interest regarding city deposits made at the bank where Sessoms works. Sessoms and a city attorney argued he didn't have a conflict because he had no control over where the city puts its certificates of deposits, or CDs – low-risk financial instruments, usually with a fixed interest rate and expiration date. That decision is made by the city treasurer.

Daily Progress: The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada awarded Charlottesville the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting award for the 33rd consecutive year, city officials announced Wednesday.

Washington Post: Virginia’s long-range plan for transportation projects is $4 billion higher than it was before passage of the law that will generate more revenue starting July 1. The $15.4 billion program for fiscal years 2014 through 2019, the six-year time period starting in July, is up for review by the public Wednesday evening at the Virginia Department of Transportation’s headquarters in Fairfax County.

National Stories

The owner of a website that publishes inmate booking photos is suing a Utah sheriff for denying a public records request for more than a thousand mug shots. The Salt Lake County Sheriff denied the records request in February, saying his office could refuse because it holds copyright control over the images.
First Amendment Center

An Iowa community college will pay nearly $14,000 to settle a free-speech lawsuit filed by a student who was barred from distributing fliers criticizing a conference on gay youth.
First Amendment Center

Legislation that would make it a crime for journalists, bloggers or anyone else to publicly identify applicants for concealed handgun permits in Louisiana has been sent to a legislative compromise committee. The House on Tuesday refused to agree to Senate changes to the proposal, sending it to a six-member conference committee instead.
First Amendment Center

The Internal Revenue Service must be tougher on employees who abuse government-paid travel cards, a watchdog said on Wednesday, the latest bad news for an agency reeling from a scandal over its scrutiny of Tea Party groups. The U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said that although delinquency rates are low, the tax agency should beef up the penalties against IRS workers who misuse individually billed travel cards.
Reuters

A $100 million database set up to store extensive records on millions of public school students has stumbled badly since its launch this spring, with officials in several states backing away from the project amid protests from irate parents.
Reuters

Officials with the Colorado Judicial Branch are reviewing procedures for posting information to their website, after the landmark Colorado Supreme Court ruling on school finance was accessed before its official release. The ruling in the so-called Lobato case , which found the state's system of funding public schools to be constitutional, was scheduled to be released on the Colorado Supreme Court's page Tuesday morning. But local news station Fox31 reported on the ruling late Monday afternoon, saying the document was posted on the court's official website.
Denver Post

Editorials/Columns

Virginian-Pilot: Gov. Bob McDonnell's announcement Wednesday to further streamline the process for restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons who've completed their sentences is perhapsthe most significant improvement he can unilaterally maketo an unjust system enshrined in Virginia's constitution.

Daily Progress: Restoration of rights has been a thorny issue in law-and-order Virginia. Efforts to amend the state constitution to eliminate the governor’s individual involvement have failed — most recently, just this year. Yet over recent decades, public opinion has made a slow and steady march in the direction of leniency. Even Attorney General Cuccinelli has softened his stance. He attributes that to his recognition of something called “felony creep” — the legislature’s tendency to toughen up on law and order by turning misdemeanors into felonies. Offenses that once were relatively minor are now elevated to crimes that cost an offender his rights.

Roger Chesley, Virginian-Pilot: It's a "Hallelujah" moment for Virginia. Bob McDonnell announced Wednesday he'll go where no previous governor has gone: He'll initiate a sweeping restoration of civil rights, including voting, to nonviolent felons across the commonwealth.

Walter Pincus, Herald Courier: When will journalists take responsibility for what they do without circling the wagons and shouting that the First Amendment is under attack?I'm talking about the case of Fox News correspondent James Rosen. To be so named in an application for a search warrant when the government wants to get a journalist's or any citizen's e-mails or phone records does not mean prosecution. A journalist, however, is not very different from other citizens in the eyes of the law when it comes to the government seeking records from a third-party provider such as Google or a phone company. Applying labels such as co-conspirator provides a probable cause for the judge to grant the warrant, as in the Rosen case. If Rosen offered money or some other reward, it might be a different case. I believe the First Amendment covers the right to publish information, but it does not grant blanket immunity for how that information is gathered.