Transparency News 6/26/13

 

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

State and Local Stories

 

Virginia's Freedom of Information Advisory Council has concluded that the Virginia Port Authority erred in not disclosing what it paid in severance to its former executive director, Jerry A. Bridges. The advisory opinion from the council, which helps resolve FOIA disputes, says the VPA is entitled to keep private its severance agreement with Bridges, who left the agency in October. But it argued that the sum paid to Bridges should be released under state law. Although FOIA Council opinions are nonbinding, its expertise and training is relied on by state officials and citizens alike.
Daily Press
Full text of the opinion on VCOG’s website

A Louisa County man accused of swindling an imprisoned former state legislator's family in a bogus pardon scheme is due in court this morning. A preliminary hearing is set for 52-year-old Joseph Yancey in York County General District Court. Yancey is charged with six counts of obtaining money by false pretenses.
Times-Dispatch

Some 2013 Radford University graduates put their education to good use this week. They, and even a parent or two, noticed two spelling errors in diplomas that were awarded this spring – and they lit up social media with photos and complaints. But did any of their 2012 predecessors notice they had the same errors? Two misspellings – “Virgina” and “therto” – showed up on 1,481 Radford diplomas over the past two years, Radford spokesman Joe Carpenter confirmed Tuesday.
Roanoke Times

“Tell me that’s not color,” King George Supervisor Cedell Brooks said [in a county meeting Tuesday]. “You say what you want. Ain’t nobody stupid here.” When he said he was sick and tired of hearing about it, a woman in the audience—who did not want her name in the newspaper—said Brooks was the only one who claimed it was about race. “You’re making it all about color,” she shouted. Three times, Chairman Dale Sisson Jr. hit the gavel and told people in the audience that it was Brooks’ turn to speak. The public comment period had closed by that point, and it was the supervisors’ time. When Brooks continued, saying he was proud to be an African–American, the woman spoke out again: “You’re an American.”
Free Lance-Star

Bedford City Mayor Robert Wandrei looked down the dais to his left, then his right. And without a second’s hesitation, he brought his gavel down with a bang Tuesday night, bringing an end to the council meeting and, in a way, City Council itself. Tuesday night was the city’s last council meeting before it reverts to a town Monday after nearly 45 years as an independent city.
News & Advance

National Stories

The California Senate voted to reverse changes to the California Public Records Act on Monday, leaving the final decision on the records law to Gov. Jerry Brown. The Democratic governor will have the opportunity to choose between two nearly identical budget bills, Assembly Bill 76 and Senate Bill 71. Brown's spokesman has suggested the governor will support the revised bill. Open government advocates and media groups spoke out against the original bill,AB 76, which would have made full compliance with the public records law optional for local agencies. The Legislature then simply revised SB 71 to remove the changes the original bill made to the public records law. Senators passed the new bill on a party-line, 28-11 vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
Sacramento Bee

A federal appellate court Tuesday gave the green light to a defamation lawsuit filed against the late conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart by former U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod. A three-judge panel affirmed a court order denying Breitbart’s motion to dismiss the case against the District of Columbia’s law barring strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs.
Blog of LegalTimes

A Massachusetts judge sealed the records of the district court overseeing the murder investigation involving Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Attleboro District Court Magistrate Mark E. Sturdy said all records relating to the death of Odin Lloyd, whose body was found less than a mile from Hernandez’s home in North Attleborough on June 17, would be kept from public view.
New York Times

With a business model built on the strengths of technology, the weaknesses of human nature and the reach of the First Amendment, mug shot websites are proving that in the Internet age, old assumptions about people's ability to put the past behind them no longer apply. The sites, some charging fees exceeding $1,000 to "unpublish" records of multiple arrests, have prompted lawsuits in Ohio and Pennsylvania by people whose mug shots they posted for a global audience. They have also sparked efforts by legislators in Georgia and Utah to pass laws making it easier to remove arrest photos from the sites without charge or otherwise curb the sites. But site operators and critics agree that efforts to rein them in treads on uncertain legal ground, made more complicated because some sites hide their ownership and location and purport to operate from outside the U.S.
Sacramento Bee

The clandestine National Security Agency is partly responsible for the modern PC era, a newly declassified document reveals, thanks to decades of custom computers built for one thing: espionage.
Fox News

Following a complaint from two senators, the National Security Agency has removed from its website two fact sheets designed to shed light on and defend a pair of surveillance programs. Users now trying to access the documents detailing surveillance under legal authorities known as Section 215 and Section 702 receive an error message when they try to load the fact sheets.
Politico

In a few weeks, New Yorkers will be able to see how much Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver earned through his outside employment at the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm. Fairly detailed statements about outside income, stock and real estate holdings will be disclosed in new detail after reforms passed in 2011 take effect this summer. The completed forms will be posted on the website of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a watchdog entity created by the reforms. But the requirements don't apply to an entire class of public officials across the state: those serving on the boards of local authorities such as Industrial Development Agencies and Local Development Corporations. And while IDAs and LDCs have the power to issue lucrative tax breaks to businesses, the disclosure rules that govern board members are subject to local rather than state law.
Albany Times Union

Editorials/Columns

Peter Galuszka, Washington Post: In yet another surprising chapter in the curious political journey of Eugene A. Delgaudio (R-Sterling), the iconoclastic Loudoun County supervisor has weathered a special grand jury probe — albeit after taking a few wrist slaps. The grand jury concluded that it couldn’t really do much because the law involving misusing political assets applies to “full-time” public employees, while supervisors such as Delgaudio are part-time. There were also concerns that the statute of limitations had passed. Never mind, in other words. The whole episode shows just how lightly Virginia law deals with public officials. There are many loopholes in the rules. A huge one that has been disclosed recently involves gift-giving to relatives of full-time public officials such as Gov. Robert F. McDonnell.

Free Lance-Star: “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?” is a fun game that teaches kids geography. “Where in the World is Edward Snowden?” is a not-so-fun game that’s teaching adults a lot about political geography. Along the way, it’s fostering debate—and creating some strange bedfellows.Whether Mr. Snowden is a hero or a traitor depends on whom you ask—and the question has forged some strange alliances. Both Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R–Minn., darling of the Tea Party movement and a foe of big government, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D–Calif., call Mr. Snowden a traitor. President Obama and his nemesis, House Speaker John Boehner, agree that the leaker has betrayed his country. Yet FOX News commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano and Glen Beck say Mr. Snowden is a hero—and so does Michael Moore.

News & Advance: The scope of the probe into gifts given to Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, is widening. And widening along with it is the growing possibility that government at the highest level in Virginia is for sale to the highest bidder. That approach to government is anathema to all Virginians.